Backup news

Anyone that's been here from the start will know I have a slightly unhealthy obsession with backups.  A couple of things have changed since I last blogged about this.

Time Machine
Firstly, I now have a mac at home and I've started using Time Machine. I don't want to pat Apple on the back too much because that really gets of my nerves, but Time Machine is absolutely fantastic.

It's exactly how personal backup software should work. You buy an external hard disk, tell Time Machine to backup there, and then you're done. You never need to worry about it again. Most of the time when I need my backup it's because I've accidentally deleted something I shouldn't. Time Machine allows you to, as the name suggests, just go back in time and find it before you made the mistake. Works like a dream.

After a botched attempt to upgrade to Snow Leopard I recently had my first call to do a complete system restore. All I can say is that it seemed to work perfectly for me - it didn't even take that long.


Rsync + windows
At work we backup to an external file server. Until recently that was Linux based and so I had no trouble using Rsync. Now we've been moved to a Windows server which creates all kinds of problems. Rsync just doesn't get on with Windows. Anyway, after a bit of poking around I finally have a script that does the job. This is my basic rsync call now:

rsync -rptgoDhpP --modify-window=1 --delete --log-file=RSYNCLOG --exclude-from=./exclude /home/username/ username

I'm pretty sure most of those options could be replaced with the -a but honestly, now it's working I don't want to touch it! The key command is the modify-window. This accounts for the different way that Windows and Unix file systems time stamp modified files.

SVN - Subversion
For programming and writing papers (in LaTeX) I've started using subversion to take care of version control. I'm also using a shared repository to co-write a paper at the moment - it handles simultaneous editing quite well. There is a start up cost in getting your head around how it works, I found this page very helpful, but once you're there it works very nicely.

I mention it here because the version control works a bit like a backup. You can step back through committed versions very easily. If you use OS X then it's installed along with XCode so you probably have it. With Linux it'll be in the standard repositories.

Well that's enough backup geekery for this year. Anyone using anything that they're particularly happy with? I've kind of given up on backing up over the internet for now but would be interested if there's been any developments.

Viva and Backup update

I thought I'd return to backups briefly and say how I was getting on with some of the web based ones. Initially I was using Mozy but after some problems with the software I uninstalled it. I'm too impatient to fix problems with this sort of programme so I ditched it. Live mesh, on the other hand, just worked. I have to say I'm getting on well with it. I don't really have a lot to say about it except that it's relatively unobtrusive and I don't think it's slowing the computer down too much.

In other news I passed my viva! Hopefully this means I can start talking about statistical physics more which is sort of what I wanted to do with this blog in the first place.

Backups

I'm pretty much backup obsessed. Of all the obessions you can have this is probably quite healthy. For example I wish I was a bit more exercise obsessed but what can you do? It's staggering how many people still don't think about backup despite the fact that they switched all their photos and music over to their PC years ago. One hard disk failure and you're buggered - and they fail depressingly often.

At work I've been using this rsync system for years. It's great, I never have to think about it but every day any new work is saved and you can track changes for as long as you like. Unfortunately I could never get this to work in Windows (through cygwin), I think it's a file system thing. Apple introduced Time Machine with their latest version of OS X. This is exactly the same system but packaged up in the neat Apple way as you'd expect. I haven't got this working on remote servers yet but I'll update if I do.

At home I'm still stuck with Windows XP (see earlier posts on why I won't switch to Linux) and I have an external hard drive. I'd really like something like Time Machine but at the moment I have to copy everything each time I backup - this is far from ideal. The simplest, and most effective, long term backup is still to post a DVD to your parents or a friend. It's cheap and it's off-site. The trouble with these last two (my current home setup) is that if my hard drive goes down I'll still lose 2-4 weeks worth of data as I can only be bothered backing up about once a month. Fortunately there is a new (new to me) solution brewing in the clouds.

It seems that storage is becoming sufficiently cheap that companies can now offer large amounts of online space for free. After reading this page I checked out a few of their recommendations. Initially Mozy looked really good but I didn't get on too well with the software so I moved to Microsoft's "Live Mesh". I have to say Microsoft appear to have knocked it out of the park with this one. I already had a hotmail account so setting it up was a breeze. Once it's installed you can just drag whatever folders you want to synchronise with the mesh. After that you just leave it in the background and it quietly makes sure you're files are synchronised. Seems to work well, I'll let you know how it goes.

This is more meant for synching files than it is backup but it obviously serves both purposes. I'm looking to use these kinds of service to fill in the month-6 month backup gap. I'll still use more traditional methods for older stuff. These systems all seem a bit early days and no doubt will improve with time, it's definitely a move in the right direction though.

If I could afford it I'd get a new mac £950 and a time capsule £200. But I can't. Damn expensive Apples. There are other network hard drive options though so that's worth keeping an eye on. Oh, and don't forget the ultimate. Despite being backed up on three computers I still emailed my thesis to my gmail account as soon as it was finished!