RE: A cautionary tale

["Paul Gordon" <paul_gordon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I too currently operate a multi-level backup strategy, but it's far
from
"finished" - i.e. it usually requires too much manual
intervention from
myself, so I Still have some work to do. I have also been meaning to sort
out some cloud backup for the most valuable stuff, which in common with
everyone else's comments is the 4-5GB of digital photos going back decades
(including scanned copies of all the pre-digital era paper photos that
normally live in a shoebox at the back of the wardrobe)...

My main media server has 4 x 1TB drives in it - NOT in a RAID array - too
many experiences of RAID problems in the past to go down that road again -
so just configured as 4 separate 1TB volumes. The drives are in a 5-in-3
drive cage, so there is a spare slot for an additional 5th drive. As each
1TB drive is filled, I take a brand new 1TB drive off the shelf, put it in
that 5th slot, backup the full drive to it, then remove it & put it in
the
safe. I have a vulnerability of any drive that is partially full, since I
only bother to mirror it when it's full, - but since this is DVD rips, I
don't class that data as especially precious, any one of those 1TB drives
could be reproduced from scratch from the original media if necessary.

Photos are treated a bit differently, the "master" copy is held
on the
aforementioned media server, in a folder which is shared, and to which all
client PCs in the house map a drive letter to. Each PC is then configured
t=
o
cache a local copy of the photos share using Windows' own "make
available
offline" feature, so there are about a half-dozen other synchronised
copies
on other PCs (all in the same house) of course. Also, I back the master
folder up across the network once a week to another server, also still in
the same house though. My glaring omission is therefore an offline copy of
the photos folder, which is where the cloud comes in...

Trouble is, - which to choose? - I tried Windows Live Skydrive, but I
didn'=
t
like it because it's a nightmare to deal with folders (folders have to be
created manually first, and then the contents can be synchronised into
them=
,
but you can't automatically just synchronise a whole folder structure).

So, who uses what cloud storage service? - do you use the free service or
d=
o
you pay? How easy/reliable do you find it in use?=20

I'd like to get this last part of the piece sorted out fairly soon, as I've
been meaning to get a "Round Tuit" for blooming ages! So all
recommendation=
s
gratefully received.

Paul G.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On
> Behalf Of Mark McCall
> Sent: 09 May 2010 11:56
> To: ukha_d
> Subject: Re: [ukha_d] A cautionary tale
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> On Sun, May 9, 2010 at 10:11 AM, Tim <tim@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Hi,
> > I came downstairs yesterday to the smell of cooking - not bacon,
but th=
e
> PSU in my main office PC. =A0Antec silent PSU
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> I feel your pain Tim :(
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> WHS folder duplication, like Drobo or RAID isn't a backup.
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> I'm using an external USB drive and SyncBack to backup all the
> important data and the video that fits.  But USB drives aren't going
> to save you from lightning, theft, fire, flood etc.
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> So I'm also sending around 30GB  (Docs, digital photos etc) to
> JungleDisk.com - this took weeks to get up to the cloud (running at
> weekends only), but now is only minutes a day to keep updated.
>=20
> M.
>=20
>=20
> ------------------------------------
>=20
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> Yahoo! Groups Links
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>=20



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