Back That Data Up!

Is your data backed up? No? You're not alone. In this article, you will learn some of the methods to help keep you safe.

Written Aug 22, 2008, read 323 times since then.

Do you have a backup?

No? Neither do most people.

In a former life, Kris – my business partner and co-author of this article - used to manage a computer store and repair center. Nearly every day, customers would burst through the front door screaming like banshees, fist-sized chunks of hair missing from their heads, lives on the brink of ruin, wielding their laptops like impotent battle-axes. It didn’t matter that Kris had some of the best hardware technicians on the planet in his employ; the only surefire solution to data loss is a pre-emptive strike.

As a media production company, we deal with terabytes of data and we’re fanatical about keeping it safe. While you may not ever deal with as much data as us, we’re guessing the contents of your hard-drive are just as important.

The three primary methodologies to data backup/safeguarding are:

Automated hardware
Online
DIY

These three methods, no matter how complex or costly, work around the adage “if your data doesn’t exist in two places, it doesn’t exist at all.”

Nobody can tell you the value of your data; that is something you’ll have to decide for yourself. $100? $20,000? $1M? There is no wrong answer, but it will play a huge role in how much you should invest to keep your information safe. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that if you do have a hard-drive kick the digital bucket, it can cost up to $5,000 for a professional restoration facility to attempt to recover your files.

Automated Hardware Solutions
Our company employs three data safeguarding systems, all of which are automated hardware solutions.

The first is an external RAID, where all our media and client files are kept. A RAID, very simply, is a box that contains many hard drives (ours uses eight), but which your computer sees as one. Ours is set up in a format called RAID-5, which means that when the computer sends it data, the data is written in such a way that any of the eight hard drives can die and everything would still be safe. Some say this works because of "parity data", we like to call it magic.

The other common setups are RAID-0 and RAID-1. RAID-0 is a very scary option, as there is no redundancy in the system. If a drive fails, all the data is gone.

RAID-1 is almost the exact opposite of that. It is slower but extremely secure, because each drive has a mirror. Every time you write a file, it is actually written to two hard drives simultaneously.

Many companies make external RAID arrays that can be formatted whichever way you want, but the stalwarts in the field – especially for video applications – are CalDigit, Dulce, Sonnet and Maxx Digital.

The second system that we use is actually a small-scale RAID-1. Our computers have internal hard-drives that store things like the system files, our iTunes library and of course our famous recipe for Swedish Chocolate Cake. To keep all that data safe, we have two hard-drives inside our MacPro – the system drive, and a mirror for that system drive. So now, whenever we download a file – say that hot new Justin Timberlake single – it is automatically written to both drives.

The third system is a scheduled clone for the iMac that is primarily used for bookkeeping. This system is an actual "backup", versus the RAID systems which are safeguard against equipment failure. Now that Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) is out, we just use the built-in Time Machine feature; before that, though, we used a great application called SuperDuper. Either way, the setup is the same. Plug in an external hard-drive, tell the application what you want to back up, and at what time and how often you want the backup to occur. Done. If the iMac’s drive takes a dive, we can simply grab our files off the external.

Online Solutions
There are essentially two types of online backup solutions: servers to which you upload your data and Cloud Computing, online services in which you actually create your data.

Servers. These are great because your workflow while creating documents doesn’t change. You open Word, you type, you save. You open Photoshop, you design, you save. The backup part comes after you’ve created the file.

You can subscribe to Apple’s MobileMe service (née .Mac), which can be automatic and timed, just like Time Machine. For example, you could set up your computer so that every day at 2am it uploads a specific folder to Apple’s servers. Now your data is in two places. If your computer is infected by poltergeists or bursts into flames, you can retrieve your files from the Internet.

Amazon.com also offers a similar service called S3. Since Amazon.com doesn’t actually make computers (no, the Kindle doesn’t count), the integration into your operating system isn’t quite as easy as Apple’s. There are, however, a plethora of tools out there that will make the process of uploading to Amazon’s servers as simple as possible.

But a backup server doesn’t actually have to be online – it can be in the privacy of your own office.

If you have more than one computer connected to the Internet, you are probably using a router to split the connection. Companies like Lacie make hard-drives that you can plug directly into that router, which is then accessible by all computers on your network. These drives are referred to as NAS devices: Network Attached Storage. If you use a newer Apple Airport Extreme as your router, you can just plug any old USB hard-drive into it and all your computers can access it. Snazzy.

