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Please brutally critique my backup plans

Please brutally critique my backup plans as if my precious photos, vids, and docs count on it!


Here is my plan:


1. Two external hard-drives with carbon copy cloner. These drives would be rotated out each week with one stored in my car and the other stored at work.

2. Time capsule or something similar that is wireless method of backup stored in a hidden location of my house. This would be a time machine backup for versioning purposes.


My questions, is time capsule the best device for wireless backup or are there better, more reliable, cheaper devices? Also, is carbon copy cloner more reliable than time machine in terms of preserving data?


Thanks

Aperture 3

Posted on Mar 11, 2014 5:35 AM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Mar 11, 2014 6:20 AM

Sounds pretty good. The only caution I'd give you is that your car is not a temperature-controlled environment and is not the best place to store a hard drive.


If you can attach wired for your first backup to Time Capsule, I recommend you do so for speed, and then wireless for subsequent backups provided you have sufficient signal. As to CCC vs Time Machine/Capsule, both are very good but work in different ways. Time Machine has versioning which CCC does not; CCC is a relatively fast, single-snapshot or cumulative bootable backup.


Matt

4 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Mar 11, 2014 6:20 AM in response to lostindc

Sounds pretty good. The only caution I'd give you is that your car is not a temperature-controlled environment and is not the best place to store a hard drive.


If you can attach wired for your first backup to Time Capsule, I recommend you do so for speed, and then wireless for subsequent backups provided you have sufficient signal. As to CCC vs Time Machine/Capsule, both are very good but work in different ways. Time Machine has versioning which CCC does not; CCC is a relatively fast, single-snapshot or cumulative bootable backup.


Matt

Mar 11, 2014 10:12 AM in response to lostindc

For longevity, desktop (ie, powered 3.5") drives tend to last longer than fanless portable (2.5") drives, but that's a generalization and there are very good portable drives (and poorly-performing desktop drives, of course). Most drives, even if initially Windows-formatted, can be reformatted for Mac using Disk Utility. Look for drives with good warranty periods. The Seagate portables have a 2-year warranty, I believe, which is pretty decent.


The main advantage of the 5th gen TC over the 4th is the 802.11ac feature; the reliability of its internal drive for backups should be identical.


Matt

Mar 11, 2014 12:55 PM in response to lostindc


lostindc wrote:


Please brutally critique my backup plans as if my precious photos, vids, and docs count on it!


Here is my plan:


1. Two external hard-drives with carbon copy cloner. These drives would be rotated out each week with one stored in my car and the other stored at work.

2. Time capsule or something similar that is wireless method of backup stored in a hidden location of my house. This would be a time machine backup for versioning purposes.


My questions, is time capsule the best device for wireless backup or are there better, more reliable, cheaper devices? Also, is carbon copy cloner more reliable than time machine in terms of preserving data?


Thanks


Dont recommend trusting WIFI data backups, nor do professionals.


CCC is more reliable, yes, to be certain. (see below why).


even Superduper, which is free. Any HD / SSD clone.


however thats a system clone / backup, NOT a data archive / redundancy (see link for differences)


You can only take system clones to the limits of the internal SSD / HD.




method of backup stored in a hidden location of my house.


You dont need hidden wifi, just archive ALL data, then stick it in a safe or firebox ($20 walmart), or also offload to a private website.



Data redundancy begins at...

1. All data on the computer is just that, your data.

2. All data on the first external HD is your backup.

3. Only the second external HD is your first safe data redundancy.


Protected data redundancy begins at the second external copy due to:


1. It not being connected. Any drive connected, backup or otherwise, is not to be considered a safe data redundancy.

2. Being the backup failsafe to the first external HD, not to the data on the computer which never should be counted in terms of data protection as "a copy".

3. External drives will invariably fail, and since most people falsely believe their external HD is their "safety", this error of perspective must be countered by yet another external copy of ones data.


Ones vital data must always be considered wholly independent and irrelevant of any data on the computer itself. Failure to look at one data in this matter is a failure which often can and does culminate in data loss.




All your questions are answered here:


Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection






extract from same:



Data Storage Platforms; their Drawbacks & Advantages


#1. Time Machine / Time Capsule

User uploaded file

Drawbacks:

1. Time Machine is not bootable, if your internal drive fails, you cannot access files or boot from TM directly from the dead computer.

