I used to frequent the site MacPerformanceGuide.com as I found it was a quite good resource for performance tuning Macintosh computers. However some things that dude says are just purely ridiculous. Take for instance this article, where he talks about backups. Now I am all for making backups - I consider myself a bit of a paranoid obsessive person when it comes to backups. However, I do apply logic to my backup scheme.

So on to nit picking…

Use Apple’s TimeMachine for everyday protection (Macs only), but since it is attached to the computer, it is NOT a backup that protects your data from the perils of theft/fire/etc, since it too would be lost. Thus, it does not count as a real backup.

Some terminology - "…from the perils of theft/fire/etc." - there is actually a term for that, called Disaster. And there is a counter measure for that, called Disaster Recovery. Why am I nit picking? Because DR is just part of the complete contingency planning process. To call DR backups "not a real backup" is like calling your first wife "not a real wife". Ridiculous.

A good backup strategy is a multifaceted strategy without being stupid.

Maintain at least three (3) external backups, stored safely away from the computer (ideally at another site e.g., home vs office).

Burn DVD or BluRay disks of your originals after each job and store them elsewhere as Plan B, hoping to never need them. Burn 2 or 3 copies if the value is high, and store them separately.

3 external, off site backups? Come on! What are you protecting? Bank records for all of Canada? Burn DVD's of all your originals? 3 Copies? I have 1TB of photos, that means I would have burned 640 DVD's or 120 BluRay disks. Too expensive, too bulky to store, and besides - DVD's do not last that long, especially non pressed DVDs. Writing 3 copies does not increase the confidence one has in the backup set, as weaknesses in the manufacturing process typically affect batches, and when you write three copies you write them usually on disks from the same batch. Besides, having three copies does not benefit you. It is costly, labour intensive and pointless.

He mentioned that a backup is not worth much if you drop it on your way to restore it. Granted, a backup of your backup is a good idea. But 6 off site backups all stored in one off site location? No more redundant than 2 offsite copies. And if you are careful it is not really much more redundant than 1 offsite copy.

Then he carries on about external drives - that bargain drives are not a good choice due to low quality power supplies and plastic cases that runs the drive hot. Firstly, most external hard drives share the same power supply brands internally. Even if the power supply fails your data should be safe - get a new one. I have never had a power supply on an external hard drive fail, however I had many hard drives fail on me. He also mentions the temperature of the drive - backup drives are by definition not always on, they are only turned on when making a backup. Therefore the heat problem is really a non issue.

I believe this is once again a plot to sell and promote OWC products. According to him he will not use anything other than OWC RAM, OWD SSD's and now OWC external hard drives.

My backup strategy (far from fail safe but it has worked for me through disaster) is multi faceted:

• Use Time Machine (assuming you have a Mac) to backup my files and OS (excluding photos) for a near line recovery strategy. I found that 98% of the time I need to recover either a document / file that I have deleted by mistake, overwritten or misplaced, followed by losing a hard drive or RAID1 set - all of which can be trivially recovered from using a Time Machine backup which is up to date within the last 60 minutes.
• My photo library is too big to fit on my Time Machine drive, so I use RAID1 in my Mac Pro to store my primary photo library.
• I use Windows Backup to a tethered USB drive on my Windows 7 machine to keep a near line daily backup of my files and OS. It stays attached.
• For important data such as my photos, I have a secondary backup to a RAID5 array on an Adaptec hardware RAID controller in another machine in another room. I use ChronoSync to sync my Lightroom library to that location. This provides my secondary near line backup copy in case something happens to the Mac Pro.
• For really important data such as my source code, I have a real time off site SVN repository in another country. This repository gets backed up back to my home on a weekly interval.
• For an off site backup of my photos and documents (and source code), I use a 2TB external USB drive that I lock in my fire proof safe in my home. I count this as off site because even in fire and flood, the safe will protect my data. This makes it much more accessible to keep up to date.

In summary then, I have 3 different storage media for my photos, one of which is considered off site, and two which is considered backups (RAID1 is not a backup, it is a hardware redundancy). I have five different storage media for my source code, two of which is considered off site (three copies are backups simply due to the highly sensitive nature if I do lose it, the other copies are work related as I store a copy on my main workstation and my laptop). I do not have an off site backup of my operating system simply because that is easy to recover by reinstalling from the original media.

You do not need 7 copies of data to keep it safe. Don't be stupid. Think.