Community weekly poll: How do you prepare for a major hard drive failure?

(NT) Lacie FireWire/USB2.0 350Gb External Disk via FileSync

In reply to: How do you prepare for a major hard drive failure? by Marc Bennett 

Two step backup

In reply to: How do you prepare for a major hard drive failure? by Marc Bennett 

I have a home network of about four computers. One of these towers doubles as entertainment center/backup storage. It has a large hard drive that holds TV shows i record off my tuner card, and a DVD burner. Periodicaly me or my wife will copy important files from our own computers to this large HD; then network setup makes this a simple drag and drop process. Eventualy, even that drive gets full, and about once every six months I archive it onto DVDs. By the time a file gets to the DVD, its a rarely accessed file, but i feel comfortable knowing it's there if I ever should need it.

For more immediate backup, in my main computer that I use most frequently, I have a second hard drive. This is a tiny 2gb drive that I salvaged out of an old computer that a neighbor had left in the dumpster. This is where I drag copies of projects that I'm immediately working on. This little drive is frequently erased and re-written; in fact I abuse it as much as I can, since it's basicaly garbage If you're in need of a useable backup drive for easy access, and you know how to install a HDD, keep an eye on your neighbors' trash.

i use a combo of CD-R, DVD-R, and ext hd

In reply to: How do you prepare for a major hard drive failure? by Marc Bennett 

CD-R for movies and TV shows, music

DVD for if i desire the convenience of necesity of extra capacity per disk

ext hd for stuff i backup now and may delete later. Also used for quick backups since unlike the discs above, no planning is required to get the maximum capacity of the disc. Also can just BU now, and worry about compressing images, music, and especially video to a smaller footprint later on.

HDD backup

In reply to: How do you prepare for a major hard drive failure? by Marc Bennett 

CD-R using Ghost 2003

No Backups

In reply to: How do you prepare for a major hard drive failure? by Marc Bennett 

Why? It's simple...with a cable connection, all my stuff can be reinstalled and I can just start over again.

Hey, it works for me! Of course...I don't have a job where I work on stuff at home...besides, that's what cheap laptops that serve no other purpose are for (besides the occasional game of starcraft at the local LAN Party )

Backup

In reply to: How do you prepare for a major hard drive failure? by Marc Bennett 

External Hard Drive.
Bought a Dynamode USB 2.0 External Hard Disk Housing and stuck a 20 Gig drive from an old pc in it. Aside from backup and providing a home for old drives its portability means I can swap "stuff" with my pals.
This handy little number cost € 50 here in Rip Off Ireland and would most likely cost much less in the UK or USA.
Ps Dynamode were rapid at responding to a request for tech advice.
Also use a Crucial 1Gig USB memory stick for storing confidential items rather than on pc.

hitbit

Iomega Rev, USB HDD, OFFSITE STORAGE

In reply to: How do you prepare for a major hard drive failure? by Marc Bennett 

At my home, I use a Iomega Rev unit and freeware Syncback. I take this Rev cartridge to my OFFICE and leave it there and switch every week between two Rev cartridges.

At my office, I use USB portable hard drives and the Rev cartridges. These go with me in my car every night.

As someone who went through a disastrous fire at our office in the middle of the night one year ago, I cannot stress too much that you MUST have the backup data which is physically separate from what you are backing up. What if I had kept my backups at my office? We would have been absolutely out of business as all our written customer records and data would have been destroyed. As it was, all the paper was up in smoke, but our accounting, financial and many documents were saved from the backup.

BTW, I had a "fireproof safe" with tapes in it - it took me 3 weeks to get the safe from the police department and when we opened the safe, it was full of water. Moral of the story - buy a MEDIA fireproof safe and even then, keep the tapes in a waterproof bag in the safe.

Lorane