Your thoughts: Easiest way to backup MSOffice Docs

[prowler]

As a novice and someone not knowledgeable and/or willing enough to continue battling with Onedrive, please give some easy and convenient methods to back up my Office Documents - other than burning on a DVD. I want to know my Docs are safe and up-to-date on a weekly basis. Thanks, all.

Roger

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

The easiest way would be to get a basic Carbonite.com account and let it automatically backup your data on one of their cloud servers. Their plans start at $60/year (that is the plan I use). However, just one backup copy isn't the safest way to protect data from loss.

To be reasonably safe, your data should reside in three places: your computer, an onsite backup, and an offsite backup. Carbonite (or CrashPlan or Backblaze) can be used as an easy, fairly inexpensive way to get an offsite backup. The simplest and least expensive onsite backup would be to get an external HDD and connect it to your computer only when you update the backup (backup drives should be kept disconnected from the computer except when updating them to protect them from malware, etc.).

Keep in mind that any data that is not backed up will be subject to loss. While using a cloud backup service will backup data shortly after it is generated, it is far safer to also have an onsite backup that is updated frequently; a week is too long to go between backups. I backup my data at least once a day.

 

[prowler]

Hi Jeannie, and thank you for your reply. I'll definitely check out the options you provided.

 

[Stu2009]

Hi Roger, I also had many problems with OneDrive and now only use the service as a permanent storage drive, syncing with OneDrive has proved disastrous with lost data. I now use Box.com. Create a document from Office and then immediately save to "box". in Box, it is synced, as soon as you select "save" and can be accessed/synced across different platforms. Never lost any docs or data. Also use Google Drive to sync documents in a simular method.
Also for OTG...save to SD/media card within the computer. Just a couple of extra clicks to protect your important data, spread the wealth!

 

[prowler]

Hi Stu -

Great ideas. I especially like the "box" concept as I'm already signed up there. That gives me an easy alternative for saving docs.

Roger

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

While Box might be a good offsite backup (I'm not familiar with Box), you still need an onsite backup of some kind, such as an external HDD, a thumb drive (if you don't have very many documents), etc. If your internet connection goes down, you wouldn't be able to access your backup until you got your connection back. It's also possible for Box to permanently lose your data (it's been known to happen with even the best cloud backup services unless you pay the bigger bucks for a business plan with georedundancy). By having more than one backup, if one should fail, you would still have the other one to fall back on.

I personally have a set of four backup HDDs for each one in my computer (I have three HDDs in my computer and a total of twelve backup HDDs). Two of each set are kept in a drawer except when updating a backup; the other two of each set are in a safe deposit box at my credit union. I swap the onsite HDDs in the drawer with the offsite HDDs in the safe deposit box no less than once a month, depending on how much data I add or change. Since any data added or changed since I put the HDDs in the safe deposit box would be lost if I lost originals and onsite backups (such as theft, fire, etc.), I also have a cloud backup service (Carbonite.com). I have enough data that, if I had to recover all of it from the cloud backup, it would take me weeks to months to recover it all. However, I can relatively quickly recover most of my data from the offsite data, then the rest from Carbonite, which will take much less time since there won't be nearly as much to download.

I could get by on just one onsite and one offsite HDD for each HDD in my computer (most people do). However if I were to lose both the original and the onsite backup HDDs, I would have to got to my credit union to get the offsite HDD. If this were to happen on, say Saturday morning of a three day holiday weekend, I would have to wait until the credit union reopened to get my data back. By having the second onsite backup HDD, I can be up and running again in as little as three hours instead three days. Any drive, including backup drives, can fail at any time, hence the added redundancy.

Most people do not go to the extreme I do (it is a bit anal) but I'm covered for just about any data loss scenario, including a meteor or asteroid strike that wipes out my home and credit union (they are only six miles apart) while I'm lucky enough to be out of State and out of range of the catastrophe (yeah, I know, I'm being silly now). All seriousness aside, I did have a situation once, on the Saturday morning of a three day weekend, where my main data drive became corrupted but still readable and, when I tried to update one of the two backup drives, the backup failed and the data on the backup drive was lost. Since I still had the second backup drive, I was able to reformat both the main data drive in my computer and the one backup drive that lost its data, then recover the data to both from the second backup drive. I knew what data had been added since I had last updated the backups so I was able to copy that data from the main data drive before I reformatted it to another HDD in my computer (I had just ripped several new CDs; fortunately, I was still able to access that data), then copy back after restoring the rest of the data. I was up and running in only three and a half hours instead three days.

