File Storage & Backup

TomStutt

Senior Member
Hi All

Just a quick one...

How do you store all your files etc, for web design and graphic design???

Do you store them locally on a server or some external storage???

Thanks, Tom :)
 
Hi Tom,

All my current projects/clients I store locally on my HD, then completed work I move across to an external HDD, also have a backup of all my work that runs regularly each week making a dated backup of all files on my HD.

I should really archive the work from the external HDD to CD/DVD as heard a few horror stories about external HDD going wrong and losing the data!
 
I'm a bit paranoid when it comes to backing up.

I have all my files on my HD, and do rolling backups when ever I think of it onto an external so I have at least three recent backups. Then every month or two I archive the latest back up and burn it to dvd.

So I end up with an archive on my HD, and my External as well as a little library of dvd's that I can refer to if I absolutely have to. I also try to keep the dvds in another location as a really paranoid precaution.

I developed most of these habits from my day job where there are a lot of re-prints and amendments so I'm always trawling through past artwork, having the archive saves me a lot of time. Especially with spotlight on my mac.

Probably a bit too much, but anyone that has has HD failures/lost work will probably understand.
 
Krey20 said:
Probably a bit too much, but anyone that has has HD failures/lost work will probably understand.

As they say a stitch in time saves nine!

Does anyone use any specific backup software? At the moment just run the free software that came with my external HDD, PC > HDD, does anyone use PC & Mac to one HDD?
 
I'm thinking about getting another external HD to run the "Time Machine" application that is part of Mac OS 10.5. It automatically backs up the HD and runs in the background.
I would probably do this in conjunction with everything I do at the moment. It would just give me a little more peace of mind over everything else on my computer that isn't work related.

Time Machine seems like a good little app, anyone else use it?
 
I use Time Machine as well! Great little app, I have had no problems with it but then again have not had to use it to restore anything yet.... *knocks on wood*
 
Use Time machine, recently used it, when my font collection went crazy on me.

Only thing I havn't tried with Time machine is a full system restore...
 
Use Time Machine at home for everything :) which works great for me :) at work though we use an internet storage thing which is awful!! but the boss and the owner of the internet storage company are best friends... so its a mates rates thing... rubbish though.
 
Greg said:
As they say a stitch in time saves nine!

Does anyone use any specific backup software? At the moment just run the free software that came with my external HDD, PC > HDD, does anyone use PC & Mac to one HDD?

I use my HDD from PC to Mac, and the software that comes with it. Drag and drop.
 
Greg said:
As they say a stitch in time saves nine!

Does anyone use any specific backup software? At the moment just run the free software that came with my external HDD, PC > HDD, does anyone use PC & Mac to one HDD?

I found a software online that works wonders... It's the only one that i actually decided to buy after trying it for the first month. It's called Oops (Time Machine Backup Software for Windows 7, Vista & XP - Includes Desktop Continuous Data Protection and Version Control. Recover Deleted Files and go back in time to recover documents and files) and it works just like Time Machine except it's for PC. It has the time travel feature so if you accidentally delete files from your backup you can still restore earlier versions of them or if you want to see what a file looked like a few weeks back but have overwritten it you can.

I'm very happy with it and would recommend it to all to try it out. Shame it's only on PC though. x
 
Greg said:
I should really archive the work from the external HDD to CD/DVD as heard a few horror stories about external HDD going wrong and losing the data!

Such as mine :<
Now I keep everything on a new HDD and I use Time Machine on an additional one.
 
I have a raid 5 based server, along with copies on cd in 2 places (family) in locked cd cases. All currently active work is backed up to the server while being worked on in 1 hour intervals and also stored on an external drive (daily) which is easy to grab along with it's power pack in case of emergency exit due to fire or similar :) I looked into the fire resistant cases but damn are they expensive lol

I also keep copies of all program disks in the cd cases purely as a back up as you never know what may happen.

Getting hold of another pc to allow work to be completed is easy, with the time my work can take to complete I don't want to be having to start from scratch.

As to that oops program, I'm sure windows 7 (at least on pro) has something like that built in called shadow copy (needs to be enabled) which allows you to view previous files. Never bothered with it myself as I 'stagger' my file saves at set stages anyway but it's there even if no one uses it lol
 
I'm terrible when it comes to backing up!

I finally got around to back up all my design work from the last year the other day, and that's the first time I've ever backed it up! :D Although I think I sent loads of stuff to my Gmail account at some stage. :)

You guys back up your backups! I feel bad now. :eek:
 
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