Need backup recommendations

[paulhenricarvalho]

Hello Cad users.  I recently had a horrible crash as a result of trying to do a backup from one external hard-drive to another using Sync-Toy.  It completely emptied two complete folders with about 2 years of work.  I was able to retrieve some of it from the recycle bin where it ended up for some reason but not all unfortunately, so some of my jobs are going to be done from scratch-bummer I know.

My question is:

what do some of you recommend as a reliable backup?  I am considering expanding my Dropbox folder to accommodate my current year of work while keeping last year on an external drive like a My Passport.  This is how I typically work-from an external as I don't like keeping files on my computer.  Suggestions for backing up files and folders?

Thanks in advance,

Paul Carvalho

[john.vellek]

HI @paulhenricarvalho,

This sounds like a tragic event but I am glad to hear that you were able to recover some of the data.

I suggest always working local as this is the most reliable and fastest way to work. However, backup is critical. I personally do backup in three methods.

I work local and at the end of each day I copy the contents of my project folders onto a 2nd (external) drive.  Second, I use cloud based sync to get my data on the cloud not only for backup but also for accessibility from anywhere.  Lastly, I use restore points in Windows.  To take this one step further, I used to  also use Windows Backup to nightly run an additional backup to an external drive.

As a safe guard, I also rotate through more than one external drive so I have multiple instances of data and if critical I actually place one set of drives in my safe deposit box at the bank.

I know this sounds like overkill but it has saved me from catastrophic failure in the past and is inexpensive to do.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[pendean · Accepted solution]

Purchase 3 external hardrives use USB3 ports if your PC has these newer faster ports.

Set one up for MWF backups.
Set the second up for TTS backups.
Set the 3rd up for Sunday backups (weekly).

Use a backups software like SYNCBACKPRO from these folks https://www.2brightsparks.com/ to set up your Mon-Wed-Fri, Tues-Thu-Sat and SUN backups to work in the background, on their own, without you ever have to do anything manually.

Need offsite? DropBox Plus for offsite sync is pretty decent for small shops https://www.dropbox.com/upgrade

[john.vellek]

Hi @paulhenricarvalho,

I am checking back to see if my post or Dean's helped you with your problem. Both of us have a similar theme in our suggestions - multiple backups and different locations. Please mark a post or posts as accepted solutions if they resolved the issue or give me a bit more detail on this issue so we can continue to work towards getting this solved.

Please hit the Accept as Solution button if a post or posts solves your issue or answers your question.

[paulhenricarvalho]

Hmmmm , odd as I haven't seen any replies which is perplexing to me.  This reply from you is the first, and now that I'm logged in, I can see the others.  Thanks for the replies BTW.

[paulhenricarvalho]

It was awful-over 50,000 files and I recovered about 1/3 of them.