 

[sevenslater]

Wow Jeannie, that's some pretty decent back-up system you have there! I have a lot to learn from you, even though I think I'll never get to that level I personally have my data in only two places: On my computer and on my external harddrive. I know that can be dangerous, so I'm also looking for an option to store my data online. Since I have my own dynamic cloud server for my company's website (by 1&1), I was thinking of storing my data there as well. Do you think that would make sense, or is it easier to just sign up for Carbonite? Thanks for the advice!

Maria

p.s.: Sorry if this question sounds stupid, you might have notived by now that I'm not an expert on computers..

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Wow Jeannie, that's some pretty decent back-up system you have there! I have a lot to learn from you, even though I think I'll never get to that level I personally have my data in only two places: On my computer and on my external harddrive. I know that can be dangerous, so I'm also looking for an option to store my data online. Since I have my own dynamic cloud server for my company's website (by 1&1), I was thinking of storing my data there as well. Do you think that would make sense, or is it easier to just sign up for Carbonite? Thanks for the advice!

Maria

p.s.: Sorry if this question sounds stupid, you might have notived by now that I'm not an expert on computers..

Thanks, Maria! Btw, it hasn't been all that long since I didn't even know what a backup was so don't think you can't learn. The people here at Seven Forums are extremely knowledgeable and helpful; they certainly have helped me a lot.

First, Maria, your question is NOT stupid! It's a question I wish everyone would ask, even if only to themselves.

Second, I took a look at 1&1 and would definitely be much easier to use Carbonite for your offsite backup and, depending on how much data you have now and how much you generate and change in a month, may even be cheaper. I'm not sure if Carbonite will take business from the UK (I suspect it depends on if they will accept non-U.S. credit/debit cards) but you can always contact them at www.carbonite.com to find out. Although a bit more work to set up, a paid plan with www.crashplan.com is another possible option. Both Carbonite and Crashplan have software that, once installed on your computer, works in the background to continuously check to see if you have new or changed data that needs uploading, then uploads it for you automatically (or you can set it to upload only at or during certain times). Unless you are actually going to use either for a business, be sure to check out the home/personal plans. I use Carbonite's cheapest personal plan.

 

[sevenslater]

Thanks a lot, Jeannie! I looked at the Carbonite website and they also have European version, so that should not be a problem. I think I'll go with that, then, it seems to be the easiest and cheapest option. Thank you for your understanding, too!

 

[dslomer64]

The easiest way would be to get a basic Carbonite.com account and let it automatically backup your data on one of their cloud servers. Their plans start at $60/year (that is the plan I use). However, just one backup copy isn't the safest way to protect data from loss.

To be reasonably safe, your data should reside in three places: your computer, an onsite backup, and an offsite backup. Carbonite (or CrashPlan or Backblaze) can be used as an easy, fairly inexpensive way to get an offsite backup. ...

Am I kidding myself that using Google Drive (free) is a good idea? Every once in awhile I notice its system tray icon is "faded", meaning that it isn't running, probably because I lost the wireless signal. Other than that, I've had no surprises.

I also use external hard drive.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

The easiest way would be to get a basic Carbonite.com account and let it automatically backup your data on one of their cloud servers. Their plans start at $60/year (that is the plan I use). However, just one backup copy isn't the safest way to protect data from loss.

To be reasonably safe, your data should reside in three places: your computer, an onsite backup, and an offsite backup. Carbonite (or CrashPlan or Backblaze) can be used as an easy, fairly inexpensive way to get an offsite backup. ...

Am I kidding myself that using Google Drive (free) is a good idea? Every once in awhile I notice its system tray icon is "faded", meaning that it isn't running, probably because I lost the wireless signal. Other than that, I've had no surprises.

I also use external hard drive.

Yes, you are kidding yourself. You've just had no surprises yet. The two greatest problems with using Google drive is, 1. Google is infamous snooping on its users (and Google drive isn't particularly secure), and 2. free services are notorious for disappearing with little or no warning. Google is notorious for discontinuing its own free services with little warning. A basic paid backup service is much safer, more reliable, and can cost as little as $60/year. That's only $5/month and most of us have at least one vice we would be better off without that we can steal that little money from.

