41

git works pretty well for both version control and decentralization/distribution of code repositories, and these qualities have allowed it to satisfy my code backup needs so far.

I don’t backup my sample library at all! It’s too big and unwieldy for that. It was all sourced from the internet anyway, so if/when disaster strikes, it’s an opportunity for renewal by fire.

I use iCloud to backup my DAW files.

43

strongly considering rsync.net after my years dropbox expires. i like flash drives and cloud for current work, but have a few redundant big drives for archives.

beware, drives do go bad. seemingly a lot.

1 Like
44

as someone who lost over 10 years of data in 2022 I have to say that, in my opinion, “a chance to start fresh” is over romanticized. It continues to be a real road block practically and psychologically.

I’m sure all these routines and services above are worthwhile (to say the least) but I just want to add that a little diversification/redundancy can go a long way…

The only data that did make it out was often from the odd flash drive or email attachment… so the more you casually do these things the more often you will “luck out” when you are living in the worst case scenario.

Also if your backup cant survive a disk failure its not a backup. So make sure if you are rolling your own its got a raid setup.

5 Likes
46

i have all my files on one SSD use rsync to sync the whole thing to a second hard drive every now & then.

rsync --delete-before --ignore-errors -avP /Volumes/archive/ /Volumes/archive2/

i lost an SSD once but it only amounted to a couple months of progress w/ this strategy - all my ableton files immediately after finishing an album : )

3 Likes
47

Also, keeping a backup HD in a different place than home is good in case of theft. I have three SSDs (home, work, studio) and try to backup once a week.

4 Likes
48

I’m still on the Dropbox kick.

1 Like
49

seems maybe most relevant place to ask this?.. what are people using for backup HDs? My old back up drive I noticed has been acting untrustworthy and its too small at this point anyway. I also have some very larger older projects spread over several non-SSD drives and I want to consolidate things and have room for more than a single time machine back up. I’ll probably buy a second drive shortly after to have a double back up. Everyone seems to use the scandisk extreme or extreme pro drives now. or are there other alternatives I should consider?

2 Likes
51

Yeah I think I’ve read that magnetic platter drives are more reliable for long term backups. SSD is good for working, but not for backup.

2 Likes
52

I don’t back up anything to a SSD. Everything is backed up to iDrive and a local Synology NAS. The MBP is also backed up to an external HDD and iCloud. Overall super happy with this setup. Would be swell if I could back up the NAS to the cloud without the high fees.

1 Like
53

A few years ago I had a synology nas running offsite backups to amazon glacier. It was pretty cheap if you are ok with slow retrievals.

1 Like
54

Same here with an OWC RAID setup. I lost a large portion of the digital art/music I made from 2020-2022 due to not backing up and now I’m a stickler for it. My backup strategy is:

  • Time Machine backup to an OWC Mercury Elite, ~monthly
  • rsync things I don’t mind being on a “cloud” to rsync.net, ~daily to weekly

I really would like to get these things automated, but also the extreme pain of having lost so much shit has me pretty consistently doing these backups by hand.

(This being said the SSD that failed in 2022 was also an OWC device that corrupted after not even a year of use… was a DIY install by me into my MacBook, but still!)

55

I hate rebuilding arrays and managing SAS backplanes/server controllers on non-server boards.

It’s hardly perfect but JBOD pairs and https://bvckup2.com/ get me by.

1 Like
56

Based on the ongoing issues being reported, you may want to avoid SanDisk SSDs.

1 Like
57

They just put out a firmware update and a website to check your unit if anyone is worried — Firmware Updates for SanDisk & WD Portable SSDs

I bought one new from Amazon direct just a couple of weeks ago and it came back as unaffected. The one I bought from eBay a few months ago unfortunately falls in the recall/firmware update. :grimacing:

4 Likes
58

Isn’t this the firmware update released in August? If so, the articles above report that data loses still occurred with the new firmware.

60

I had a bad time once with mine. Suddenly it wasn’t being recognized by any means and I thought it was gone. Then I went online and read about all the horror stories. Luckily it was ok, but made me realice I should not trust it as my only backup unit.

On the other hand, it was my first external disk with such r/w speeds and it’s amazing for that. It can totally work with big Kontakt libraries in real time.

1 Like
61

oof yikes that sounds pretty bad on the scandisk! maybe no surprise the external I have now that is acting funky enough to make me concerned about replacing it is a scandisk (different line, but still…). I luckily have never had any issues with my Western Digital drive I use at the moment for larger projects, but it is a huge honker of a drive considering its size with what you can get these days. I’m maybe inclined to stick to that brand then.

I figure I’ll wind up with a bit of an arrangement in the end. One designated for project archives and field recordings, things which if I were to edit or work with extensively I would pull on to my laptop but dont have space to keep there permanently. Then a separate drive(s) on our network for proper back ups of everything - time machine, photo archive, so on. So one for speed and ease of work, one (or a dual config) for reliability.

For on-the-go work options though thumb drives are also so big at this point when only working on one or two projects at a time I wonder if they might present a better more compact option. I have a hard time imagining situations where I need 1 TB of space even for audio files and I’m not able to access my home drive.

62

It kind of makes me glad that when artists do offer a cassette tape, and I really like the record, I have grabbed one.

Even after all of these digital innovations, cassette tapes still have the potential for outlasting almost all forms of digital media.

3 Likes
63

DRM-free digital media is easily going to outlast anything else with a little care. Just keep multiple copies of your purchases. With a decent backup scheme, there’s no reason you should ever lose anything.

8 Likes
64

Maybe. There’s a lot of “maybes” on the analog side as well.

But even with a robust backup scheme, digital still seems far more fragile.

1 Like