Backup Plan Questions

[jhonkaman]

I've been reading the thread on having a backup plan and I realized I needed to put together my own backup plan, but I have a couple of questions before I start. First, can I use any hard drive, or does it have to meet certain specifications? I know that Avid recommends using certain kinds of hard drives as audio drives, but I haven't seen anything yet on hard drives for backup. Second, how often do I need to backup my system/ when should I backup my system? I am just starting to use Pro Tools to do some basic home recordings, so I don't need the most complex backup plan. I'm not a professional, I'm just doing this as a hobby. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[Phil Ogden]

For the simple backup of data (e.g PT Sessions, Audio, Samples etc), Pretty much any HD should work.

If you are talking about backing up your system (Operating system, programs etc), then you need to be able to boot from the backup / cloned HD . In which case it needs to be Firewire as USB won't work.

[marcelkavka]

the best is to backup on a cloud like dropbox. if you store the backup in the same building as the original, it's not safe (fire, burglar...)

use synctwofolders to synchronize your backup regularly (every hour e.g.):

create a folder like "backup" (on a different drive) which you copy to a cloud e.g. with dropbox and use synctwofolders to synchronize your project folder with "backup".
Do not use your project folder as a dropbox folder!!!

You have the folder "backup" on a different drive as a simple copy and the cloud for worst case.

[Eric Seaberg]

I have multiple drives hooked up to a Mac MINI that sits in a bedroom closet... 1TB, 2TB and 3TB. The MINI is running Retrospect and has 'scripts' to backup all of the computers in my house... all UNATTENDED!! It's a GREAT app, and can do a HUGE amount of varied things.

The cloud services are OK, but you need to remember you're talking about HUGE amounts of data being moved through your internet account. It can take FOREVER, depending on your upload speeds.

You can get Retrospect for as cheap as $119 for up to 5 client machines, as well as the server.

Info at http://retrospect.com/en/products/mac

[Chief Technician]

Originally Posted by Phil Ogden

If you are talking about backing up your system (Operating system, programs etc), then you need to be able to boot from the backup / cloned HD . In which case it needs to be Firewire as USB won't work.

Not true. Starting from an external USB storage device (Intel-based Macs)

[dr_daw]

Originally Posted by jhonkaman

I've been reading the thread on having a backup plan and I realized I needed to put together my own backup plan, but I have a couple of questions before I start. First, can I use any hard drive, or does it have to meet certain specifications? I know that Avid recommends using certain kinds of hard drives as audio drives, but I haven't seen anything yet on hard drives for backup. Second, how often do I need to backup my system/ when should I backup my system? I am just starting to use Pro Tools to do some basic home recordings, so I don't need the most complex backup plan. I'm not a professional, I'm just doing this as a hobby. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Even as a home recording setup you will be heartbroken if you loose any data. As many of us can attest to from our nightmare data loss stories. If I'm working for a client or on my wife's songs I run a carbon copy cloner backup 1 every day, then run back up 2 once a week, backup 3 when the sessions are done ( resides in safe deposit box)

Originally Posted by Phil Ogden

For the simple backup of data (e.g PT Sessions, Audio, Samples etc), Pretty much any HD should work.

If you are talking about backing up your system (Operating system, programs etc), then you need to be able to boot from the backup / cloned HD . In which case it needs to be Firewire as USB won't work.

I slightly disagree with this as I've picked up a few USB 2/3 drives from seagate that I've set up as bootable drives as backups. They all boot fine and run long enough for me to restore a system.

I've lucked out up here as 'staples' has a clearance sale on USB 3 drives from sea gate, 500gb for $29. I bought six!

As our friend Albee would say "if it's not backed up 3 times, it's not backed up!"

[jhonkaman]

Originally Posted by dr_daw

I slightly disagree with this as I've picked up a few USB 2/3 drives from seagate that I've set up as bootable drives as backups. They all boot fine and run long enough for me to restore a system.

I've lucked out up here as 'staples' has a clearance sale on USB 3 drives from sea gate, 500gb for $29. I bought six!

As our friend Albee would say "if it's not backed up 3 times, it's not backed up!"

So are you saying that both USB 2.0 and 3.0 drives will work, or are you only talking about USB 3.0? My iMac only has USB 2.0 ports, so if I do purchase a USB drive it would have to be USB 2.0. Thanks again for the help.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by jhonkaman

So are you saying that both USB 2.0 and 3.0 drives will work, or are you only talking about USB 3.0? My iMac only has USB 2.0 ports, so if I do purchase a USB drive it would have to be USB 2.0. Thanks again for the help.

If you only have USB 2 ports you need to buy a USB 2 drive. Or get a Firewire 800 drive (or a combo FW800/USB 2 drive).

Get a drive and enclosure from a reputable mainsteam manufacturer.

Think about use of Carbon Copy Cloner (or similar) to make image backups of your boot/system drive.

The first step of a backup plan is to work out *why* you are doing this. What are you trying to protect against? Admin errors? Theft? Malicious damage? Hard drive failure? Entire PC failure? Building failure? And/or are you trying to do long term archive/recovery of sessions, etc. And put in place a plan that can achieve those goals. And then find a way to test if what you are doing actually works.

[Sparky1]

Originally Posted by Eric Seaberg

I have multiple drives hooked up to a Mac MINI that sits in a bedroom closet... 1TB, 2TB and 3TB.

Do you also use any off site back-up - in the event of a house fire or theft?

Sparky

[diamondschwin]

At my previous studio we backed up audio projects to a network shared file server that was 16TB mirrored so it was backing up the local backup again. We also ran crashplan pro on each audio machine backing up to 'the cloud' nightly. We had a 100mb up and down Internet connection which made this possible.