Just keep in mind that no one should rely on just one backup, including cloud backups. A minimum of two backups physically separated from the computer and each other are needed to reasonably ensure the safety of your data.

 

[Stevekir]

I want to backup all my documents, not just MS Office ones, and it is no more difficult to do that than just the Office ones.

I have recently bought Second Copy after a trial. It cost about £23 only and I am very please with it. (It was recommended by two people on sevenforums. It is exceptionally easy to set up, entering info such as what disc etc. in simple dialogue boxes labelled "What", "Where", "How". It can be set up to carry out the backup(s) periodically or manually. I have two external, desktop, USB hard drives, one as a first backup and the other as a second backup. As I don't want these running continuously when the computer is on, I switch them on, select all the backups, and manually tell Second Copy to do the backups while I go on to other tasks etc. Its works a treat. Here is a clip of the my backups:

EDIT: Having seen the post immediately above, I would never rely on an external system for backups. As the poster says, the second party could go bankrupt, die, or just quit. Keep it in-house, I say. I also have set up Windows' Backup and Restore procedure to backup the C: drive at 4 pm every day, and create a restore point now and again, for example just before installing something. Its all very easy after things are set up.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I want to backup all my documents, not just MS Office ones, and it is no more difficult to do that than just the Office ones.

I have recently bought Second Copy after a trial. It cost about £23 only and I am very please with it. (It was recommended by two people on sevenforums. It is exceptionally easy to set up, entering info such as what disc etc. in simple dialogue boxes labelled "What", "Where", "How". It can be set up to carry out the backup(s) periodically or manually. I have two external, desktop, USB hard drives, one as a first backup and the other as a second backup. As I don't want these running continuously when the computer is on, I switch them on, select all the backups, and manually tell Second Copy to do the backups while I go on to other tasks etc. Its works a treat. Here is a clip of the my backups:

EDIT: Having seen the post immediately above, I would never rely on an external system for backups. As the poster says, the second party could go bankrupt, die, or just quit. Keep it in-house, I say. I also have set up Windows' Backup and Restore procedure to backup the C: drive at 4 pm every day, and create a restore point now and again, for example just before installing something. Its all very easy after things are set up.

Good job! You understand how backups work. The only way you could improve on what you are doing is to keep one of you backups offsite (such as a locked desk draw or locker at work, a bank safe deposit box, or at a trusted neighbor or friend's house) and switch the two backups out frequently.

I understand and agree why you wouldn't want to depend on a second party external system for backups. However, good, reliable, paid cloud backup service can be used to provide an offsite backup that is easily maintained and will be more up to date than most offsite backup solutions for a fairly low cost. This would be in addition to having a local backup(s) so, if you were to lose any one of your backups, you would still have another one to fall back on.

I use Carbonite to supplement my offsite backups. If I were to lose all my local data and backups, it would take me forever (ok, just several weeks to a couple of months) to recover all my data from Carbonite. However, if I just had my offsite backups to recover from (HDDs in a safe deposit box at my credit union), I would still lose any information I had added or changed since I put the the HDDs in the vault. However, if I should lose all my local data (such as my house burns down, taking out my computer and local backups), I could quickly recover bulk of my data from the offsite HDDs and then download the rest from my Carbonite. I would be able to fully recover with no loss of data in just a couple, three days instead of weeks or months. An added bonus I get from Carbonite (there other good paid cloud backup services, such as CrashPlan or Backblaze) is I can access that data from my notebook when I'm on the road and have a secure internet connection.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I have recently bought Second Copy after a trial. It cost about £23 only and I am very please with it. (It was recommended by two people on sevenforums. It is exceptionally easy to set up, entering info such as what disc etc. in simple dialogue boxes labelled "What", "Where", "How". It can be set up to carry out the backup(s) periodically or manually.

Yeah, excellent program. I used it for 10 years.

I see you have 8 profiles set up. I originally used 5 or 6 myself, but I eventually whittled that down to I think 3 after I decided that there wasn't much point in separate profiles for most items considering my directory structure--all data on one drive.

I think I ended up with profiles named something like this. I have 3 physical drives: C, D for data, and E for backups.

All Data (this would include 100 percent of D). Destination E.

Firefox backup: backs up my Firefox browser installation and bookmarks from C. Destination E.

Thunderbird backup: backs up my Email installation found on C. Destination E.

I gave up on Second Copy only because I was eventually asked to pay again for a new version (for Win 7 I think) and I'm too cheap.