A word of advice to those who have SSDs in their computers:
Backup every day. When SSDs fail, it often occurs without warning or any hope of (inexpensive) recovery. I knew this, but had gotten behind with backing things up.
Just FYI.
just curious- how long did your drive last before it went tits up?
Less than two months. That was part of the reason I had been a bit lax with backups. I had just gone through a massive backup before migrating to the new drive.
wow, sorry to hear that. I can see how that would sneak up on you.
hopefully that is a statistical outlier. i just put one in a good friend's older notebook to breathe some new life into it. I'm hoping it lasts the lifetime of the laptop but I guess you never know. Looks like I better instill a backup ritual.
I feel bad for you, a drive crash is always a major bummer. What kind of failure was it? Some drives have procedures to re-set the drive (without erasing it, so not an actual reset), maybe you won't lose everything it contained.
In any case, yeah. Whether you use HDDs or SSDs, ALWAYS make backups. And since SSDs can be sensitive devices (although the technology is mature by now), always make sure you get one known for its reliability (some SSDs have failure/return rates around 50%... the good ones — Samsung, Intel or Crucial — are around less than 1%).
Yep. It's not a matter of "If" your HD will fail, it is a matter of "when". That can be a platter HD or SSD. You're right in saying that many times there will be no warning at all. I know because I've had two devastating failures where I lost so much important information. Therefore a good backup strategy is essential. I've become paranoid and probably over do it.
I have two hard drives for data in my computer. I use allway sync to keep the second disc up to date with all the data. This way if one goes down I can carry on with no delay.
I also do this with the SSD that has my system and program files on. I bought a second one and backed it up after putting all my major programs on. Therefore if I have a deadline hanging over me and the system fails I can put this second SSD into an external disk caddy and I'm up and running again in minutes.
Then, because I am paranoid and because it is important to have a backup that is off site, I've signed up for Carbonite. This automatically backs up all the data into the cloud. I can pick up those documents from any computer, from my Ipad or from my phone.
Then, because I'm really paranoid, I also store some things I want to get to easily on Google drive. That also allows me to open a word document or whatever else I'm working on from any computer.
Quote from: croquet hoop on June 04, 2013, 05:19:57 PM
I feel bad for you, a drive crash is always a major bummer. What kind of failure was it? Some drives have procedures to re-set the drive (without erasing it, so not an actual reset), maybe you won't lose everything it contained.
In any case, yeah. Whether you use HDDs or SSDs, ALWAYS make backups. And since SSDs can be sensitive devices (although the technology is mature by now), always make sure you get one known for its reliability (some SSDs have failure/return rates around 50%... the good ones — Samsung, Intel or Crucial — are around less than 1%).
Yep, and I know better about doing regular backups.
The drive in question is a 6 week old Samsung 840 Pro. Supposedly one of the more reliable ones.
The loss is totally on me, but I recognize how easy it is to get out of the habit of backing up crucial information. The reason I posted this was to help remind everybody else of the consequences of that.
I did have a backup, just an older one. Unfortunately, I lost a lot of my recent work, including some graphic layouts I had spent quite a bit of time on.
Bummer! Sorry to hear that.
I once fdisk'ed a partition that had a video project I'd spent about 100 hours working on. Since then, I've refused to use command-line partitioning tools. :-\
Quote from: culturejam on June 04, 2013, 07:22:47 PM
Bummer! Sorry to hear that.
I once fdisk'ed a partition that had a video project I'd spent about 100 hours working on. Since then, I've refused to use command-line partitioning tools. :-\
Ouch. That would sting a bit.
Wow, I'm glad I read this one.. made me check my offsite backup and it had expired (not sure why I didnt get a renewal email..maybe went to spam).
I'm uber paranoid, have only system and desktop on SSD drive, everything else on a traditional second drive.
I also have a raid-5 box that I backup to along with offsite.
After losing all my Eagle projects a while back I installed dropbox on my mac. Now all the important files live in the dropbox folder.
Quote from: Haberdasher on June 04, 2013, 05:01:47 PM
just curious- how long did your drive last before it went tits up?
Uhhh, I believe the politically correct term is "nipples north".
We now return you to the regular thread... ;D
Quote from: billstein on June 04, 2013, 05:31:02 PM
I have two hard drives for data in my computer. I use allway sync to keep the second disc up to date with all the data. This way if one goes down I can carry on with no delay.
This. If you're not backed up in at least two places, you're not backed up.
youch! time to fumble for my backup drives again
Quote from: lincolnic on June 05, 2013, 03:36:24 AM
Quote from: billstein on June 04, 2013, 05:31:02 PM
I have two hard drives for data in my computer. I use allway sync to keep the second disc up to date with all the data. This way if one goes down I can carry on with no delay.
