Netbook - Good Backup and Security Plan?

I've spent a lot of time getting my Eee PC (1000HD) all set up. I'm using TrueCrypt, Dropbox, and Acronis 2010 in addition to any OS provided tools. I have an external 1.5TB drive, and an external 110Gb drive in addition to my Netbook drive.

I have Windows 7 Ultimate with passwords required on boot and wake up from hibernation.

C Drive is the OS/Programs, D Drive for user data
Acronis is used for for backups, I make an image of C once a month, and backup user data/settings weekly.

Also weekly, I backup my image library and music library to an external drive. Unencrypted,though.

I set up dropbox on the D Drive, and used Truecrypt to make an encrypted drive, which I mount only when sync'ing my user data to it. It then update the online copy of the encrypted drive, which is my "offsite" backup.

I set up another encrypted drive on an external drive. Any data that I need to archive(ie get out of the way) is stored here. Its not backed up as it's too big for dropbox.


Thoughts:
I have my original Netbook drive ( 110Gb ) left over from my hard drive upgrade that I could store backup's on. It would be nice to have at least 2 copies of everything.

I haven't encrypted sensitive user data on my Netbook. I'm considering using the built-in encryption in Windows 7 Ultimate to do this as my impression it would have lower overhead than 3rd party tools. My policy is to only encrypt what needs to be encrypted, and also to not leave any sensitive data lying around unencrypted.

What do you guys think of my set up? Overkill? Not enough? My main concern is protecting data in case of hardware theft. I want to force them to give up and just wipe the media as it isn't worth their time to try and get at my data.


-Thanks in advance

jagooch said:

I've spent a lot of time getting my Eee PC (1000HD) all set up. I'm using TrueCrypt, Dropbox, and Acronis 2010 in addition to any OS provided tools. I have an external 1.5TB drive, and an external 110Gb drive in addition to my Netbook drive.

I have Windows 7 Ultimate with passwords required on boot and wake up from hibernation.

C Drive is the OS/Programs, D Drive for user data
Acronis is used for for backups, I make an image of C once a month, and backup user data/settings weekly.

Also weekly, I backup my image library and music library to an external drive. Unencrypted,though.

I set up dropbox on the D Drive, and used Truecrypt to make an encrypted drive, which I mount only when sync'ing my user data to it. It then update the online copy of the encrypted drive, which is my "offsite" backup.

I set up another encrypted drive on an external drive. Any data that I need to archive(ie get out of the way) is stored here. Its not backed up as it's too big for dropbox.


Thoughts:
I have my original Netbook drive ( 110Gb ) left over from my hard drive upgrade that I could store backup's on. It would be nice to have at least 2 copies of everything.

I haven't encrypted sensitive user data on my Netbook. I'm considering using the built-in encryption in Windows 7 Ultimate to do this as my impression it would have lower overhead than 3rd party tools. My policy is to only encrypt what needs to be encrypted, and also to not leave any sensitive data lying around unencrypted.

What do you guys think of my set up? Overkill? Not enough? My main concern is protecting data in case of hardware theft. I want to force them to give up and just wipe the media as it isn't worth their time to try and get at my data.


-Thanks in advance

Overkill X2 and deficient in some ways.

You have protected some of the most common causes of data loss. You then add all sorts of things that can make the copies un-useable. Passwords-- one glitch in a read or write and you end up with a copy you cant use.

True crypt--protects but again. Dropbox--Yep you guessed it.

My question is are you concerned more about your data, or your security. Arent the external HD's and copies under your Physical control? Why pword them.

Just remember encryption is a double edged sword. It does secure but also lessens recoverability of the data.

Then there are the aspect you havent considered. Single point of failure. Your cpu dies and the data cant be transferred to another rig because you are a different GUID on it.

How important is the data? How much time do you want to spend securing it?

I will say one thing, you are doing more than 99.9% of users. Most dont even backup

Good Luck

Ken

My goals are:
Data Recovery - Backups
Data Redundancy - Data Mirror
Data Security - If someone gets physical access or posession to my Netbook or external drives, they can't get to my data.

It would probably help ( me included ) to see how I am covering this:
Data Recovery
User files and Settings are backed up by Acronis weekly
User files and are backed up to Truecrypt Volume "1" in Dropbox folder weekly
Archive data(old but I want to keep )is moved to Truecrypt Volume "2" on the external USB drive.

Data Redundancy
The Truecrypt volume "1" is on a local hard drive and in the dropbox cloud.
iTunes and picture ( Adobe lightroom catalog ) libraries are echoed to external USB drive weekly
The system partition is backed up as an image file every month. I have a spare drive that the image fits on it, the user partition would fit as well, minus some data like the picture and music libraries. They are on the External USB drive, though.

Data Security
The Acronis backups are password protected.
Truecrypt volume 1 is pass-phrase protected.

Holes In my Setup:
User data on the Netbook is not encrypted. If the data thief cannot login, they could put the drive into another system and probably get to it.

Archive data is not redundant

System drive image is not encrypted or at least password protected.

Thoughts:
This is more complicated than I'd like. Every week I have to connect the external USB drive, let Acronis do its backups, mount the Truecrypt volumes,run SyncToy jobs to sync the Dropbox and media libraries. Once a month I boot from the Acronis recovery disk and image the system partition. Whew!

If I increase my Dropbox limit so that the archive data will fit on it as well, then I could keep both in the same Truecrypt volume have a copy in the cloud as well.

Truecrypt volumes are not tied to a user id , or GUID. So I only need to provide a pass-phrase ( the longer the better ) to access the data them.

The whole reason for Dropbox is to make the data available off-site. I had some coworkers go work at a remote site in another country, and their passports were stolen. One did not have a digital copy of their birth certificate so they had to wait for weeks before they could go home. The other had a copy available online, and was one the plane home in a few days. I'd rather be the latter guy. :)


Finally,any advice on handling user data on the Netbook? I'd stick with Truecrypt if it can encrypt folders so that can just select which folders to encrypt and be done with it. Right-clicking a folder and checking "encrypt" in Windows Explorer is pretty tempting right now.