Anybody using Carbonite to backup their projects/data?

Looking into it. Read that it doesn't support some file types like video files and wondering if there are any problems with Cakewalk file types and audio data.

I see no need for a special product.

I put some xcopy commands in a BAT-file, make a shortcut to this BAT-file and just doubleclick on that when I'm done, meaning turning computer off or half a working day is passed.

A command row can look like this:
xcopy d:\p120\program\*.* e:\program /e /c /h /d /y /exclude:nocpy.txt

e-drive is a usb memorystick.
Everything below d:\p120\program that is updated since last copy is now copied, except the filetypes listed in nocpy.txt.
To read about the switches used just type xcopy /? at a cmd-prompt.
It basically covers things like continue if one file is occupied etc so nothing is aborted because of such an incident.

nocpy.txt can look like this:
.obj
.ntx
.cgp
.ndx
vinst
.cod
.ncb

and those filetypes will be excluded from backup, or actually any filenames including the text on any row. I'm a developer so this cover my needs. I'm not on my daw at the moment so some unnecessary file types for Sonar are not included here.

A BAT-file can be created with Notepad.

Just repeat the number of copycommands to cover different parts of different disks for your needs.

Or make different files and and make them call eachother like this:

call sonar.bat
call computer.bat

This is done in a BAT-file too.

I think memorysticks are excellent, just remember to really bring them with you when you go out. Then you cover possible fire incidents as well as breakin to your appartment.

Copy things to an external harddrive is good, but it's too big to really bother bringing it all the time, that's the weak part. It's not only harddisk crashes that should be covered.

Fandango


I can't tell if you're joking or just trying to show off your developer knowledge. The whole point of automatic off-site backup is automatic offsite backup!  Wow, I'm afraid of a future where software developers control too much of our world and common sense starts to fly out the window. Seriously man, get over yourself a little. This isn't a developers forum. 

Ugh

Anyway, tls11823 thanks for your useful feedback. 

If it's over your head, it's not to most people. It's nothing to do with developer or not.  It really should be common knowledge how to backup and copy files on your computer for your own safety.
 
You are just trying to sell a service here and pretend you are a regular user. And you get mad because I suggest something else where users don't need to buy your service. That's the impression I get anyway.
 
You really want people to be dependent on services like this.
 
I'm afraid of a world full of naive people just throwing out every bit of integrity they have out the window by storing everything on remote storage where it can be decrypted and analyzed for anything suspicious by governments or whatever.
 
So take a deep breath and inhale some knowledge that will increase your independence.
 
 

I use Carbonite on my business computer. All I can say is that last January I had a crash... big time. The computer would not boot, and if my biz machine is not running I have no clue about my accounts. I bought a new machine, transferred the license in Carbonite, and started the recovery.  I started with the important biz files first..... left the computer run and went for a cup of coffee. When I returned, the biz files were starting to download. With in an hour or so the biz files were all present and accounted for. The rest of the files downloaded over the next few days, and I got everything back, including ALL my mp3 music files and photo's.

I recommend it. I also back up to a local external and an internal D drive...seperate disk. And on occasion to CD.


I also use Acronis 2010 and let me tell you that is one sweet program for making a total image of your drive.

Buy Acronis and a clean backup drive and let Acronis make you a mirror image of the C drive..... then keep it current every week...and if you have a crash.. you have mulitple copies...

I had one crash a few years back that showed me the importance of MULTIPLE copies of a back up. After the crash... my TAPE backup didn't read, my floppy backup didn't read, and I think the only thing that did was a CD backup......

Carbonite will not back up the external drives, network drives on a different networked computer, and I don't think it backs up the applications or OS files..... so keep the original disks for a new computer install.

The main thing whether it;s Acronis, Carbonite, or a simple copy/paste back up....... JUST DO IT... because the machine WILL crash.

For the cost... Carbonite is worth every dollar.

lfm

Fandango


I can't tell if you're joking or just trying to show off your developer knowledge. The whole point of automatic off-site backup is automatic offsite backup!  Wow, I'm afraid of a future where software developers control too much of our world and common sense starts to fly out the window. Seriously man, get over yourself a little. This isn't a developers forum. 

Ugh

Anyway, tls11823 thanks for your useful feedback. 

If it's over your head, it's not to most people. It's nothing to do with developer or not.  It really should be common knowledge how to backup and copy files on your computer for your own safety.
 

Er, the fact that you think using DOS commands to copy your data, is somehow not over the head of most people.... well, all I can say is you need to get out more.

No one is going to bother to learn xcopy with the various switches, when there are a gazilliion GUI-based apps that'll  do the same thing and are simple to navigate.

I'm amazed anyone would think otherwise (of the average user).

I agree with Jim on that.... my typical files are much smaller than even the smallest MP3 songs.... contracts in Word and proposals and stuff like that.

Also, one reason it took so long...several days... is because I shut the computer off when I was done working and Carbonite works in the background to upload and download when the bandwidth is free. If I had let it run... I'm thinking that I would have recovered all the data overnight since DL is faster than UL...

Some of my song files are in excess of 1GB so that would take some time on the internet by anyone's measure....especially mine with DSL.......  a copy to a DVD or a portable HD is much faster, and then you can easily carry that to an off site location for safe storage.

As somebody who has written UNIX shell scripts for backing up large systems in clustered environments while pausing and resuming databases, breaking and resyncing snapshots and performing the backups themselves, slapping together a .BAT file to use XCOPY is child's play.  But I still use Carbonite because it just does what it has to do in the wee hours of the night.  I never have to think about it and I never have to worry about remembering to take backups off site from time to time.  It's all done for me.

Granted, if I had a full system failure, recovery time wouldn't be fast, but I know I'll get everything back.  Plus, you can pick and choose what you want to recover, so you could grab the most important stuff first and catch up with the rest of it later.  As far as the size of projects, only things that changed are backed up, adding to your previously-accumulated archives.  So, even on a busy day of recording, only the new/changed stuff will be copied.

I also am covered in the event of human error - I accidentally deleted a project for example.  I have several generations of backups available to me that I can use for retrieval, so I can easily go back in time.  Per Susan's observation, I think it's more like a week than a month, but that seems to be a practical limitation to me.