Help With Backup Strategy

Hey guys. So, it seems that my main (only) HDD in my laptop may be failing, so I've ordered a new drive to replace it. I'm not sure if it's failing or not, so I figure I'll use it as a backup drive - I'll wipe it with DBAN, buy an internal HD caddy for my laptop and install it as a secondary drive to use solely to hold my backups.

Right now, I really don't have a great backup strategy. Every so often I'll copy the contents of my documents, pictures, music, downloads, playlists, email data and other important data to an external USB HDD. I know this is a terrible way to manage backups, and I think I just need some kind of automated backup solution, or else I'm never going to get a proper method in place.

I've used Dropbox and Syncplicity in the past. I hated how Dropbox forced me to place all of my files inside one folder. I shouldn't have to change my directory structure to use their product (and yes, I know there's a symbolic link workaround for that ). Syncplicity seemed nice, but it seems like there's a lack of development going on, and a lack of communication between the staff and community. I just don't feel confident storing my data there anymore. Sometimes the servers would be down for hours, but Syncplicity wouldn't post anything via Twitter or even give a heads up. Each time I wondered if my data had simply gone "poof."

I've been doing research since I learned that my drive could possibly be failing, and I think I've decided on using both an online storage service, along with weekly full disk images to be stored on an internal backup drive. I'll also rotate the backup images once per month onto an external USB HDD located elsewhere in the house. Does this plan sound like a good strategy?

For online backup services, I'm looking at SpiderOak and CrashPlan. Crashplan is pretty darn cheap (2.5x cheaper than SpiderOak with their edu discount). I'm leaning towards SpiderOak though because a few sources indicate that CrashPlan has reliability issues (backups completely lost or corrupted). Does anyone have any first hand experience with these companies?

For local image backups, I'm trying to decide between Macrium Reflect Free and EaseUS Todo Backup Free. They both seem comparable in features... which one is more reliable?

TL; DR... Trying to decide between SpiderOak and CrashPlan for remote backup storage, and Macrium Reflect Free and EaseUS Todo Backup Free for local. Does anyone have experience with these companies/software?

Thanks!

 

Any suggestions or comments? It seems like Macrium Reflect is a pretty solid piece of software after searching here at Wilders and I think I'll try it out. I'm also leaning towards trying out SpiderOak and seeing how it works. I'm mainly concerned with the reputability of SO though... are they reliable? Can I trust my data with them?

Thanks in advance!

 

I've been using Macrium Reflect 4.2 complete edition for some time now with an external Samsung HD w/o any issues whatsoever, MR has yet to fail me.
Although I've heard of some that have had problems with v5. (maybe fixed by now maybe not)

 

I've been using Macrium Reflect v5 for two months now and have no issues at all. After being and struggling with Acronis products for 3 years, the difference is amazing after switching.

As for online backup, I installed Windows Live Mesh on my work computer at the office and sync files between it and two computer at home. It's free and handles unlimited size of data.

 

I'll give Macrium Reflect a whirl and see how it goes. It seems like a lot of people favor it over Acronis and EaseUS, and for my simple needs, I don't think I can go wrong here!

Regarding Mesh: I'd prefer to stay away from anything Microsoft-backed if at all possible. Plus, no encryption for stored files (transmission only)? That's a dealbreaker for me!

I'm very tempted to try out SpiderOak, just for my documents for awhile as a free "demo" to see how things work. Does anyone here use them?

 

Hi,

I like Macrium Reflect and just discussed in as my fav image. Note that I use early images, close to the OS install, preferring file backup to image backup later on.

If you are only going to do image backups, make sure the image program allows you to read file-by-file as a fallback, hopefully in a way that looks like a normal directory tree to be copied. There are too many problematic aspects to fully depend on images that are tied to a puter and a specific restore facility.

Steven

 

http://arstechnica.com/getting-it-done/2012/04/spideroak-dropbox-for-the-security-obsessive.ars

 

You're going to use a suspect failing drive for a backup?? That's interesting. Can you depend on it?

 

been using spideroak for a little bit now and have had no complaints about it. some one else posted a link to ars with a good review over spideroak it so far has been been great for me speeds are good with backups and restoring. even though they say encryption happens at the client side i would still suggest encrypting anything sensitive then have spider oak back it up. i dont trust the cloud.