Back That Data Up!

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: <ul><li>Automated hardware</li><li>Online</li><li>DIY</li></ul>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 <a href="http://caldigit.com/">CalDigit</a>, <a href="http://www.dulcesystems.com/index.html">Dulce</a>, <a href="http://www.sonnettech.com/product/storagesolutions/index.html">Sonnet</a> and <a href="http://www.maxxdigital.com/">Maxx Digital</a>. 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 <a href="http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/timemachine.html">Time Machine</a> feature; before that, though, we used a great application called <a href="http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html">SuperDuper</a>.  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 <a href="http://www.apple.com/mobileme/">MobileMe</a> 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 <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?node=16427261">S3</a>.  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 <a href="http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/007641.html">plethora</a> 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 <a href="http://www.lacie.com/us/products/range.htm?id=10007">Lacie</a> 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 <a href="http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/">Apple Airport Extreme</a> 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 <a href="http://docs.google.com">Google Docs</a>.  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 <a href="http://workspace.officelive.com/">Office Live Workspace</a>. 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! 2008-08-22T23:37:11Z

2008-08-23T18:54:22Z

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back-that-data-up

2008-08-23T18:21:28Z

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.

Back That Data Up!

2009-02-24T09:45:41Z