Backup devices, strategies and cloud backup services

Split off from the advice thread. @rhythmdevils addition:

Discuss Backup solutions, systems and could backup services

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What would be the best way to go about setting up a home network backup system? Say something like 4 separate users/6 computers in the home, a mix of wired and wireless machines. One laptop may only connect to the network every second day. I would like there to be an automated backup scheme somehow. Assume all users are incapable of remembering any extra logins or passwords and any required tasks from them cannot be more complicated than clicking a single icon on their desktop. All machines are windows based. Being able to backup phone contents (like photos) would be a nice bonus, but not a priority yet (and it's 50/50 iphones vs android).

I'm semi-tech-capable, but my knowledge of networking is meager. I only just barely figured out (as in it works but I don't know how) DLNA renderers a couple weeks ago. And my knowledge of "backup" is essentially "manually copy my files over to an external hard drive every couple months"

I know what a NAS is, and have accessed one at work before, but have never set one up before on my own. I'm not sure if even buying something like that is worth it, or maybe I should just buy some kind of online cloud storage/backup family subscription? (I have a knee-jerk hate for anything that's subscription based, but I'll get over it if that's the best solution)
I am not opposed to having both local and cloud backup, but one step at a time please.

So... what direction should I be going in?

 

@Armaegis I went with BackBlaze many years ago and never looked back. It is an online service but their prices are reasonable and you get unlimited space. In addition to ease of use, the other major benefit is your data is safe in case of fire.

I used to configure some sort of automated backup system for my main computer(s) or setup some form of RAID (allowed me to have redundancy if a drive failed. Yes nerds, RAID 0 doesn’t have redundancy, but I never used it for that reason).

Using BackBlaze is SO much easier. Once it’s configured on each computer you basically forget about it. The initial upload can be huge but after that it’s incremental.

 

I really like iDrive for online backup. You can do the initial upload by having them send you a physical hard drive and then sending it back to them. I had 7TB to backup so it would have been impossible otherwise. Their software is pretty idiot proof too. I’m always worried I will erase something but their software is too smart for it. It basically just works.

but I also have about 5 hard drive copies of everything here, 2 in different locations. And two are Drobos which are awesome for on location backups and come with NAS add ons. One drive can fail and you don’t loose your data.

 

A NAS is pretty easy to set up now for local storage and I believe most types of backups can be automated. Most of my actual documents (not pics, music, videos) live on Onedrive since I have an Office 365 family plan. Every once in a while I backup to the NAS. Been thinking of using one of the recommended online backup sites for deep storage of precious pictures and home videos. There should be a thread on the online options.

 

I was kinda thinking about Office365... I assume each user needs to make their own microsoft email/account?

Because then onedrive essentially "replaces" the desktop/documents/etc right? Because my folks are not computer savvy enough to use onedrive manually. I can barely get them to save files into folders rather than the desktop.

 

Yeah, if you're talking parents with zero computer savvy, go with O365 and OneDrive. No question. All their documents, pictures, desktop, etc. end up essentially mirrored in the Cloud. The trash bin is big enough that you can recover for minor failures.

If you're worried about data integrity in a catastrophic failure, have a copy of the login for yourself, and dump to your own offline storage device on a schedule.

If you're worried about privacy, setup 2FA.

 

Just wondering for Mac users but what is the general opinion of Time Machine? My current backup solution, which I know is inadequate but has gotten me out of a few jams, is to just have every desktop or laptop connected to it's own external drive which uses Time Machine.

Certain important docs are on google drive but otherwise I don't use much cloud storage

 

It's tough enough getting my parents to remember which passwords they use... Doing a password AND typing in a number code that gets texted to them? first they have to go get their phone, then the code times out, then they redo it but mistype it enough times that it triggers a timed lockout on logins, which makes them think something is wrong so they click the password reset button, but then get impatient and click the reset button 17 more times because the page wasn't loading fast enough...

 

In the vast majority of cases, they will never need to re-enter the 2FA. It is just for initial login.

 

@Beefy
Does onedrive have a "restore from XYZ date" function? This is one feature I really like from dropbox; I don't have to do individually by file or folder, I can simply restore the entire dropbox to a previous date.

 

No, doesn't seem to. Though that would definitely be *very* handy for your purpose.

I must admit, I dumped Dropbox when they tried to implement their stupid file browser.

 

I've had a free dropbox account for years, but their pricing has really jumped up. The family plan is also terrible... double the price of an individual plan, but no extra storage? what a rip.

Still, I'd almost consider just manually signing them up for individual dropbox accounts and resign myself to keeping track of their logins and passwords for them. I have to fix something manually for them every other day anyways.

 

Time Machine is good as one backup, but only having one backup isn't enough to be totally protected. The mantra for data backup is "EVERY HARD DRIVE WILL FAIL" it's only a matter of time. So you should have a second backup drive for each of your computers. This one doesn't need to be updated all the time. I have one Time Machine backup for each computer, and then I have a couple backup drive that I just clone using the app Super Duper which has a nice "smart update" feature which only copies the changes to make the two drives the same again. These clones are also nice because you can boot your computer off of them, they are identical to the main internal hard drive.

Then if you can, keep the cloned drives at a friend or family members's house and just back them up once a month or something.

So I'd say 2 backups minimum for each computer. And cloud backup as well is even better in case of a fire or tidal wave or super smart baboons.

 

Let me just throw in what I usually parrot on this subject: Any device in, attached to, on the same network as, nearby to, etc, etc, is not a backup: it is a convenient extra copy for those awkward human error moments.

Let me add that the cloud is also wonderfully convenient, but internet connections, internet services, may not be available at the moment you actually need them. Companies that may be big today may be not around tomorrow. Keep physical copies that your actual physical responsibility. Keep one not in your house, and fix the rotation by how much data you are willing to loose. External USB disks die too.

 

Several Raid 1 NAS for storage on UPS power.
Acronis True Image for scheduled backups on each computer.

Method:
Two rolling backups each week, Tuesday and Friday for each computer to first Raid 1 NAS.
Full backup at beginning of month for the Tue / Fri backups.
Incrementals for the remainder of the month.

Disaster recovery strategy:
Second Raid 1 NAS runs backups of the first Raid 1 NAS every Tue / Fri.
Periodically the Second Raid drives are rotated out to offsite secure storage.

I did this for my aging mother when she was alive and no data was ever lost. When she switched to Linux the backup system included with the distribution sufficed in replacing Acronis True Image.

 

Obviously, this does not include historic availability.

Hmmm... I suppose it could if one used software providing that function! I do actually keep tar system backups dating back a month or two, but data, I just sync.

I do use Timeshift to maintain a history of the root and home filesystems. I think its underlying tool is rsync, but it maintains the incremental differences. It writes to an internal partition, so no, it is not a backup. I use it at system installation and update milestones. It's really just there as a quick revert in case some update screws things up. I guess I could use it for data to an external device.

Back in the office days, we had a complex system of day/week/month tapes which I don't even fully remember. I think we kept monthly tapes for ever, and that off-site too. Internet-based external backup was not yet available until latter times: it was expensive and management wouldn't pay.

 

An article I came across about the importance of backing up

https://www.newsweek.com/lightyear-producer-credited-saving-toy-story-2-after-deletion-1680072

TDLR - Someone with root access accidentally deleted the entire production of Toy Story 2. Their onsite backups weren’t working for a month either, but someone working from home had the most recent version.

Might not be the best example though because that version was completely scrapped and the one we know was made in a rush by the deadline they had set.