[toddbagwell]

I wanted to start this poll to see where everyone is with their music and data storage and backup. I can't imagine a much less enjoyable way to spend a week or so repeating the ripping process of my CD collection. 

I don't know what the policies of all the websites I've used to download Hi-rez files are in regards to downloading lost files a second time, i.e. do they require a second purchase or is it permissible to re-download already purchased music?

We all spend some serious time ripping, organizing, and tagging our libraries and if a simple routine backup plan can prevent repetition of any of that boring task, I'm all for it! 

I'll let this poll run for a while, and once it looks like we have a general idea of what most members are doing, we can talk about the pros and cons of each method.

later,
todd

ps- I just completed my off-site storage this morning! Feeling secure, if slightly paranoid. 

[sts9fan]

I keep a back up drive offsite that I back up once a month.  Plus I do online back up.  I was using Mozy which was fantastic for $5 a month.  Then I got the email that they were making the $5/m up to 20gigs and 1TB would be something like $200!!
The ole bait and switch.  Needless to say I cancelled on the spot and am now using Carbonite which seems to be inferior in every way to Mozy.  I did lock in my price for three years ($4ish/m) so thats good.  The initial backup with Mozy only took about a month but carbonite is gonna be at least twice that.

[firedog]

I use a WHS machine that does an incremental backup once a day of all the main data on my network. I also have another backup on a second internal HD on my main machine that I maintain as a totally manual backup of that machine.

I have quite a few digital transcriptions of vinyl and  I addtionally backed these up onto optical discs stored elsewhere, just because it would be such a monumental pain in the ass to redo them if somehow the other backups all failed (in a home fire, for example).

At some point I'll make another full backup I keep offsite, and just update it once a month or so.

And yes, as far as I know the online download sites require you to buy again if you lose your data.

[wilbert-vanbakel]

A week reripping?

It took me months to rip my music and properly tag them and yes I also downloaded tracks. My music is stored on a 1 TB 5400 rpm hard drive in a low power cheap Atom based system and I wish I had purchased two more of these systems. Sadly, they are discontinued. Anyway, I rsync a full backup to a 500 GB hard disk in a desktop (only 270 GB used yet) whenever I add of change anything.

And I'm looking for a decent deal to purchase two 1 TB 5400 rpm hard disks so that I have more than one backup.
Also, have you practiced and tested a full restore yet? I have! What does a backup mean if the restore doesn't function?

[TONEPUB]

Sooloos backs everything up automatically, but then I do an additional (offline) backup quarterly.  I'm not buying nearly as much music as I used to in digital form, and all of my HD downloads go to my computer, which are being backed up daily with TIme Machine.

[kgturner]

My computer has 3 hard drives. The main C: is 500GB and holds all my music ripped to wav which is streamed to a Logitech Touch. The second drive (F:) is also 500GB and holds all my music ripped to flac and 320k mp3. The third drive (E:) is 1TB and holds all my music ripped to wav, flac, and 320k mp3 as well as all my pictures, videos, and miscellanous documents that I'd prefer not to lose.

Kevin T

[skunark]

Music Backup:
CDs - primary physical backup, and with hi-rez downloads, i also burn the files to a CD
TimeMachine backup - (automated) - normal HDD, backups entire computer hourly including media - primary objective is for quick recover of hardware failure, dumb user tricks, or a virus.
Online backup - (automated) - focus is just data, not the entire HDD and no applications.  Only purpose is to recover from theft or fire.  Restore will be slow.
And if all of the above doesn't cover me , I will have to buy the album again

Photo Backup:
Print,
Aperture Vault, new vault drive every year or two.
Time Machine
Online backup,
Share with family and friends.

RAID5/1, mirroring, drobo, etc shouldn't be considered as a backup solution, they only increase the reliability of the HDD.  They will not protect against fire, theft, virus or dumb user tricks.

[lcrim]

I have actually rebuilt servers from a backup.  It has become apparent to me that most don't bother to backup even in a corporate environment.  Even when provided with a private folder that gets backed up to tape and sent to an environmentally safe vault.
BTW, a synched copy is not the same as a backup and will rewrite data that has been discarded.  There is no need to backup applications,  You only need the data that is the product of the applications.  Many users backup their entire local drive.
I use a free product at home, called Synchback downloadable @  http://www.2brightsparks.com/download-syncback.html
they do not resell your email address.
I do a backup when I add new music or other files.  My Win7 laptop is automated to make regular system images to my primary music hard drive.  I have yet to exceed my original music drive size even @279 gigs and started to save flacs at compression level 1 for increased quality.  These drives are connected to my older laptop (music server) via a USB 2.0 connection
I then put that drive in my car's trunk.

[skunark]

Sooloos backs everything up automatically, but then I do an additional (offline) backup quarterly.  I'm not buying nearly as much music as I used to in digital form, and all of my HD downloads go to my computer, which are being backed up daily with TIme Machine.

I thought sooloos just mirrors the drives? 

[guest48077]

I have two, 2 TB Drives in my main PC. The second of the two does a complete backup of the first every week. the main PC is on my network.

I ran no back up for years and always drove by the computer store thinking "I should really back my 800 GB worth of music up".................then my hard drive crashed and I lost everything.

I will never Never NEVER Ever store my music with out a back up. Hard drives are too cheap these days not to.

[Big Red Machine]

Only 8100 songs but I have quadruple back-up which includes a variety of HD's and one master 2 TB unit in a fire safe.