Three main choices for backups

Database News - Wednesday December 19, 2007

SLOAN RANGER

Three main choices for backups

Computers fail, no question. The pain will be a lot less if you have a backup of your main data though

WANDA SLOAN

A wonderful email from a Post Database reader... but I repeat myself, asked about backups. Looking through old issues (irony intended) I see I have done about one column a year during this entire millennium, but this request had a somewhat different approach.

Your fellow reader wrote that he was getting very weary of waiting 30 minutes for a backup of his entire system on his spiffy new automated system, and is there a way to simply back up what has been changed in an operation that clearly would take much less time?

And of course as usual with these blasted machines, the answer is "Yes, but." That's why they still call them personal computers.

There are basically three types of backups, and then some sub-types.

Full backup or mirror backup is what the reader's automated system is performing. Everything is backed up, no matter how old or how many times it has been previously copied. One full backup is available for equally simple restoration of a damaged system, folder or file, no matter how minor or major the damage. Problem: It takes forever and it is not really logical to re-copy something that is already perfect.

Differential backup is a copy of all files that have changed since the last full backup. This seems to be what our Wednesday friend is looking for, but wait. Problem: If you keep performing only differential backups, they will soon outgrow the size of the full backup.

Incremental backup contains files that have changed since the last backup, whether full or differential. This is a popular type of backup because it is the fastest. Problem: It is the slowest restoration; every incremental backup must be applied, in the correct order, to arrive at the properly backed up system and data.

I have always used and recommended a variant and I throw it out as a suggestion.

Consider that it doesn't really matter if Windows breaks. You can repair or reinstall it, along with roughly 99.99 percent of your software. Make a mirror of your system and software if you must, but then forget about it unless you make a major upgrade.

Then figure out a strategy to back up the only stuff on your computer that really matters - data, particularly personal data - such as letters and books you wrote, family accounting and banking, important photos and the like. Back it up fully every month, and then use either differential or incremental backups daily.

I am a somewhat sceptical fan of portable hard drives dedicated to backups. I am a fan because keeping backups on a hard drive is probably fastest, statistically safest and certainly easiest; just press the big button that says "Go" and walk away.

Some of these are wonderful. The 60-gigabyte CMS portable backup system for around 3,500 baht even has a rescue CD so that when (not if) Windows lets you down, you can get working very quickly, and even work on the data you have backed up. Redundancy is good.

I am sceptical because portability automatically means dropability and loseability. In addition, one-button backups mean one-choice backups. No Burger King here. You back up what the drive wants you to back up, or you don't back up.

This could be a problem when (not if) you need to restore things. You may only want a few files or folders while the system tries to feed you two years worth of drivers, programs and temporary Internet files. Great care is needed in buying any such system, and of course it will be out of date a couple of minutes after the well-groomed and polite young sales person tucks your money away and hands you a receipt.

I have tried several of the online backup services and I am impressed. The reason I like them is that they are no-nonsense networks that do exactly what you tell them. Set them up once and you can automate them.

Most of the online backup services now have software connections between you and them. There are many ways to use this, but the most common is leave your computer running always, or for an hour or two after you end your work, and the backup occurs on a normal schedule that you set - but while you are dancing, not sitting there looking at the boring process.

Online backup is worth a serious look because of the incredible ease of restoring lost or damaged data. The Xdrive service I tested just pounds your selected backed up files and folders back onto any hard drive as fast as the connection allows, a real no-nonsense operation.

But there are two troubling parts of online. The first is the security of your data. That said, if you are working with sensitive material, it should be encrypted in some manner before any kind of backup.

The other problem is how to get to your backup if you can't get to the Internet. Before committing to an online backup service, examine how you feel being physically far from your emergency backup.

The single most popular backup software by Post Database readers continues to be Syncback. There is no learning curve to speak of, and it explains what is happening at all times.

Unless you are in love with your backup software, do have a look at Syncback at the colourfully named http://www.2brightsparks.com/syncback.

Email: wandas@post.com

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