My backup system saved me today
Last November, after around 25 years of computing, finally, I setup a reliable, automatic backup system for all of my important files, documents, photos, and music.
And today I needed it (timing, eh?). A bunch of important files took collateral damage from a program I was writing. And I almost panicked. But then the backup system worked beautifully. And I did a happy dance. And, no, there is no video of that.
If I’d been manually backing up weekly I’d be able to salvage some and rebuild the rest and be very annoyed. If I’d been manually backing up my files every month or so I’d be screwed.
The backup system I use (rdiff-backup) takes a system snapshot once every 24 hours and keeps a rolling 30 day history (sort of like a less anxious version of Time Machine). So I’m able to restore my system to its state at any day within the last 30 days.
Anyway, it works. In five minutes it was like it never happened. Yay, technology!
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Posted 11 months ago
Whoa… I…I’ve never heard the story go this way before. Ever. The story is ALWAYS data loss *then* backups begin. Cause and effect. It’s like a law of nature! YOU ARE BREAKING LAWS HERE MAN.
Ahem. What I meant was, awesome! Good for you!
Posted 11 months ago
Thanks John - you’ve inspired me to get back to backups. It’s been too long!
(The sad thing is, I’m in IT - and concentrate on _storage_.) Go figure. :/
Posted 11 months ago
My brow had beads of sweat all over reading your post. I’m going to have to rush to the store and get backing up…
Posted 11 months ago
What hardware do you use for your backups - do you have a RAID based NAS on the network or are you using one of your regular boxes for backup?
Posted 11 months ago
I’m just using a second 250 GB hard drive installed inside my desktop machine. A NAS is too expensive for me right now but I’ll probably get something like that once the kids start their own digital archives (probably not long off now).
Posted 11 months ago
Your story prompted me to check my automated backup system (backuppc) which I hadn’t looked at in about a month. I’m glad I did because I found no backups had been done since 12/28. Thanks for bringing it up.
Posted 10 months ago
Would you mind explaining(personal email if not appropriate here) why Time Machine is not sufficient for backing up your computer. You see, I have recently decided to take the plunge and switch from Windows to Linux(Ubuntu) for my home PC - as soon as I have a day or three to set it up and play with it. I was looking forward to relying on Time Machine for back-ups. I also learned recently that it is basically identical to the backup tool on the new Mac OS (Leopard?). I remebered this post and the fact that you switched to Linux too, so I figured I’d ask why.
Thanks in advance,
Mark
Posted 10 months ago
I was referring to the Mac version of Time Machine which by all accounts is a fantastic backup system and if you’re using a Mac I can’t think of a single reason why you wouldn’t use it. When I said it was “anxious” I was referring to the level of paranoia represented by the fact that (Mac) Time Machine makes hourly backups while my system currently only makes daily backups. :-) For Ubuntu I’ve heard of apps similar in concept to Time Machine including Time Vault and Flyback. I haven’t used them.