Robot Files Backup Day

[Admin]

Today is officially Robot Files Backup Day (as decreed by your much feared loved admin).

You should backup your files, software, CAD files, photos and videos of your robots, etc . . . and I don't just mean making copies of your files on the same harddrive . . .

Get a $20 USB key and put all your important stuff on it. Then move the key off site, such as a safety deposit box, your parents or gf's place, your work office desk, etc. Otherwise, if there is a fire or theft, you lose everything (a bad thing). I recommend having more than one backup plan, just in case.

And always date your backups.


ps - and while your at it, update your anti-virus defenses

[dunk]

or better still,
document your project online and put copies of all your firmware, PCB files, CAD files, etc there.

that way you can always access everything from wherever you are in the world
and
other interested people can examine your designs and provide valuable feedback.

i use http://sites.google.com because it's free, easy to use, no annoying ads, there is a file download section,etc.
also Google's storage infrastructure has far better redundancy than many online backup companies so fairly safe too.


dunk.

[Admin]

dunk . . . my robot files backup was 55.1 GB . . . if you can fit all your stuff on a free online server than that means you aren't working hard enough

[corrado33]

So... what spurred this?  Lose something important admin?

Expecting attacks from that hacker group? 

Do you know something we don't know?

[Admin]

So... what spurred this?  Lose something important admin?

I was waiting for someone to ask this

Nah, I just haven't backed up many of my files in almost a year now. So I got over my procrastination, and figured I'd motivate you guys as well.

[madsci1016]

All my PCs backup to my home server every night, and my server pushes my important stuff (heavily encrypted) to the Amazon S3 Cloud once a week. I'm good.

Amazon S3 is free for the first 15GB and only $0.06/month from every GB after that. Even Admin's 55GB would only cost $2.5 / month. Pretty darn cheap for peace of mind.

[corrado33]

I was waiting for someone to ask this

Nah, I just haven't backed up many of my files in almost a year now. So I got over my procrastination, and figured I'd motivate you guys as well.

Haha..

I used to back up (via time machine) often.  But since I got out of school, I really don't have anything important to back up anymore.    I mean sure my old documents and music and photos are all in two different places, but other than that, there's nothing.  

[Admin]

All my PCs backup to my home server every night, and my server pushes my important stuff (heavily encrypted) to the Amazon S3 Cloud once a week. I'm good.

reminds me of this . . . 
http://it.slashdot.org/story/09/05/15/0138204/Hacker-Destroys-Avsimcom-Along-With-Its-Backups
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8049780.stm

"Some have asked whether or not we had back-ups. Yes, we dutifully backed up our servers every day. Unfortunately, we backed up the servers between our two servers.
"The hacker took out both servers, destroying our ability to use one or the other back-up to remedy the situation."

Don't worry, I got SoR backed up in 5+ different locations, in 3 different cities

That said, I'm going to look into the S3 service for yet another redundant backup. Thanks for the suggestion.

[corrado33]

I always thought it'd be cool to have a... let's say monthly backup that wasn't networked.  Basically it'd be an offline hard drive that's only hooked up when things get backed up.  It'd kinda be annoying (unless you build a bot to do it), but it'd be pretty safe I'd imaging.  Especially if the drive was hidden out of view.