18 May 09 Backups on Windows and OS X

On all my computers I tend to keep multiple backups.  But what backups do you really need and what isn’t required.  Well, there’s no good rule of thumb.  More is better and using good software tools becomes a BIG requirement if you have > 1 backup.

However, just in the last few weeks I learned something new when my Vista laptop hard drive began corrupting on itself.  As for corruption, you can tell if you delete a file, and it takes forever and doesn’t delete.  Or some programs won’t launch, and random OS crashes begin to occur.

So to illustrate my backup story, here’s what I do.  Hard drives are so cheap now, having good backups is a REQUIREMENT.  I also shoot too many digital pictures to risk losing anything.  

My laptop (Mac OS X Leopard):

• Timemachine #1 hard drive.  I use the same hard drive for > 1 OS X machine. 
• Time machine #2.  Sometimes I do this.  This copy is stored a locked drawer in my office at work.  (offsite backup).
• Aperture backup #1 – realistically a second backup.  The first backup is the Time machine #1 hard drive.  Aperture takes too long to restore if you rely on the Aperture backup system.  I also use a custom rsync script to sync my iPhoto library to this same hard drive.
• Aperture backup #2 – Same as #1.  I store this in a locked drawer at work.  I rotate drive #2 & #1 each month to keep it fresh.

My Vista laptop (Windows Vista Enterprise) for work.  No bitlocker:

• Complete PC backup.  I use Vista Enterprise, so I use the built-in Windows tool.  This is a very important backup because you can restore your machine to it’s exact settings.  It takes too long to re-install programs and install updates on Windows.  This is a good backup for incremental point-in-time restores.  If you rely on your laptop daily, you need this backup.
• Complete files backup.  Sometimes I’ll use the Seagate FreeAgent software for this.  The built-in Vista enterprise version is not as easy as the Seagate version because you can’t access the files on the hard drive.  The Seagate FreeAgent software is a bit buggy because it sometimes has issues copying files, even when you’re admin.  These files backups are very important.  This specific backup protects you from OS corruption.  It’s a good option to restore files onto a clean OS install rather than the full, and potentially bloated or currupted OS sometimes.

For Windows, both types backups are a requirement.   This is because you need a snapshot backup system and you also need file backup in case of OS corruption.  

As for OS X, the Time machine backups work great.  I used the time machine backup to restore my laptop when I upgraded the hard drive.  You can always access the files at anytime, and you can store multiple computers on a single drive.

<rant about RAID>As for hardware recommendations?  I once worked on a hardware RAID box design.  Therefore I don’t trust RAID boxes.  I once worked at a networking company.  I kinda trust network backups, but direct connect makes file restore much faster.  I don’t use RAID specifically because the hard drive is TOO big.  You also only get 1 backup.  For a home or work user, an external hard drive is perfect because it’s simple and won’t require some massive box to run a few drives.  With RAID (say RAID 5 or 6) boxes, if you run out of space, then you need to spend $$$$$ to buy a new RAID box.  Typically, with the failure scenario of RAID systems, including RAID5, if one drive fails, it can be rebuilt.  But if one drive is failed, what does that mean about your other drives?  They’re all the same type, and have been used for exact number of years.  All of the other drives will probably start failing within the same year.  It just like changing one tire on a car when it’s bald.  Your other tires will need changing soon. </rant about RAID>

My main hard drives are OWC Ministack v2 or v3 3.5″ hard drive enclosures.  I use FW400 or FW800 to backup my OS X.  I trust the Oxford firewire chipset that’s in the box and at one time, I had bought many bare SATA drives, different manufacturers and lots.  As for my PC laptop, I use a slim 2.5″ Seagate Free Agent drives.  They’re not super cheap, but I somewhat convinced that there’s good reliability if there’s a 5 year warranty.  I only think of this reason because WD has a 3 year warranty.  The biz model for a 5 year warranty must be hard to calculate too!

Since I standardized on the OWC ministack, I’m able to use the same power supply for everything.  Sadly, I actually don’t use any of the multi interface features of the drive box.  I would recommend that people only use USB or FW drives only.  USB seems to be the best option these days as Apple is dropping FW from their products.  I think ideally if “I had a million dollars”, I’d rather move to all 2.5″ SSD drives for the speed and portability.  But for cost reasons, I’d probably recommend 3.5″ external drives from a major vendors (with a proven track records).  Good, free backup software is also a good thing.  Especially, if you’re backup up a Windows box that doesn’t have the Vista backup software additions (Enterprise only?).

Tags: aperture, backups, freeagent, leopard, ministack, os x, owc, raid, seagate, software, sysadmin, system administrator, vista, vista enterprise