In message , The Medway Handyman
writes
I save anything vital like my business accounts on to a memory stick, but I
don't backup general stuff - which could be an inconvenience if anything
happened.

I have Norton 360 which has a built in back up feature - but it doesn't
work. Drives me mad.

Everytime it reaches the stage 'Insert DVD' it them claims the DVD isn't
empty. Tried loads of different makes & the DVD slot works OK with
everything else.

So, would I be better off with one of these online backup companies or
buying some kind of external device?

If the latter, any suggestions to a PC numpty?


Here is my tuppence.

As others have said you need layers of backup, and I'd add, you need it
to work automatically. If it needs manual intervention it will fail due
to human failure sooner or later. I'd also want anything important
business wise to be backed up off site somewhere.

We have a server in the cellar, with a couple of pcs and laptops dotted
around. Most data lives on the server so is at least in one place. For
stuff that remains on the local PC's it is backed up to the server
automatically. Currently Sync Toy runs to copy the stuff over.

I use Fileback PC - which is a paid for program, I've been using it
for years and it's always been reliable. It has all sorts of options for
backups.

Data is backed up to a ITB external HDD (in this case WD Green drive in
a Summvision external case. Fileback is set to keep multiple copies of
files for IIRC 30 days. I've recently taken to having 2 external drives
and swopping them round with one stored at my parents house, but this
relies on me and may only happen every few weeks at best.

So I also use an online service, in my case Mozy.com. Yes I'm trusting
my data to a third party, but this is a last resort backup, if the
house burns down/gets flooded or all my local copies get destroyed for
some reason. We have the paid for service (the cost is small compared
to how much we value some of the data), so have an unlimited amount of
backup space. We do have a lot of stuff backed up there, as the photos
etc. are backed up there. If I ever needed to do a full restore from
there it would either take quite a long time to download it all again or
cost a lot to have it burnt to DVD and sent.

But really I don't envisage that really being necessary except in
extremis, as hopefully all but at worst the last few weeks data will be
sitting at my parents house.

I've never had to do a major data restore from there in anger. I do the
occasional test restore of some of the data, and have restored small
amount of data for real (the 30 days of changed files it stores has been
useful few times)

I also use Dropbox for file sharing/access and that would also work well
for backing up important files
--
Chris French