Cloud Computing. The most well known tool in this realm is Google Docs. Google Docs is a rudimentary version of Microsoft Office, but online!

The upside is that a) Google automatically backs up everything you create; and b) you can access your documents anywhere you have an Internet connection. So, the next time you’re writing a proposal you would launch Firefox, go to your Google Docs page, and write your document there.

Microsoft also has a system like this, which integrates into Office, called Office Live Workspace.

The workflow of Cloud Computing is obviously much different than your traditional client-side application usage, and there isn’t (yet!) a Cloud Photoshop or AVID or Final Cut Pro, but it is certainly a viable option for many types of documents.

DIY
“But," you might be saying. "Automated hardware sure seems complex and expensive – I don’t have any 7-year-olds who can administer that kind of equipment!”

Or maybe, “Yeah – like I want the freaks at Apple, Google, Amazon or, for the love of all that’s holy, Microsoft to be reading my confidential information!”

No matter. Just as rolling up your money and keeping it under your mattress does the job without all the grueling paperwork and prying eyes of the bank, you can very easily create your own, simple backup system.

As long as you actually use it, as long as it actually duplicates your data, you are in good shape!

1. E-mail your important documents to yourself. If you only deal with a few files a day, e-mailing them to yourself is often the easiest and best way to create an ad-hoc backup.

2. Copy your files to a thumb-drive or a CD. If you work primarily out of one folder, you can make a routine for yourself: every Thursday night, burn that folder to a CD, label the CD with the date, and file it away. Now, not only do you have duplicates, but you also have version management – if you need to go back in time, you can (note: Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd not included).

3. Print them out. We’re not joking. If you deal mostly in the written word, sometimes having your files printed on actual paper (we know, how last millennium, how not Green) can be a life saver. A friend of ours recently lost the digital copy of a novel-in-progress. Fortunately, he had a printed copy. So, even though his computer had betrayed him, he only had to re-type 120 pages.

And there you have it, folks - some of the many ways to keep your data safe!

Remember, no matter which method you decide to employ, just do something! Hard-drives WILL FAIL and losing files can have very real consequences. At best, you cry. At worst, you go out of business. Spending a little time and money now can save you a lot of heartache later.

Always live by The Code, and you’ll be fine: “If your data doesn’t exist in two places, it doesn’t exist at all.”

Happy Byte Wrangling!

Lindy and Kris Boustedt own First Sight Productions. They make films - for corporations, non-profits, the web and the silver screen. They are currently in pre-production on their first feature film.

Learn more about the author, Lindy Boustedt.

Comment on this article

Posted by Richard Jackman, Seattle, Washington | Aug 23, 2008

Hey Lindy,

Clearly written summary that made sense even to me! This will help me figure out how to deal with the multiple types of files I need to back up and protect. Thanks!

Rich
Posted by Andrew Schell, Bellevue, Washington | Aug 23, 2008

Simple and to the point, I use local backups for my personal files at home and we have a corporate offsite backup once a week.

I visit with many business owners who have no data, billing or digital copies of past work. This is something we talk about quite a bit.

Anybody know of someone who provides data backup services? Get a hold of me.
Posted by Pamela Ziemann, Bellevue, Washington | Aug 24, 2008

Thanks for the reminder Lindy, I've got to start using Time Machine...

Good Luck with your first feature!

Energetic Speaking Coach in Bellevue & Seattle
Posted by Lindy Boustedt, Seattle, Washington | Aug 24, 2008

@Andrew - Not sure exactly who can provide data backup. Let us ask some of our contacts in the IT industry and we'll get back to you.

@Rich and Pamela - thanks for the kind words!

First Sight Productions - Don't Blink
Posted by Andrew Schell, Bellevue, Washington | Aug 24, 2008

Lindy how did you create the hyperlink below your post?
Posted by Dan McComb, Seattle, Washington | Aug 24, 2008

@Andrew - it's a signature line, and you can create yours in your account settings. It's a good idea to create one, because it really helps boost traffic to your own website and your search engine optimization, too.

Biznik Business Networking
Posted by Douglas Rector, Renton, Washington | Aug 24, 2008

We use BWYSE. Our information is backed up each night to an outside location. www.bwyse.com. They are great to work with and are Indies.
Posted by Kevin Selkowitz, Seattle, Washington | Aug 24, 2008

I have to nitpick that RAID isn't a backup system, its an uptime technology. It does offer protection from failed hard drives, but cannot restore files to a specific time in the past, say if a file is accidentally deleted or gets corrupted. Its a great part of a backup solution, but cannot be used alone as a backup solution.

