Media and location for offsite backup - your thoughts, please

Hi all,

This is my first time into anything other than a minimal and overly simplistic backup setup. I've now gotten data backing up with FreeFileSync. Soon, I'll have drive imaging done with Macrium 8 Home. For offsite (not cloud) physical backup, I assume that will be to bootable removable storage. My questions here are about what media to use and where to keep it.

Media - USB flash storage, SD card, portable HDD or SSD or something else? So glad we don't have to do tape anymore, did that in the 90s.

Location - In my car, at a neighbor's house, in my (separate-from-the-house) garage, safe deposit box, small locker at local "mail center", or ???
What do you use? Pros and cons of it in your experience? Your thoughts about other options?

TIA
Bud

As for Tape, I quickly got tired of Colorado Memory with my first computer in '92. For critical storage I use both my NAS drive and a 1TB USB WDC MyPassport. For offsite I have some diagostics on the MyPassport so it goes with me. One could use a Safety Deposit box in a bank but that can become inconvenient quickly. The locations in your question are good but again, may not be convenient when needed. For documents and pictures using a CD-R or DVD-R/DVD+R would be useful but still have to stash them somewhere.

I copy my image files as well as my data backup to a removable USB powered external hard drive. The model I use is WD passport. You can get 4 Tb for $100. I do not have my external drive bootable.

There is no one size fits all way to backup, why one wants to backup, where the backup should be stored, and even what data one wants to preserve in the first place. If you've read enough of the threads on this forum, you will have noticed some take their backup scheme to further extremes than others do. A backup plan can be elaborate or simple. I can only speak for myself and my needs and I choose simple.

My reason for backing up my OS drives regularly is strictly for system recovery if needed in case of hardware or software failure. I maintain my main Windows 11 PC (full system images stored on secondary hard drive), my backup Windows 10 PC (full system images stored on secondary hard drive), and my husbands Windows 10 PC (stored on external hard drive). My two OS drives are imaged about every week to ten days or when major changes are made to the OS. I image my husbands's PC about once a month. I do all this from my main PC using remote desktop.

All of my personal files are stored on a shared NAS drive attached to my router. Nothing on this drive would have any importance to anyone but me and none of it is sensitive data. I'd hate to lose it, but it wouldn't be earth shattering if I did. This drive is backed up once a week to an external hard drive.

I do not use Onedrive on a daily basis like others here do, but I do have some important personal and financial documents stored there. I also have a video of our home and its contents as well as photos of my jewelry, my husband's guns and serial numbers, and his more expensive equipment in Onedrive.

So, good for you for establishing a backup plan. Many do not and end up paying the price for not doing it. The how and where of backing up is not the most important thing. The fact that one does is what is important. Something to keep in mind, backing up is not enough. One has to make sure that images can be recovered if necessary. Make sure you can boot from your recovery media and always have more than one backup available. Many users go so far as using more than one backup application. Personally I do not as Macrium has never failed me on the numerous occasions I've used it to recover.

I have used Western Digital's MyBook drives for backups for years without a failure. I usually outgrow them first. I trust the MyBook series more than the Passport version just 'cause I think they're less delicate. In the last few weeks, with a new computer that has lots of disk space, I've changed my approach. I wanted faster backup drives so that means 7200RPM and a USB 3.1 Gen 2 connection. I ended up with a dual drive dock from OCW (bought it at B&H) that I'm happy with, and two bare Western Digital 16TB UltraStar drives.

I use a Safe Deposit box for off-site storage. I don't recommend bringing your drive to work as some companies have a policy that states any unauthorized devices on their property can be seized. Also don't use fire safes. Unless you spend some bucks they are not "media rated". A neighbor's house might be ok if you aren't in the same flood plane.

Carey Brown said:

I have used Western Digital's MyBook drives for backups for years without a failure. I usually outgrow them first. I trust the MyBook series more than the Passport version just 'cause I think they're less delicate. In the last few weeks, with a new computer that has lots of disk space, I've changed my approach. I wanted faster backup drives so that means 7200RPM and a USB 3.1 Gen 2 connection. I ended up with a dual drive dock from OCW (bought it at B&H) that I'm happy with, and two bare Western Digital 16TB UltraStar drives.

