Fr Robert Ballecer, SJ I have been rethinking my backup strategy (which long story short has ...

[G+_Bryan Bardin]

Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ   I have been rethinking my backup strategy (which long story short has been pretty non-existant). I have been hearing about the 3-2-1 strategy, online backups, etc, for years. In watching show 108, I like the idea of prioritizing different data, I have Final Cut Libraries (I know, I know) that are 100s of GBs each which need a backup but maybe not 3 or 4.

 

My question is this - do you have any way of managing WHERE backups live?

 

And how important is having two different types of media in this day and age? DVDs are SUPER impractical! Do we consider HDDs and Amazon Glacier two different mediums?

 

Backup still feels like an impossibly BIG task, especially trying to do it well.

[G+_John Mink]

Bryan Bardin? I've been having this convo with myself (and others) for years >_<

 

Basically what I've seen is that "internet/cloud" counts as 2nd medium. Remember, 3-2-1 isn't a promise to keep your data secure, it's a good rule of thumb! So, it's a safe bet that if you lose everything & go buy a new machine, Glacier will be fine. And if Amazon decides to stop the Glacier prpgram, again, you'll be fine cause you'll have your data!

[G+_John Mink]

As for actually doing it... I'd say this:

 

Look at what you have and what your ideal backup is. Then figure out what you need to get that ideal setup & start prioritizing! Maybe you need to save up an external drive, but then you can setup Glacier now.... or maybe you don't have to to do Glacier today, then go buy an external & sync it up today! Up to you, but break it down. And if you need help with the planning, I hear there's a few Know-Holes around here full of that stuff!

[G+_Jared Bartimus]

Synology appears to have the option to create backups based on what folder you are backing up.  You could set things up where you put large bulk files that are lower priority in one folder which is only backed up to a local drive and then important stuff in another folder which automatically gets synced to Amazon Glacier or another service.

[G+_Bryan Bardin]

John Mink It sounds like you aren't worried about finding two different types of media... 

[G+_John Mink]

Bryan Bardin?? well, the cloud really negates a need for a 2nd form of media.

 

Think about it this way, if your data is on two disks, they'll age the same & be vulnerable to the same things whereas one HDD and a Tape/Floppy will probably not die at the same time & have different strengths/weaknesses.

 

The cloud basically prevents any sort of local issue from causing data loss. The big remaining concern is user error aka "oh shoot, I didn't mean to delete that" and the Know-How episode on Glacier shows you how to set up versioning!?