<img src="/images/uploads/2008/01/drive.png’ alt=‘Hard drive’ class=‘alignright’ />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!

Comments

1. Jacqueline on 2008-01-08 22:21:51 wrote: 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!

2. Jeff on 2008-01-09 07:19:31 wrote: 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. :/

3. guynameddave on 2008-01-09 09:00:57 wrote: 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…

4. Dave on 2008-01-10 15:36:33 wrote: 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?

5. John on 2008-01-10 16:52:08 wrote: 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).

6. Dan on 2008-01-11 18:05:09 wrote: 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.

7. mark m on 2008-02-05 13:22:04 wrote: 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

8. John on 2008-02-05 16:53:16 wrote: 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.