I use a Safe Deposit box for off-site storage. I don't recommend bringing your drive to work as some companies have a policy that states any unauthorized devices on their property can be seized. Also don't use fire safes. Unless you spend some bucks they are not "media rated". A neighbor's house might be ok if you aren't in the same flood plane.

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Cloud storage solutions are an obvious and perhaps more convenient solution.

kado897 said:

Cloud storage solutions are an obvious and perhaps more convenient solution.

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Uploading or downloading 16TB across the internet is not practical. Besides, I prefer to be the one in control.

Carey Brown said:

Uploading or downloading 16TB across the internet is not practical. Besides, I prefer to be the one in control.

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Ah 16TB. Didn't know you were looking at that amount of data.

I am using a couple of things for backup. None of this is automated and requires that I do them religiously and I keep a spreadsheet log of all backups in case restoration is needed.

1. I use Macrium Reflex and do full system images to one of two external Toshiba 1 TB USB HDD drives. My system is just over 265 GB, so I can get three backups on one drive. I alternate usage of the two drives in a Grandfather/Father/Son, etc. sequence. This gives me six backups over time and less exposure if one of the drives fail. I run this backup after every MS update. This backup takes 23 minutes on my system

2. I also have an internal 1 TB HDD in the system itself and use MR to backup just the data folders to it. My data is just over 170 GB, so I can get multiple versions of my data on it. I run this backup weekly after Norton does a full system scan. This backup takes 17 minutes on my system. This all probably sounds extreme, but it makes me feel safe. The external drives are stored in the basement in a waterproof fire box.

OP Closing the loop here. I keep my live data files current daily on Google Drive, as well as on a local drive. But there is also a lot of archival data, not to mention multiple generations of Macrium full drive images. It all totals around 3TB, and I'm neither interested in paying for that subscription level with Google nor in having to frequently upload full drive images of nearly 200GB. So, that pushes me to an offsite physical drive.

I don't want to bug my neighbors with getting the drive from them to update weekly. Even though my bank is close by, a weekly trip there to update it ain't in the cards. And I work from home, so work isn't an option either.

So, until I get a better suggestion, it's going to ride around well hidden in my car. I'm looking into my drive security options, against the chance my car is stolen. It's unlikely that a quick smash-and-grab break-in will find where I'm keeping it. I realize this choice is not exacly optimal. Ideas, anyone?

If you intend keep it the drive in your car, how about a trunk mounted gun safe? They are intended to be bolted to the floor of the trunk, thus negating any "smash & grab".

Buddy said:

OP Closing the loop here. I keep my data files current daily on Google Drive, as well as on media. But there is also a lot of archival data, not to mention multiple generations of Macrium full drive images. It all totals around 3TB, and I'm neither interested in paying for that subscription level with Google nor in having to frequently upload full drive images of nearly 200GB. So, that pushes me to an offsite physical drive.

I don't want to bug my neighbors with getting the drive from them to update weekly. Even though my bank is close by, a weekly trip there to update it ain't in the cards. And I work from home, so that's not an option either.

So, until I get a better suggestion, it's going to ride around well hidden in my car. I'm looking into my drive security options, against the chance my car is stolen. It's unlikely that a quick smash-and-grab break-in will find where I'm keeping it. I realize this choice is not exacly optimal. Ideas, anyone?

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Data should be backed up separately to system images. System images are really just time savers, if you completely lose your system it can be rebuilt. There is really no need for offsite archiving of system images.

kado897 said:

Data should be backed up separately to system images. System images are really just time savers, if you completely lose your system it can be rebuilt. There is really no need for offsite archiving of system images.

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It's a notebook with one SSD drive. I got it all set up before I realized I should have partitioned the drive. So Macrium does everything, then FreeFileSync does the data. Yeah, some redundancy.

Buddy said:

It's a notebook with one SSD drive. I got it all set up before I realized I should have partitioned the drive. So Macrium does everything, then FreeFileSync does the data. Yeah, some redundancy.

