Back up solutions

[1964GN]

We are looking for a new automated back up solution for our art files. Ideally we would like a specific directory(s) on the art computer synced to an on site external drive as well as a clould back up site. The ability to select what we want backed up, where it gets back up to, and when each sync is performed would be nice.

What back up systems do you have in place?

[Gilligan]

Dropbox is probably the easiest to setup.

From there the options vary greatly.

[Maff]

We use Livedrive for our automated back up of art files. Every night it syncs up. We also use their briefcase option for old art work from years past that just need to be archived on the cloud and not stored on our computer.
But we use Google drive for our day to day file sharing of proofs, film print files and invoices within our office/shop.

[blue moon]

I just bought a safe with an USB port and have decided to keep the backups in house. My fear was that online is waay to slow for a full system recovery.

The safe is rated for an hour at 1700 degrees and is also waterproof. We have a sprinkler system here so the likelihood of a fire going that long and that hot is slim. The only problem with this's solution is that it does not address the theft issue.

This is the second backup as the primary is a dedicated drive in the server.

Pierre

[jvanick]

I'm very techy (like Gilligan) so this solution might not meet the needs of everybody...

- we have 2 linux servers running Samba (windows file sharing)... one at the shop, and one at my house.

- The servers are using a bi-directional sync application called 'Unison' which keeps both shared directories in sync.  (we're currently setup on a 2 hour sync, but I can force a sync at any time)

- every night, the shared directory gets backed up to 2 external USB drives on the home server.  The backups are rotated each night between the 2 external drives, and these drives get swapped out to our safety deposit box once a month.

Benefits of my solution:

1. we have a 'online' backup so we can restore if something "happens" to a customer folder.

2. I can work from home on my laptop and have access to all of our data.

3. if we go to the bank, we have a month older data able to be restored. (great if something like cryptolocker were to occur)

4. all the software was free, just took me some time to get everything tweaked correctly.

[1964GN]

Thanks for the reply's.

I am on the geeky side as well but I have way too many things on my plate and setting up server at the owners home and shop isn't going to happen

My thoughts: Use software like FBackup to handle local back ups to an external drive and an offsite backup to the cloud. I understand that recovery from the could can be an issue should there be a flood/fire/etc that takes the shop out, but if that happens we'll have plenty of spare time on our hands Thoughts?

So, what cloud services should be avoided? There are a lot of em' out there

[kingscreen]

We use Dropbox. $99/yr for 1T.

[blue moon]

I'm very techy (like Gilligan) so this solution might not meet the needs of everybody...

- we have 2 linux servers running Samba (windows file sharing)... one at the shop, and one at my house.

- The servers are using a bi-directional sync application called 'Unison' which keeps both shared directories in sync.  (we're currently setup on a 2 hour sync, but I can force a sync at any time)

- every night, the shared directory gets backed up to 2 external USB drives on the home server.  The backups are rotated each night between the 2 external drives, and these drives get swapped out to our safety deposit box once a month.

Benefits of my solution:

1. we have a 'online' backup so we can restore if something "happens" to a customer folder.

2. I can work from home on my laptop and have access to all of our data.

3. if we go to the bank, we have a month older data able to be restored. (great if something like cryptolocker were to occur)

4. all the software was free, just took me some time to get everything tweaked correctly.

I would love to do something like it, but our upload speed at work is 0.75 Mbits and it would take for ever to backup the TB or so of data. . .

pierre

[jvanick]

I would love to do something like it, but our upload speed at work is 0.75 Mbits and it would take for ever to backup the TB or so of data. . .

ouch. 

We had about 300gb to sync, so the first sync I brought home a usb hard drive with all the data on it... now we only sync changes (roughly 100-200meg per day average)

[LuckyFlyinROUSH]

Check out CrashPlan.

[jvieira]

We use WD My Cloud. It's a NAS where we sent all our files. Every person in the company has a folder where they can store their work files and everyone - if we choose to - can access it and work on those files. We do not have it back up all our computers but I'll try and set that up until the end of the year. It's only a local backup but we can also choose to add a second hard drive and have it back up everything to it and save it somewhere else.

It's pretty handy, we moved to it from dropbox

[inkbrigade]

+1 for the Dropbox solution


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[Gilligan]

I'm digging this one up from the grave as I've found a pretty decent "fail safe" solution for a lot of the guys here that have fairly simple needs.

Backblaze online backup solution.    https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-backup.html#af9ewp

$50 a year (or two for $95) and you get unlimited storage.

They will FedEx you a drive up to 4TB for $189 bucks next day FedEx of your data.  You can of course retrieve anything you need (even individual files online very simply).

This runs a constant backup (if you set it to) of all of your data as the day goes by.

Only problem so far is the initial backup is PAINFULLY slow.  They optimize the upload based on size of files, so small files go first, that way it gets as much as it can backed up the fastest (so you don't have all of your files waiting on that one 4gb GoPro video of your son skateboarding )  I have mine cranked wide open and it's rolling at a very slow 3Mb/sec... so our 3TB is going to take a few months to back up.  But as of now we are mainly waiting on DSLR Videos of our production company to back up that I probably don't even need backed up.

Once backed up though, everything should be pretty smooth sailing and for ~$50/year that is CHEAP off site disaster recovery peace of mind.

It won't backup networked computers or windows servers, but it will backup externals and you just need to run it on the other computers (for an additional $50/year) to backup those other computers.  For us, we have an accounting computer and my wife's computer that host all the files for the company.  So two systems is all we really need backed up and we have the main parts of our business covered.

Again, this solution won't be perfect for everyone, but at $50/year... it's a cheap extra layer of protection.

Unlimited space is what sold me.