» Wed Feb 23, 2011 9:56 pm I don't have any access to water pipes, I live in an apartment.
An apartment without a sink, toilet, or shower? This is one scary apartment :cold:
Seriously, sinks have pipes under them.
What type of backup system do you suggest?
There are various backup options out there. There are four different types of backups: Local and always-on, local and scheduled, and remote and always-on, and remote and scheduled. Each backup has it's benefits and drawbacks:
1. Local and always-on: You duplicate your data to another drive connected to your computer or to a NAS/File server on your local network.
Pros: instant backup with almost immediate restoration of any lost file(s).
Cons: If a hard drive attached to your computer, if anything damages your computer, it can damage your backup. NAS and File Servers, being on the same grid are prone to any power-related issues as your computer is.
2. Local and scheduled: Your backup is disconnected most of the time, but on a schedule you plug it in and back up.
Pros: highly immune to powersurges (only plugged in for a short period of time) and has only a little latency (equal to how short the time between backups is) and is only slightly slower than the above at file restoration (must plug in the source).
Cons: problems in your house (fire, flood, etc) will still damage the backup in most circumstances.
3. remote and always-on: You back up your files over the Internet to a remote server.
Pros: immune to any accidents that occur at your house.
Cons: It costs money usually and you must trust a company to keep your files private and safe, the backups are slow (limited by your upload speed) and, if on a bandwidth cap would greatly eat away at it. The only free option would require considerable technical knowledge on your behalf to make it secure (simplest would be rsync the files over SSH) and a friend/family member willing to house the remote file server for your backups for you.
4. Remote and scheduled: You back up your files over the Internet to a remote "server" on a schedule OR you hand off a copy of your backup to a friend/family member on a schedule.
Pros: It can be done for free through the program http://b3.crashplan.com/ (note: only free if you back up to a friend's computer) or by giving a friend a hard drive for them to house, then, say at the beginning of the month they give you that HDD back and you give them HDD#2 that has an updated backup (in this setup you have one local and scheduled and one remote and scheduled and the HDDs just switch their roles at the beginning of each month) and is immune to any accidents that occur at your house. It also isn't nearly as limited (or not limited at all) by your upload speed.
Cons: There is a latency period (time between runs. Crashplan this is a minimum of 24 hours, and without it being a hassle for your friend, it's at least two weeks for the other free option) and you must either pay for the backup or you must have someone willing to house the storage for you still.
Ideally one local and one remote backup would be used, but you should have at least one local on schedule backup.