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Yeah, I did something like that myself to start with. The point is still valid that you care most about losing data as that is irreplaceable. If you lose the system to fire or flood you need new hardware anyway, and yes it is more convenient to restore an image but it is not essential.

kado897 said:

Yeah, I did something like that myself to start with. The point is still valid that you care most about losing data as that is irreplaceable. If you lose the system to fire or flood you need new hardware anyway, and yes it is more convenient to restore an image but it is not essential.

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And that's why I've got the data replicated all over the place, apart from the Macrium images. Local primary backup desktop HDD, 2nd local safety desktop HDD, Google Drive, offsite portable SSD, and "travel companion in the computer bag" portable HDD. FFS keeping it all in synch, kicked off by Task Scheduler so I don't have to remember to do it. If that looks overly obsessive and redundant, yeah. Part of it has just been learning how structure a regimen. I'll probably pare it down a bit - already doing a bit of that as I get ready for my first road trip since buying and setting up the computer.

Carey Brown said:

Uploading or downloading 16TB across the internet is not practical. Besides, I prefer to be the one in control.

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I rather question the need to store the full 16TB of data in offsite unless it is business data perha, wddps.

The real purpose of offsite storage is disaster recovery, not general recovery.

People should categorise their data into say 3 categories:

1) Critical Data
(e.g. key financial documents, key photos of departed loved ones, children, wedding etc)
This data is suitable for offsite storage, and by the time you get to it, probably a small fraction of your data and cloud storage would be viable. Backup this data in at least two separate places, even three.

2) Important Data
(e.g. more run of mill documents where losing would be a PITA but not a disaster)
Backup this data in at least two separate places

3) Unimportant Data
(Data that if lost might be annoying but no more so. Typically this tends to be videos which take up a huge space)
Backup in one separate space.

I bet when you do this, the incentive for offsite storage is much reduced, and cloud storage is better.

Why do I say that?

As I said, offsite storage really is for disaster recovery when pc/drives has been stolen, destroyed in floods/fire etc.

If you use a reputable cloud service, they have full multiple redundancy in their systems - one server breaks, another takes over.

So what happens if you need to use your offsite storage. If you only have one drive, and maybe it was not stored in ideal conditions, there is a finite chance it will fail on demand. HDDs are more likely to fail if not spun up periodically.

So you have to get out of the mind set that your data is safe just by storing it offsite. That is so a decade ago thinking.

Even if you choose to go down offsite storage, at least copy critical data onto separate drives (much reducing failure on demand risk).
Where do you stop - two offsite storages again reduces risk.

Even then, you need to consider "common mode" failure. Storage in a garage in Scotland where I live is a no no - damp, cold in winter etc. Equally, a garage in Florida - hot. If you get a fire in your house, can you be sure your garage is ok, your neighbours house is ok?

Despite all the negativists who naysay cloud services (usually on crap like "I don't trust them with my data" blah blah blah), they are a great way of protecting critical data as (for reputable services) as they have the proper infrastructure to store data in optimal environments with backup redundancy.

Offsite storage is a perfectly valid option as part of a strategy, but multiple redundancy is the key to any backup strategy, but it should be graded according to data criticality i.e. more separate backups as data becomes critical.

Each person needs to develop a backup strategy that suits them - there is no "one size fits all" solution. The tricky part is developing a strategy that is workable without being excessively user intensive.

Fundamentally, be sure you have a strategy that will survive a disaster to your disaster recovery options. As I stress above, the key is multiple redundancy.

Buddy said:

Media - USB flash storage, SD card, portable HDD or SSD

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SSDs & HDDs are much more reliable than USB memory sticks or SD cards.
Making sure they are device-malfunction-proof is commonly achieved by having multiple backups and checking them frequently to lessen the chances that you'd ever find all backups defective at the same time as the data was lost from the computer or the computer became no longer available/usable.

Buddy said:

Location

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Safe from burglars & other unauthorised personnel.
Safe from damage or destruction [including but not limited to being safe from fire].
Accessible.

Best of luck,
Denis