Do You Backup?

[harryball]

I gotta say something now... it amazes me how this theme keeps repeating.

---
"Hey Bob Botter, how are you?"

"Doing better, PC crashed, got most of my stuff back but lost some. I'm sure glad though, if I lost the whole thing I'd be up feces creek with my face for a paddle for sure..."

"Wow", I say "what are you doing to backup and protect your files?"

"huh... well... uhh... I pray every night, keep my doors locked and I spray my computer with RAID every morning."
----

I'm sure this is familiar but the question is... what are you doing about it?

So, Survey...

[bleeth]

Photos are put on a couple computers, Bookkeeping gets backed up to a CD, Home computer gets docs backed up on free on-line back up provided by Comcast. SB and Artfiles are stored on design computer and floor computer.
Design computer, which acts as general server, is also fully backed up on external hard drive.
I still have dead hard drive at home with stuff on it that needs retrieval after crash from years ago. Can't bear to pay 1k to get it done and can't bear to throw it away!!

[dana_swift]

Backup? More than get the car out of the drive?

Ok joking aside- I have a stack of blank DVD-R disks, each time I do something I wouldn't want to lose, I copy everything to the next blank disk. Then I save all of them, so I can find a file that may have been deleted but may not have noticed until much later.

Anytime there is any hint of flakiness I backup immediately.

It has saved my bacon many times..

A lot of piddly things dont need backing up. So they just get saved in the next disk-burning session. It is unusual for me to backup more often than once a week, or less often than once a month.

All disks of all kinds fail at some point. That is why I back up so many copies. At about $0.50 each its no big expense, and paid for itself many times over.

D

[blake_koehn]

If you don't backup you will... After you wish you had!

I use a program called EZbackitup. Google for it.

I use a External USB hard drive. You can get them very reasonably from Walmart.



Plug it in.
Download Ezbackit up for free.
Set Ezbackitup to backup your files everynight.
Fogetabloutit.


Ezbackitup checks every file and if the size has changed at all it backs it up. If nothing has changed it skips over it, so it doesn't have to copy everything every time.

IF something doesn't work right you have a warning on your screen the next morning telling you what happened.

[clueless]

Carbonite user here. Been using it for a year or more. Love it. Backs up all the important stuff without me doing a thing. Used it to recover files one time and it worked perfectly. Well worth the $55 a year it costs.

[chiloquinruss]

OK here's the real problem. I do art / draw on one computer and then copy the stuff to a stick. I put the stick into the Bot computer and copy to its hd. Of course this is also the set of files that gets all the 'corrections'! I sometimes back up the art / draw computer but I don't remember backing up the Bot computer! OK so I'll add backup to my Bot checklist and make sure it gets done. Shame on me! Good thread thanks! :) Russ

[myxpykalix]

I have a single main directory that all models, working files, ect go into. Then i have a external drive that i use microsoft "syncToy" to back up all my created and saved designs to a external drive that it all is copied to.

[knight_toolworks]

I use dropbox to sync my home computer and work computer I also bought the save changed files forever option. my home computer is backed up with time machine and and two free online backup programs.

[adrianm]

I use a program called AJC Active Backup that I have set to monitor all my working directories.

It keeps a full archive of all changes made to my files on an external disc with the benefit of being able to roll back to any revision of a file or compare changes.

I run a RAID 10 array as well plus I backup all important directories to another external drive every Sunday.

One very important thing to do is to make sure you can actually read your backups and they are saving what you think they're saving. Don't rely on a program that says it's backing up your data without verifying it actually is.

I worked as an IT consultant for many years and I've lost count of the number of times I went to companies who thought they had bulletproof backup procedures only to find that they were backing up only a tiny fraction of the data they needed or the backups couldn't be loaded back onto the system.

[navigator7]

Mac and Carbonite.
What's a virus?

[benchmench]

Symantec "Ghost" and a 1 TB external drive. Regularly backup all working files from office and shopbot computers.

[cnc_works]

I use Windows Live Sync primarily. It keeps directories on however many computers I wish synced over the Internet. So, when I did have my shop downtown I could finish working on a file, come home and pick up working on that same file in the spot I left off, then go back to the shop the next morning and do the same, all transparent to me. All of my work files and all of my pictures are included. So file duplication on multiple machines is my backup.

[knight_toolworks]

I use Windows Live Sync primarily. It keeps directories on however many computers I wish synced over the Internet. So, when I did have my shop downtown I could finish working on a file, come home and pick up working on that same file in the spot I left off, then go back to the shop the next morning and do the same, all transparent to me. All of my work files and all of my pictures are included. So file duplication on multiple machines is my backup.

watch out of livesync I have had it not sync files and I end up cutting the old version of a file. this happened several times and I noticed it not updating files several times. thats when I changed to dropbox. it also backs up the files so you can go back and find a older file. plus it has been reliable and it is easier to know what it is doing.

[khaos]

PC and Carbonite. Thats all you need to know. (Even you guys who feel you cant spell CPU)
http://www.carbonite.com/ use offer code RUSH for a 10% discount off the $50 yearly. Easy squeezy lemon peasy.

[knight_toolworks]

I tired carbonnite and a few others. I m using backblaze because they will send you a dvd or hard drive if you need a lot of files restored. if it were not for the cost I would go for idrive. it is 5.00 for 150 gigs. and 500 is 20.00 but it is far faster then then the other unlimited services. and it gives you more backup choices.

