With our computer's unreliable hard disks and unstable operating systems, backing up files is crucial. The rule-of-thumb is to make three back-ups, one stored off-site (in case your site is destroyed by flood, fire, or other disasters). I find that one hard drive fails each year, out of the dozen or so spinning here.
I've tried numerous backup systems, and all are in some way unsatisfactory. One problem is the size of backup. My desktop computer's three drives hold 26GB (OS and misc files) + 48GB (data files) + 184GB (music, video, and photographic files) of data. There isn't enough time to triply-backup 258GB of data each night, and run a virus check -- it just takes too long.
I've solved the problem by breaking the data into four types:
Class 1: Crucial data. Includes my email address lists and spreadsheet that keeps track of my income. Backup every day, both on- and off-site.
Class 2: Important data. Includes the files for books I'm working on. Backup each day, but only on an as-needed basis.
Class 3: Unchanging data. Includes videos, music, and photographic files. Backup once.
Class 4: Unimportant data. Includes programs that can be re-installed. Never backup.
Here's how I perform the backups:
Class 1 Backup: I use Windows' Briefcase to hold a copy of the important files. Once a day I update the briefcase, and then use PkZip to create a ZIP copy (1.2MB). I copy the ZIP file to a second drive, and ftp a copy to a private folder on my Web site (the off-site copy). I also carry a copy on a USB key on my person.
Class 2 Backup: Each day I copy the entire folder of book files to a second drive (about 1GB). I also copy the changed chapter files to the USB key I carry with me.
Class 3 Backup: Every so often, I make 2 CDs of my digital photographs, one of which I give my parents to keep at their house. Once a year I make DVDs of all the year's photographs and other media files.
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