2. Time machine is controlled by complex software, and while you can delve into the TM backup database for specific file(s) extraction, this is not ideal or desirable.

3. Time machine can and does have the potential for many error codes in which data corruption can occur and your important backup files may not be saved correctly, at all, or even damaged. This extra link of failure in placing software between your data and its recovery is a point of risk and failure. A HD clone is not subject to these errors.

4. Time machine mirrors your internal HD, in which cases of data corruption, this corruption can immediately spread to the backup as the two are linked. TM is perpetually connected (or often) to your computer, and corruption spread to corruption, without isolation, which TM lacks (usually), migrating errors or corruption is either automatic or extremely easy to unwittingly do.

5. Time Machine does not keep endless copies of changed or deleted data, and you are often not notified when it deletes them; likewise you may accidently delete files off your computer and this accident is mirrored on TM.

6. Restoring from TM is quite time intensive.

7. TM is a backup and not a data archive, and therefore by definition a low-level security of vital/important data.

8. TM working premise is a “black box” backup of OS, APPS, settings, and vital data that nearly 100% of users never verify until an emergency hits or their computers internal SSD or HD that is corrupt or dead and this is an extremely bad working premise on vital data.

9. Given that data created and stored is growing exponentially, the fact that TM operates as a “store-it-all” backup nexus makes TM inherently incapable to easily backup massive amounts of data, nor is doing so a good idea.

10. TM working premise is a backup of a users system and active working data, and NOT massive amounts of static data, yet most users never take this into consideration, making TM a high-risk locus of data “bloat”.

11. In the case of Time Capsule, wifi data storage is a less than ideal premise given possible wireless data corruption.

12. TM like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.

13. *Level-1 security of your vital data.


Advantages:

1. TM is very easy to use either in automatic mode or in 1-click backups.

2. TM is a perfect novice level simplex backup single-layer security save against internal HD failure or corruption.

3. TM can easily provide a seamless no-gap policy of active data that is often not easily capable in HD clones or HD archives (only if the user is lazy is making data saves).



#2. HD archives

User uploaded file

Drawbacks:

1. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.

2. Unless the user ritually copies working active data to HD external archives, then there is a time-gap of potential missing data; as such users must be proactive in archiving data that is being worked on or recently saved or created.


Advantages:

1. Fills the gap left in a week or 2-week-old HD clone, as an example.

2. Simplex no-software data storage that is isolated and autonomous from the computer (in most cases).

3. HD archives are the best idealized storage source for storing huge and multi-terabytes of data.

4. Best-idealized 1st platform redundancy for data protection.

5. *Perfect primary tier and level-2 security of your vital data.



#3. HD clones (see below for full advantages / drawbacks)

User uploaded file

Drawbacks:

1. HD clones can be incrementally updated to hourly or daily, however this is time consuming and HD clones are, often, a week or more old, in which case data between today and the most fresh HD clone can and would be lost (however this gap is filled by use of HD archives listed above or by a TM backup).

2. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.


Advantages:

1. HD clones are the best, quickest way to get back to 100% full operation in mere seconds.

2. Once a HD clone is created, the creation software (Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper) is no longer needed whatsoever, and unlike TM, which requires complex software for its operational transference of data, a HD clone is its own bootable entity.

3. HD clones are unconnected and isolated from recent corruption.

4. HD clones allow a “portable copy” of your computer that you can likewise connect to another same Mac and have all your APPS and data at hand, which is extremely useful.

5. Rather than, as many users do, thinking of a HD clone as a “complimentary backup” to the use of TM, a HD clone is superior to TM both in ease of returning to 100% quickly, and its autonomous nature; while each has its place, TM can and does fill the gap in, say, a 2 week old clone. As an analogy, the HD clone itself is the brick wall of protection, whereas TM can be thought of as the mortar, which will fill any cracks in data on a week, 2-week, or 1-month old HD clone.

6. Best-idealized 2nd platform redundancy for data protection, and 1st level for system restore of your computers internal HD. (Time machine being 2nd level for system restore of the computer’s internal HD).

7. *Level-2 security of your vital data.


HD cloning software options:

1. SuperDuper HD cloning software APP (free)

2. Carbon Copy Cloner APP (will copy the recovery partition as well)

3. Disk utility HD bootable clone.



#4. Online archives

User uploaded file

Drawbacks:

1. Subject to server failure or due to non-payment of your hosting account, it can be suspended.

2. Subject, due to lack of security on your part, to being attacked and hacked/erased.


Advantages:

1. In case of house fire, etc. your data is safe.

2. In travels, and propagating files to friends and likewise, a mere link by email is all that is needed and no large media needs to be sent across the net.