One consideration of an online backup service is upload bandwidth. Business DSL upload rates are commonly under 1Mb and I've never seen one over 1.5Mb, business cable goes up to 2Mb - real world performance is always lower than the advertised maximum. Bottom line is even with compression you're lucky if you can get backup rates of 1GB/hr and it may be much slower. Certainly that's plenty speedy for Word and Excel documents, but an office full of larger files (i.e. film footage, iTunes Libraries, Exchange databases) won't be able to pull off online backup without significantly faster internet access which means significantly greater cost.

I'm a fan of Apple's Time Capsule and IBM's IDB.

Small Business Phone Systems
Posted by Chris Radant, Seattle, Washington | Aug 24, 2008

I'm a writer who has a 2 book deal with Simon & Schuster. I had the first draft of my 2nd book approx 2/3 finished when a lightning storm came out of the blue. This was long enough ago that I was using CD back ups. Long story short, I was burning the disk just as lightning struck very close-by and it blew everything away. The data was retrievable, but it could not be read. All that work on my new book-Kaplooey.

After spending a month under my bed with a bottle of vodka and 12 tissue boxes, I pulled up my socks to star a new one, and for the first time in my long career, I'm blocked.

Then I had 2 consecutive external drives for back-up. Each failed.Each time I lost more data.

Now I'm just sending files to myself through google. I'm so glad to hear that's a safe way to do it--I'm a skeptic now.

Thanks for this essential info!
Posted by Lindy Boustedt, Seattle, Washington | Aug 24, 2008

@Kevin - Thank you for the comment! We absolutely concur. To clarity: for the sake of simplicity, we were trying to focus the article on hardware failure, not accidental deletion. We wanted to write more about safeguarding than anything else.

But yes, files do become corrupt and accidentally erased, and it is vital to have some sort of protection against that, as well. Time Machine, for those of you on a Mac, is a great way to have the ability to restore files from the past - and it even has fancy graphics. :-)

With something like Time Machine, you are actually able to see many iterations of your file. So, if you made a change 5 days ago, and you want to go back to that version of the file, Time Machine will let you.

A RAID system, of any format, would not.

But again, things like RAIDs and clones help to keep you safe (safer, anyway) from mechanical malfunction.

@Chris - that is an unbelievably sad story. Hopefully something like that never happens again! Good luck on your writing!

First Sight Productions - Don't Blink
Posted by Richard Whitaker, Federal Way, Washington | Aug 25, 2008

Thanks for the reminder. Backing up my data has never been a high priority to me, but now it is.

Rich
Posted by Roy Seney, Bellevue, Washington | Aug 26, 2008

Great subject and one that we are always preaching to our customers...

For single users/road warriors we recommend Carbonite (about $50/year @ www.carbonite.com)

For servers or mission critical desktops, we recommend Shadowprotect from Storagecraft (about $80 for desktops and $600 for servers).
Shadowprotect creates a complete image of your PC/Server that allows you to recover the complete system (even to a different computer) in a matter of minutes.

The key to remember is that file based backups only backup your data, you still need a working PC to restore it to, where "image" based backup will back up the entire PC so that recovery is much quicker.

The key to remember is to make it automated or usually, it doesn't get done...

Roy Seney Computer Troubleshooters www.ctmypc.com
Posted by Lindy Boustedt, Seattle, Washington | Aug 27, 2008

@Andrew - we just talked with a former colleague who is the Sales Manager for IrisInk (http://www.irisink.com). His company, while it is Mac-based, should be able to get any system set up with a backup and also manage an offsite component. paul@irisink.com

Hope that's helpful!

First Sight Productions - Don't Blink
Posted by Eric Larson, Seattle, Washington | Dec 05, 2008
Side note to Kevin. (Regarding upload speeds and costs)

With a SharedBand connection you can bond multiple low cost connections together for Data Center quality redundancy and rockin' throughput.

I have a basic Comcast connection bonded to Verizon FiOS connection.

Bonded together I typically see:
- 24Mbps Download
- 5Mbps Upload
I spend just over a hundred dollars a month for this smokin' setup.

There are viable, attainable options available to greatly increase your speeds and up time. Which do not come near the exorbitant costs of T-1's and bonded T-1's.

Sorry for sideswiping a topic. :) Please excuse the bragging. :)

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