This. If you're not backed up in at least two places, you're not backed up.
Yeah, I agree with this. My desktop has tons of redundancy. It was my laptop where I got lax (and I know better).
My backup strategy is weak, compared to you guys. I just use the automatic backup in Windows Home Server. (My fileserver only has 200G free... I think it's time for another drive for the caddy.)
Quote from: alanp on June 05, 2013, 05:39:26 AM
My backup strategy is weak, compared to you guys. I just use the automatic backup in Windows Home Server. (My fileserver only has 200G free... I think it's time for another drive for the caddy.)
http://www.warehousestationery.co.nz/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/WSL-B2C-Site/en_NZ/-/NZD/ViewOfferDetail-Product?ProductRef=213741@WSL-B2C (http://www.warehousestationery.co.nz/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/WSL-B2C-Site/en_NZ/-/NZD/ViewOfferDetail-Product?ProductRef=213741@WSL-B2C)
Here you go Al... pretty cheap for a 2TB. I need to sell a pedal before I can get one
Not quite, Cdog -- I have a fileserver in a CM Stacker case, with two 5-in-3 hotswappable hdd cages in it. Six drives in it at the moment, and four free slots. I buy normal hard drives and load them in :)
Quote from: jubal81 on June 04, 2013, 11:20:17 PM
After losing all my Eagle projects a while back I installed dropbox on my mac. Now all the important files live in the dropbox folder.
Did time machine not work for you?
I use an external hard drive with time machine, that's why I ask...
Josh
Well, the upshot of this whole thing is that it should push me to get around to setting up an SVN server on my Raspberry Pi, which I've been planning on doing for months, but haven't.
I've been doing all my electronics work on my Raspberry Pi using Kicad. So, I've set the Pi up to be a file server so I can get to the files from my main machine. (I actually use Kicad remotely from my laptop as well). It's been working great this way for a few months now. It should make a good SVN server.
I don't like hearing about the dead SSD though. I was hoping SSD's would solve some of the issues with HD stability. They just seem to be getting worse and worse over time. So far, my SSD hasn't had any issues at all, but a data point of one doesn't mean much.
Quote from: gtr2 on June 05, 2013, 12:45:02 PM
Quote from: jubal81 on June 04, 2013, 11:20:17 PM
After losing all my Eagle projects a while back I installed dropbox on my mac. Now all the important files live in the dropbox folder.
Did time machine not work for you?
I use an external hard drive with time machine, that's why I ask...
Josh
I use an SSD for my OS and a bigger HD for storage. I should use time machine, but at the time I didn't have space to spare. After my storage drive failed, I got a 2TB, so I have the space now.
BTW, iTunes Match saved my bacon on that one. I was able to use it to recover all my music.
Quote from: RobA on June 05, 2013, 01:40:28 PM
I've been doing all my electronics work on my Raspberry Pi using Kicad. So, I've set the Pi up to be a file server so I can get to the files from my main machine. (I actually use Kicad remotely from my laptop as well). It's been working great this way for a few months now. It should make a good SVN server.
I don't like hearing about the dead SSD though. I was hoping SSD's would solve some of the issues with HD stability. They just seem to be getting worse and worse over time. So far, my SSD hasn't had any issues at all, but a data point of one doesn't mean much.
I believe that the failure rates of SSD are still lower. The problem is that, when they do fail, they often do so without warning. Mechanical drives usually make noise and let you know that things aren't working right before they outright die.
My boss and my father have also had SSD controllers go flaky on them. Hopefully, the technology will be more robust as the technology matures.
I just wish the drive manufacturers would find a way to build in recoverability into the drives, at least the ones that design their own controllers.
Thanks for the reminder, Dave. I just got some new backup software to go with my new 2TB NAS. I've been putting it off for a while, but your post made me get my ass in gear. Thanks!
Quote from: culturejam on June 06, 2013, 04:00:37 AM
Thanks for the reminder, Dave. I just got some new backup software to go with my new 2TB NAS. I've been putting it off for a while, but your post made me get my ass in gear. Thanks!
Glad I could help ;D
(http://demotivators.despair.com/demotivational/mistakesdemotivator.jpg)
Holy shitake I have no idea what any of you are talking about other than generally. Imagine being me and not knowing what to really do :-\ I've got back up when I got my Mac but I'll be darned if I understand any of it. It backs up each day, where and to what I don't know. I should have majored in computers or something rather than Finance.
Anyhoo, what a bummer Dave. I'd be pissed followed by quickly by melancholy knowing me.
I use AllwaySync. Well worth the money (it's pretty cheap for lifetime updates). I back up to two extra drives pretty regularly after learning my own lesson a few years ago.
