Are You Backing up Your Computer Data?

[JohnAb]

Hi All,

I help a few people with their computers locally and I come across situations where there are no backups and action needs to be taken that could cause files to be lost - like a reinstall of the OS if the computer is really not well at all. Situations like these make a lot more work and yes, people do lose their files when things go badly wrong.

If you already backup your data then no need to read further. If not, I just wanted to offer some ideas and mention some free software that has helped me a lot. There are easy ways to safeguard your data without going too crazy and avoiding expensive solutions, so here are some ideas:

1. Really simple approach, just backup your important files manually onto an external drive every few days.
2. Get at least one more internal drive and backup onto that as well. Internal drives are faster and backups won't take long (maybe just 2-3 minutes) if you use software like FreeFileSynch. This will synchronise folders or entire drives. Combine this approach with external backups as well.
3. My approach goes slight further as follows, but cost is still minimal:

a) I keep just my OS (Windows) and installed programs on a 500GB NVME. A 250GB drive would also be large enough for this. My drive currently uses just over 100GB.
b) Documents and data are kept on an internal encrypted hard drive (I use Bitlocker)
c) Backups of drive b) are then kept on another identical encrypted drive using FreeFilSynch. This means I can backup very quickly as often as I wish (I go for daily)
d) I install games to another fast NVME, These are not backed up as they can be reinstalled if needed.
e) Next I have another 500GB drive where I keep images of my OS drive. For this I use Macrium Reflect - the free edition. It is scheduled to take an image every 3 days and I keep the last 10 backups with notes of software and driver changes in case I need to troubleshoot. Backups are taken while using Windows normally.
f) In addition, I use 2 more encrypted external drives. A 1TB NVME for important docs (daily backups) and finally a large hard drive for weekly backups of everything. This normally takes just 10 minutes to synchronise unless I've made big changes.

The benefit of this approach is that if my PC is stolen, then my data is encrypted and safe. Keeping the backup drives in less obvious locations also means that they are far less likely to be found and taken with the PC. If I get a major failure of my OS, I can restore it very easily (in under 10 minutes).

Of course, there are many other approaches, like external RAID storage and cloud storage services, but if using more than a few GB you will probably have to pay (note that you can get up to 25GB free nowadays). The thing I don't like about cloud storage is that the service could be down and uploads can be slow. If not using the cloud, then also think about a big disaster like a fire and maybe keep additional backups off site, but I'm not trying to describe a perfect solution here.

So in summary, I don't want to preach about the best way to do things. My approach certainly isn't perfect, but I'd like to encourage everyone to at least think about backups. You'll save yourself so much time and trouble by thinking about it before you need them.

If this thread encourages somebody to make some backups and improve data security, then all good! Please share your ideas here as well, I'm always open to better ideas. Have fun.

[mcury]

I'm using a Synology NAS.

This NAS is a domain member acting as a file server in my network, in which every user has an account to access it. Yes, I have a samba domain controller in my network.
Every user has a personal folder in which they can store everything they want and nobody can read or access it.
I also have a public folder used to share files between users.
One of these folders is encrypted.

I have Apple users who just map the folders using their credentials using smb protocol.
I have Windows users who are domain members, and others are just mapping the folders through smb protocol, this depends, kids here are not administrators of their PCs and I apply some GPOs to their computers, so they need to be domain members.

Filesystem used is BTRFS, which gives me the option of taking snapshots of the folders I want.
This allows me to compare sheets from months ago with the actual version, restore files, or entire folders if that is what I want.
Note that this is not a backup, but its pretty useful.
For backup, I have a external drive that I keep the most important data, this drive will only be used in case of a NAS failure, which is kind of hard to happen since it has two mirrored drives.

To be able to access it from outside, I'm using a VPN to reach it.
I chose wireguard, but you can use openvpn or ipsec road warrior.

If you choose the right NAS, you can even install a Plex server in it with hardware decoding.
If it has two ethernet ports, you can also configure a LAG (LACP) to use both at the same time, increasing the reliability and bandwidth, that if your switch is compatible with this protocol.

Synology also released a beta version of samba that is enabling multi channel, its increasing a lot the speed..
https://community.synology.com/enu/forum/1/post/157265

[Nistas]

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[JohnAb]

Oooh, very nice indeed. That's the sort of system I'd enjoy playing with. I keep thinking about getting a NAS, but the good ones are are expensive and I can't really justify the cost as I'm just a simple home user. I've also looked at building one. That might be an option, just for the fun and learning about how to set up networks properly etc. Perhaps a new Year project lol.

[mcury]

Since you are a home user, you can easily go with a cheap NAS, two drives bay only, try to get the newer ones that are coming with two ethernet ports.

Also, take a look at this sheet before you choose, because in case your NAS to act not only as a file server but also as a media server, you will want a NAS with a CPU that is able to decode which is much better than software decoding.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MfYoJkiwSqCXg8cm5-Ac4oOLPRtCkgUxU0jdj3tmMPc/edit#gid=1274624...

Since it is a file server, you want to avoid power outages to affect the data as much as possible, so I would say, if you build your NAS, try to keep the power usage low as possible, so you can use a cheap UPS with it just to be safe.
The NAS is good in that aspect since it is a small box that is usually designed to be efficient, and to be online 24/7.

I have a lot of fun playing with it. My NAS is old, 5 years already, but still rocks 🙂

[JohnAb]

Thanks, I'll take a look at that spreadsheet and give it some thought. Like I said, getting a NAS is one of those ideas that keeps coming back to me. If I build one, I know how it will end - I'll build something high spec, costing far more than it needs to. I have loads of parts already, so I really must force myself to do it the cheap way and use what I have. Yeah, I'll develop a plan. I'll still need a few parts, but nothing too major. I have quite a few old disks for learning with and I can always add some decent disks later. Thanks for the encouragement 🙂

[JohnAb]

Just an update, I got a NAS in the end and simply purchased a QNAP 464. Very happy with it. It will do a lot of stuff, but so far, I'm simply using it for backups.

For those of you without a NAS, just saying that you absolutely don't need one to have a good backup policy. Many cheap ways to do it, just do something!