As the tech support person for my family I have a duty to protect our data. Prior to having so much digital stuff, if we lost pictures or documents due to something like a fire, we'd be sad, but ultimately there wasn't much we could do about it. However, now that we have the ability to easily protect against such loss, I feel like my family is justified in their anger towards me if I don't take steps to protect our stuff.
Spoiler: Time Machine to Time Capsule, Backblaze, and SuperDuper!.
In the interest of clearing up my thinking about protecting our digital stuff I'm writing down my system. It'll also serve to give me a quick place to point family and friends if they ask me what they should do.
Requirements
- Automatic
- At least one copy onsite
- At least one copy offsite
- Need a bootable copy (optional)
When I use the term "backup" I actually mean two different things. The first is simply a copy of a file in a place other than my regular computer drive. The second is to keep a history of revisions to a file. Without revisions, any accidental change to a file will eventually propagate throughout the backup system. Both meanings are important for computer backups.
Rule 1. If my backups aren't automatic they won't get done. It's that simple. The system must run if the computer is on. It's okay to fail if a drive isn't attached or there is no network connection. These are situations that I will know about and correct without any sort of reminder. If I wasn't aware each time our network was down I'd probably build in some sort of backup failure notification system as well.
Rule 2. Local data is still the quickest to access and use for recovery. It is also the cheapest and fastest for creating the backups. Typically there are no recurring fees or passwords involved which increases the likelihood that these types of backups will get done.
Rule 3. Backups prevent loss of data in case of accidents, damage, drive failure, etc. If all of my copies are stored at my house and something catastrophic happens, my backups will likely be destroyed as well. Therefore I need to have an offsite copy. However, this still must satisfy rule 1. Any system where I'm juggling drives between locations is not automatic and therefore won't happen.
Rule 4 (optional). This is my optional step. Whether or not to have a bootable backup depends on how long you want to spend getting back up to speed when something bad happens. With a bootable backup you can literally swap out the bad drive with the clone and be running again in a few minutes. It's also possible to replace the bad drive and then clone from the backup drive to the new drive for a quick recovery. If speed isn't important this step can be skipped.
Current Setup
My first line of defense is Time Machine to a Time Capsule. Time Machine runs about every hour if the computer is on and connected to the network. I set Time Machine to backup everything in my home folder except my iTunes Media folder. This setup gives me automatic, hourly copies of my files with all revisions.
I bought a Time Capsule since we use laptops and it's easier to do wireless backups than to remember to connect and eject drives each time I move the laptop. I'd suggest a Time Machine backup drive at least double the size of the combined drives you are backing up. The Time Capsule isn't cheap, but it can function as a wireless router and print server too. I like being able to put it in the basement and forget that it's there.
Next up is Backblaze for offsite backups. Backblaze runs automatically and is pretty cheap. I have it backing up my documents and photos. Upload speed is still pretty slow here so I'm conservative in what I'm selecting for backup. If everything at my house blows up, I'll still have access to my most critical data.
There is some risk involved in storing your files at someone else's facility. However, I don't have anything super secret so I feel fine with the default security at Backblaze. Also, if they go out of business or change their terms or pricing dramatically I can always change services. Since I still have onsite backups I wouldn't be unprotected during the change period.
Since working on my computer is my job, I'm using SuperDuper! use to create a clone each night. The clone is set to run each night as long as my external drive is attached. It copies each file to the clone drive and makes it bootable. If my laptop's internal drive dies, I can replace it with an exact clone in under five minutes. The external drive needs to be at least the same size as the drive you are cloning.