My current data backup strategy
September 4th, 2008
This is how I’m backing up my important personal data these days. It’s not perfect but I think it’s better than nothing.
Level one – Apple Time Machine (daily)
Pros
- Hourly backup when iMac turned on.
- On-site, attached to iMac.
- Backs up everything
- Effortless
- Relatively cheap
Cons
- On-site – will be destroyed in fire
- Could be stolen along with iMac
- Disc will fail at some point
Level two – DVD backup (weekly)
Pros
- Archive quality disc
- Less likely to fail than hard drive
- Stored off site with friends and family
- Relatively cheap
Cons
- Harder to manage
- Labour intensive
Level three – online backup (monthly)
Pros
- Backed up to scalable server
- Taggable
Cons
- Expensive
- Prohibitively expensive to backup music and video
What I’m backing up
- Priority one
- Photos (iphoto)
- Music (itunes)
- Video (my flip video)
- Documents
- Websites / portfolio work (mamp / htdocs)
- Application serial numbers
- Photos (iphoto)
- Priority two
- Applications
- Settings
Tags: backup, data, Web design