[beacon14]

I'm using MozyPro for online backups, automatically backs up all my working files including photos every day. I have used it one time to restore a file I accidentally changed so I know it works.

I also copy everything to an external hard drive which is kept on site. I should do this more often but at least a few times a year.

Then I lock the doors and hope for the best.

[harryball]

I can see there is some need in this area and some of you may "think" you are safe when you may not be. Others seem jamb up and on top of things.

I think I'll start a short series of posts or articles... I guess I could put it in the wiki so everyone with expertise can participate.

Is that something you guys would be interested in?

What drives me? In 1994 our computer service center was robbed. I was taking backups etc... But lost every piece of digital data I had. Now, I have files from late 1994. I've had a system stolen, countless drive crashes, a couple of viruses... I've never since lost 1 byte of data.

I deal not just with backing up but disaster recovery. So you have your data, how long until you are working again?

Let me know if you are interested and if any of you guys would be willing to contribute. I know it's hard to believe but I actually don't know everything. :-)

/RB

[gundog]

I design on a lap top cut with a PC connected to the bot and transfer files using a jump drive so in effect I have everything in three places. Business files (books) are on another computer backed up with accountant. The lap top and bot PC are in 2 different buildings.

Mike

[magic]

I assume that no one will ever buy my projects, so there is no need to back-up anything,

[navigator7]

I assume that no one will ever buy my projects, so there is no need to back-up anything.
Please tell us your tongue is firmly planted in your cheek!
Sounds like you need an angle?
Why fight it? ;-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsRwH_Fw1AM

[rsorensen]

All of my machines are backed up nightly (automatically) by Windows Home Server... and it has saved my butt numerous times!!!

I design on a laptop [my mobile connection], do cleanup and fine tuning on a desktop with large flatscreen, then move to my Shopbot control machine and cut from there. WHS includes (out of the box) shared folders and that is where files go when they're ready - which means there's another copy in addition to what is on the machines.

I've had hard drives fail - lost the HD in my laptop last fall, went to Best Buy and bought a relplacement, plugged it in and ran the recovery from WHS and 1 hr later I was back up and running, everything restored (even the desktop icons were in the exact same place I'd left 'em!).

I've also had those senior moments when I've deleted or changed something only to realize my mistake. I've opened the WHS control panel, pulled the last backup for that machine and pulled the file I needed out. Hasn't been that easy before - usually lotsa cussing and kicking myself. Life is SO much easier now!!

[myxpykalix]

One additional thing i do when working on a project is a generally backup revisions of each file in various stages like:

doHickey1.dxf
doHickey1a.dxf
doHickey1b.dxf etc until i finsh working on a project then maybe name it
doHickey1FINAL.dxf

[knight_toolworks]

I use software that does versioning. so if I save the same file 4 times I have all 4 version back as long as I want them. this is why I went with dropbox. for 35.00 extra a year they will keep all of my versions for forever. to me that's the most important backup. I may save that file several times in a day.

[myxpykalix]

steve makes a good point that it probably is best to have an offsite backup in case the house burns down it wouldn't matter if you had the 3 backup harddrives.

Although if your house burns down I suspect that the least of your concern would be shopbot files....

[knight_toolworks]

steve makes a good point that it probably is best to have an offsite backup in case the house burns down it wouldn't matter if you had the 3 backup harddrives.

Although if your house burns down I suspect that the least of your concern would be shopbot files....

very true. I sync with my computer at home and with dropbox so that's offsite in two locations. then two free online services. it would be impossible to duplicate some of the stuff I have done.

[chadagmsign]

Mac and Carbonite.
What's a virus?

are you running shopbot software on mac?

I have a emac with Ubuntu 12.04 that I would like to try and run shopbot control software on just wonder if there are any other shop botters out there using mac.

thanks in advance!!

[dana_swift]

Version control is also a great thing to have. That makes a copy of a directory and allows the directory contents to be "reverted" or un-deleted back to any save point.

I have been using Mercurial with TortoiseHg. Then if I make a change to a project .. updating the SBP files in Aspire, then discover somebody wants another one just like the version two generations back. Just what was that? You can save the state of any part of a directory or directory tree you wish.

Mercurial lets me back up two revisions cut the part just like it was months ago, then go back to the modern version.

Another feature it has is the ability to "split" a project and make two versions of it both sharing a common ancestry.

Now the bad news: Its not hard to use, but its not obvious either. Once it becomes part of daily life its really easy.

A real life saver. Not only that, but if I have a hard disk crash, all the Hg files get backed up too.. so I can still revert to any version saved prior to the backup.

Oh.. now the good news: Its free.

External backups are still mandatory!

D

[mcmark]

I use dropbox to sync my home computer and work computer I also bought the save changed files forever option. my home computer is backed up with time machine and and two free online backup programs.

This is almost exactly what I am doing also.

I'll just drop the latest folder with all my cnc stuff into dropbox. I keep 2 or three dated folders back. It goes to 3 different computers, one of them a mac that gets timemachined.

[dlcw]

I use Genie Timeline and my machine is backed up real time. Anytime a file gets changed, it is automatically backed up. I have mine set up to keep 3 revisions of a file. I use two external backup USB drives and they rotate through my safety deposit box on a regular basis.