Please read- what is your backup plan?

This, plus using Vsubst to define the Dropbox folder as a virtual drive. So all the external links inside files and on different computers and on different users, always point to the same location.

So, instead of
e.g. “D:\Dropbox (xxx)\Project\File.3dm” or “C:\Users\Toni\Dropbox(xxx)\Project\File.3dm”
it becomes " G:\Project\File.3dm" on all computers and users.

This is especially handy on external library stuff, such as materials and textures.

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Cobian Reflector is exactly the kind of software I was looking for but couldn’t find! Thank you!

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thanks for all your input- I will share this with all the folks who call tech with backup issues

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If you are using Windows I recommend the Veeam Windows Agent. Free backup and restore agent, works similar to Mac Timemachine.

a dead mac still contains all the data. taking the drive out or retrieving all the data is not a big deal at all when just anything else than the disk fails.

that is of course nothing apple would get their hands dirty with personally. now having the mac swapped already will ensure that she will never see this data again.

just got another tech call from another architecture student (what is it with you folks?!?) who lost his work due to a hard drive failure. no backup. less than 5 weeks to graduation. He has a lot of work to redo.

Some believe faith may save your soul, but I guarantee you only a good backup will save your data friends…

don’t put it off…

I use dropbox and it’s great most of the time. I also have Carbon Copy Cloner that runs a backup everyday. It creates a bootable backup so if everything goes south, I boot from that and carry on. One off license payment and pretty cheap (even in Australian dollars). I have used time machine before but not that impressed.

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I have a 16TB RAID 0 array of 4 2.5" SSDs that I use for file storage and daily backups of my computer. It’s connected non-stop via Thunderbolt 3. Another 16TB external hard-drive is used to do bi-weekly backups of the striped array. It’s connected with USB 3.2 and gets only turned on when needed.
I use Carbon Copy Cloner for scheduled backups and its safety net function which lets you keep a file history of frequently changing files.
I also have a couple of rsync scripts crontab-ed that sync certain important files and folders to cloud services like Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Mega, and iCloud. Why so many, because I’m too cheap to pay for either and I dislike the cloud.
Furthermore, I keep a secret GitHub Gist repository with all my favourite scripts, code snippets, and GH definitions that I can access anywhere.

and yet another call today… Mac user, no time machine set up.

help us help you.

ViceVersa Pro might be an option to consider in conjunction with their VVEngine.
It allows you to create full syncing jobs for e.g. syncing desktop and laptop as well as additive syncing for backup without losing older deleted files and the VVEngine part is used to create schedules, e.g. run it every hour, or whenever changes are detected etc. It even has an archive function you could use to keep copies of the same file with earlier save dates so that you can go back to a previous version of the same file.

For me it has been working reliably for years and is more flexible than proprietary backup software with their own file formats, even when that software is capable of using plain copying without encryption etc.

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Hi Kyle,

Since you use Carbonite, I was wondering if you have experienced any issues with slow upload/download speeds?

I’m planning on switching my cloud storage in the next couple of weeks (using Google Drive currently and it’s just not cutting it). I’ve been comparing three services (iDrive, Carbonite, and Backblaze). I’ve eliminated iDrive because they have a 2GB file upload limit and I have files over 2GB in size. Carbonite has a 4GB file upload limit (which works for me), and Backblaze has unlimited file size uploads. Both have unlimited storage solutions. I’m torn because Carbonite has more control over what you are uploading and downloading, but Backblaze has super fast speeds and appears to be very easy to use. Good prices on both services too.

Also, what happens if you get a new computer system and want to transfer everything from Carbonite onto the new system since it seems that the License is tied to a single computer? I’m assuming it like most programs and you can transfer the license to a new system? I couldn’t find a straight answer to this on their online help.

Thanks!
Ryan

it is completely limited by your internet connection. Fast connection? it goes pretty fast… slow? then it’ll be slow.

I recently moved to a new machine and moved my back up over to the new machine… I just left it up and running and it took about a day and a half to move all my files. You can get stuff faster if you want to pay for a copy to be sent on a hard drive.but I use this as a last resort backup and so far have had good results.

Good to know, Kyle, thank you. I’d read several reviews mentioning slow speeds so I was thinking maybe something other than internet connection was in play. Thank you for the info!

Ryan

We use Syncovery here at the office…Pretty easy to set up and so far it works flawlessly. I just back up our drawing folders to the server but it also has options to back up to the cloud using your choose of file saving site. I think a 5 seats license was around $200 US.

Brian

Yes. RAID IS NOT BACKUP. The only thing it does is lessen the impact when one drive dies (or possibly two, if you’re using raid 6). But it’s often faster to restore from a backup then to rebuild RAID.

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Best Practices for Offsite backup are to have it located more than 200 miles (300 Kilometers) away from your place, at least here in California we have dangers of Earthquake, Tsunami and fires that can affect a larger region. That’s why cloud backup is the way to go.

Another important aspect for larger companies is that they are targets for ransomware that can sometimes attack servers or workstation. which can be more catastrophic compared to standard hardware failures. +1 for Cloud redundancy.

Finally, It is a good practice to make a monthly backup for your OS, this can ensure that you can have your installation, settings and apps ready to be populated in the same or comparable machine in a case of emergency that usually happens 12 hours before your deadlines.

When I was taking a drafting course back in the early AutoCAD days, for the first few months our instructor would flip the breaker for the entire computer lab. The first few times, there were lots of shouting and complaints but we learned quickly enough to save and save often. While this doesn’t address backups, the hard lessons do stick!

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What a moron! Cutting off power like this can seriously damage hardware, on top of it being a super douchy move.

If that were true I doubt he would have done it more than once. On the other hand I think it was a very clever method to imprint a behavior which in those days was more important than learning anything more about ACAD. Or, for that matter, any application that created anything that took a while to create.

It’s still important today but most apps of that type contain features that do it automatically. If the user has it turned on. They exist because of the sad experiences of the early users.

Apart from the risk of hardware damage it is a very effective way to learn people to save their work regularly.

I recall my mom pulling the plug of the computer when I was young because she had to use the vacuum cleaner, it was a Tandy that used a cassette tape for storage so frequent saving wasn’t really an option. My dad wasn’t amused and after explaining why, my mom decided to leave computer plugs alone from then. At least the RAM got cleaned very well along the way :rofl:
Not as intentional as the example but equally effective.

Even today there are plenty of messages on forums of people complaining about losing several hours of work after a crash, no they didn’t save frequently. Not to mention not having backups.