3. Online archives are the perfect and best-idealized 3rd platform redundancy for data protection.

4. Supremely useful in data isolation from backups and local archives in being online and offsite for long-distance security in isolation.

5. *Level-1.5 security of your vital data.



#5. DVD professional archival media

User uploaded file

Drawbacks:

1. DVD single-layer disks are limited to 4.7Gigabytes of data.

2. DVD media are, given rough handling, prone to scratches and light-degradation if not stored correctly.


Advantages:

1. Archival DVD professional blank media is rated for in excess of 100+ years.

2. DVD is not subject to mechanical breakdown.

3. DVD archival media is not subject to ferromagnetic degradation.

4. DVD archival media correctly sleeved and stored is currently a supreme storage method of archiving vital data.

5. DVD media is once written and therefore free of data corruption if the write is correct.

6. DVD media is the perfect ideal for “freezing” and isolating old copies of data for reference in case newer generations of data become corrupted and an older copy is needed to revert to.

7. Best-idealized 4th platform redundancy for data protection.

8. *Level-3 (highest) security of your vital data.


[*Level-4 data security under development as once-written metallic plates and synthetic sapphire and likewise ultra-long-term data storage]



#6. Cloud based storage

User uploaded file

Drawbacks:

1. Cloud storage can only be quasi-possessed.

2. No genuine true security and privacy of data.

3. Should never be considered for vital data storage or especially long-term.

4. *Level-0 security of your vital data.


Advantages:

1. Quick, easy and cheap storage location for simplex files for transfer to keep on hand and yet off the computer.

2. Easy source for small-file data sharing.


#7. Network attached storage (NAS) and JBOD storage

User uploaded file

Drawbacks:

1. Subject to RAID failure and mass data corruption.

2. Expensive to set up initially.

3. Can be slower than USB, especially over WiFi.

4. Mechanically identical to USB HD backup in failure potential, higher failure however due to RAID and proprietary NAS enclosure failure.


Advantages:

1. Multiple computer access.

2. Always on and available.

3. Often has extensive media and application server functionality.

4. Massive capacity (also its drawback) with multi-bay NAS, perfect for full system backups on a larger scale.

5. *Level-2 security of your vital data.


JBOD (just a bunch of disks / drives) storage

User uploaded file

Identical to NAS in form factor except drives are not networked or in any RAID array, rather best thought of as a single USB feed to multiple independent drives in a single powered large enclosure. Generally meaning a non-RAID architecture.

Drawbacks:

1. Subject to HD failure but not RAID failure and mass data corruption.

Advantages:

1. Simplex multi-drive independent setup for mass data storage.

2. Very inexpensive dual purpose HD storage / access point.

3. *Level-2 security of your vital data.





Streamlining thought about data protection, or C.A.R.D. (compartmentalized autonomous redundancy of data)


I coined this acronym about a decade ago for people to remember. Four words: "compartmentalized autonomous redundancy of data" or C.A.R.D. What this means regarding your data is “centralize it, isolate it, and multiply it”. This easy acronym to remember about how to approach your data is a great first approach to keep in mind.


Compartmentalized: separating out your data from your system files, centralizing all static and active files into a location or two to make backups, and archived data easier to update and locate. Centralizing your data collection is the primary hazard to overcome for what usually is the case of data that is scattered everywhere throughout your internal hard drive.


Autonomous: Isolation of data from changes, theft, decentralizing data to safes, fire boxes, offsite and online locations. Importantly ‘freezing’ data onto independent storage media for protection and from alterations, such as DVDs, hard drives, and online encrypted files, or .DMG created files of static data collections.


Redundancy: making copies of all autonomous isolated data such that data is decentralized not only in place and in media storage type (DVD, HD, online) for safety and protection as a failsafe, but each aspect of that failsafe has at the very least two redundant copies.


Data: all files made, saved, created, modified or working on. Important pictures, documents, videos, PDF, financial, personal. Any data large or small which you would not dare lose, which is private, important, hard or impossible to recreate, or most importantly, would take tremendous time to regenerate. Essentially anything important to you

Please brutally critique my backup plans

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