Sorry, bro :(
As a noob may I ask about this Cloud thing. Would backing up to this alone "solve" your problems or does that open up another discussion?
The best backup strategy is not about chosing the right platform (RAID array in a separate PC, cloud, any other) but chosing at least two different ones. A cloud solution is interesting is case something bad happens to the place where your computers are (fire, robbery), but I don't think they fully guarantee that nothing won't happen to your date. So, that "alone" does not solve everything.
Yeah. The general strategy is two different forms of backup with one offsite. It does really matter how much you value the data though. I use different forms of offsite backup for different data. For work and projects I need to make sure I have access to, I use an offsite server. For photos and video, I make periodic DVD's and store them offsite. The cloud can be a good solution for the offsite component. But, you have to know you can trust the storage location with the data, or encrypt it (if it's important business related stuff) before you send it up.
Quote from: Haberdasher on June 04, 2013, 05:01:47 PM
just curious- how long did your drive last before it went tits up?
Data is so critical that you should maintain backup irrespective of any use case wherhte it would be HDD or SSD but SSD is always a better option. You could go for Sf based Intel which has a very good read/write speed, faster performance as well, i can recommend you to go with Intel 520.
Quote from: croquet hoop on June 04, 2013, 05:19:57 PM
The drive in question is a 6 week old Samsung 840 Pro. Supposedly one of the more reliable ones.
Well... I thought I was safe, but these drives are supposed to be bulletproof! My money is all on you getting the dud. Sorry to hear it went dead, but at least you had a semi-recent backup.
Quote from: noobtoob on July 30, 2013, 03:38:51 PMQuote from: croquet hoop on June 04, 2013, 05:19:57 PMThe drive in question is a 6 week old Samsung 840 Pro. Supposedly one of the more reliable ones.
Well... I thought I was safe, but these drives are supposed to be bulletproof! My money is all on you getting the dud. Sorry to hear it went dead, but at least you had a semi-recent backup.
Well, the memory itself is fairly bulletproof but the controllers aren't. And I found out that they are close to unrecoverable when they die. If you can recover the data, it's very expensive.
I'll still use them because the speed is worth it, but I've gone to nightly backups because of this.
now that you all have my paranoid (or perhaps appropriately cautious), I'm thinking of getting an external drive (ssd) to backup to macbook. Any suggestions?
Quote from: Beedoola on July 31, 2013, 11:53:25 PM
now that you all have my paranoid (or perhaps appropriately cautious), I'm thinking of getting an external drive (ssd) to backup to macbook. Any suggestions?
I don't use SSD for my backup disks. I usually have either multiple snapshots of my drives and/or multiple computers backed up to the same backup disk. It would cost way too much to back up to SSD.
The best thing to do would be to use a RAID setup for your backup. Those can still be a bit expensive and I haven't gone that far yet. I just use a cheap external USB 1TB drive for backup. Whatever is cheap with good reviews at the time is fine for this purpose for me. I'd rather put the money in the internal SSD and save on the backup system. The one I've been using for the past couple of years is from Iomega and it's been good. I have a LaCie firewire disk that I've got other computers backed up on. It stays on the network all the time and has been running perfectly for a few years now.
Quote from: Beedoola on July 31, 2013, 11:53:25 PM
now that you all have my paranoid (or perhaps appropriately cautious), I'm thinking of getting an external drive (ssd) to backup to macbook. Any suggestions?
For backups, I'd use a traditional spinning platter hard drive. They are cheap, ubiquitous, and have decent operating lives (in most cases).
I have a 500GB "intermediary" backup drive, and a 2TB network-attached drive for full machine backups and longer-term storage (and also network streaming of media).
Been thinking about better backup options so this thread is putting a fire under my arse.
I would like a wireless hard drive I could connect to from my laptop and do backups to it. Not sure what the best (and least expensive option) is to do this? Does this type of hard drive hook up to my wireless cable router or something?
Thanks for any advice
Hey guys,
Im half a computer technician. The left half is the computer technician part. Thought i might be able to offer some advise.
For our office i use rsync. Some of you linux/unix folk will know what that is, but for those that dont, its a rock solid back up transfer program that can be ported (will run across the internet). As we run windows servers, i use 'deltacopy' which is the graphical windows version of rsync.
Its a bit of a bastard to set up, but once its going it just keeps going and going. You can also set up deltacopy to email you a success or failture notice after its scheduled to run. I run ours overnight from the server at work to my server at home and back the other way (for personal stuff).
Oh yeah, and its free. :)
Offsite back up is the most reliable. If someone busts into your house and steals your pc's, your gone. Or if your house catches fire. Low odds of either but still peace of mind. And with rsync, you will have your latest back up and not one you did from months ago.
Some technical knowledge is required to get this stuff ^^^ going though.
Cheers,
Paul