When I initially decided to write an article on how I’ve organized my life, it started out simple and straightforward. Touching on the basics of organizing personal, freelance and work life. From this I’ve branched out into multiple articles and in the end decided it would be best to write a series on the entire process I’ve gone through and frankly still going through.

I’m going to start off with the most important aspect in my opinion and that’s synchronization and backups. I’m adding backups into the mix simply because it goes hand and hand with syncing files. I’ve tried to explain as much as possibly and in detail how everything is setup, while not getting to long winded. Simply because I will be going into more detail about each application and/or service that I’ll touch on below.

I will also be working on a full diagram that will be included sometime through the series. This diagram will be a much better representation of what I’ve setup, how it syncs back and forth and how all the backups work. It will also include all the hardware I utilize and where it is used.

Synchronization & Backups

So let us begin this series with the synchronization and backup applications that I’m using. I’ll try to include as much detail about each particular application and/or service and why I’m using it. I’m starting with these two types of applications and/or services for a good reason, this should be number one on everyones list to get in place and keep it working!

I have lost very important files in the past because I didn’t believe that hardware failure or data loss could happen to me. Guess what? It did and it can. Since then I have put barriers up to keep it from happening again and I’m happy to report that I haven’t lost anything in a very long time.

Windows Live Sync

Windows Live Sync (FolderShare) is a free application developed by Microsoft that allows for folder synchronization. This is your first line of defense against data loss, granted you need multiple computers for this. Currently I have a workstation at home (Mac Pro) and a mobile computer (MacBook) that I use while at work. Windows Live Sync is integral to my setup and a must have for daily operation.

A few things to note about this application/service.

• You can only synchronize 20 folders total.
• Each folder cannot contain more than 20,000 files.
• File size limit of 4GB
• Sync does not work with mapped network drives.

Currently Windows Live Sync supports:

• Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 2 or later
• Windows Server 2008
• Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or later
• Windows Vista
• Mac OS X 10.5
• Mac OS X 10.6

With the above limitations it would appear that this might become a problem. Truthfully, I’ve been using it for over a year now and I haven’t had any problems with the limitations listed above. Microsoft simply put these in place to keep from killing the servers that Windows Live Sync run on, most will not need to exceed the above.

Back when it was FolderShare it had far more limitations than it does now, it would appear now that any file type can synchronize. When it was FolderShare I had many problems syncing PSD’s and other “uncommon” filetypes as Microsoft put it. I will go into more detail on Windows Live Sync later in this series, I’ll also go into what folders I sync, why and the benefits of doing so.

Dropbox

Dropbox has probably been one of the most useful application that I’ve started using. It’s a really simple concept and it only makes sense to utilize it. Now I know most of you are probably thinking, why use Dropbox if you’re using Windows Live Sync?

It’s simple, you’re not using up your 20 folders, you’re not tapping the 20,000 file limit, you’re creating a backup point and you’re also able to access the files anywhere. Windows Live Sync is more of a “configuration & database” synchronization solution. I don’t use Windows Live Sync to sync “work” files, such as documents and images.

Reasons why I’m Using Dropbox

• Works on the major operating systems; Mac, Linux & Windows. (No particular order here…)
• You can run it on all of the major operating systems and it will sync between them.
• Paid and free accounts.
• Automatically syncs, no starting or stopping. Run a small app all the time and it handles the rest.
• Backup point.
• Accessible online, anywhere with web access.
• Each referral grants 250MB more space.

*** Please use the link above if you plan on signing up for Dropbox. It helps to grow my free account so I won’t have to pay for an account, doesn’t cost you anything and helps me keep rolling. Thanks in advance. ***

Mozy (Free)

Mozy is a great backup solution. I’m mentioning this because I currently use Mozy for backups for work files. I do not prefer Mozy, or didn’t I should say. The application was clunky and didn’t seem to handle large backups (100GB+). I am using the free version which is limited to 2GB and it seems to be working just fine now, I haven’t needed to restore any files so I can’t attest to that just yet.

Basically I only backup my Dropbox with Mozy. The only items that go into Dropbox are related to my current full-time job. Which do not come close to hitting the 2GB limit. Mozy is similar to Dropbox with their referral program as well, for each person that you refer to Mozy you’ll get an extra 250MB’s of space added to your free account.

*** Again use of the referral link is very much appreciated. ***

Carbonite

Carbonite is my backup everything solution. They charge yearly, but so far have been well worth it. If you have multiple computers you want to backup with them, register for one first and they may give you a half off for another. When I first signed up, they did that for the two computers that I paid for. With Carbonite I simply backup everything on my Mac Pro and my wife’s iMac (Family photos & videos).

Carbonite is one of those backup solutions that you install, setup and forget. The $54.95 that they charge a year is for an unlimited amount of backups. Currently my Mac Pro has 280GB backed up with 150GB in queue. My wife’s computer currently has 100GB backed up, so that’s a total of almost 400GB backed up with Carbonite, with no problems thus far. I have more computers than my workstation and my wife’s iMac, so to get around having to pay for multiple accounts I use Crashplan on all my other computers and I have an extra 500GB hard drive installed on my Mac Pro specifically for my other computers. Which brings me to my next backup solution.

Crashplan

Crashplan is one of those setup and forget backup/sync solutions. I’m mentioning it because I currently use Crashplan as a backup point for my other computers that do not have direct to web backup accounts, such as Carbonite or Mozy. With Crashplan I can setup a “host” computer and then each computer that runs the Crashplan software can connect to the host and backup there needed files.

Crashplan allows for multiple backup points with as many computers as you’d like, these backups are all encrypted. So if there were three computers using Crashplan, all three could be a backup point for each other. Computer one would have two sets of backups on the other two computers in the configuration and vise versa. So in my case, my MacBook and my servers backup critical files to my Mac Pro. Those backups are then backed up yet again on Carbonite.

Crashplan also allows you to backup with your friends and/or family. So if your buddy that lives in another state installs the application, he can send you a friend code and you can backup to his computer. I do this with a buddy of mine that lives near me, this way I have another remote backup point.

Time Machine

Of course no backup system would be complete without a Time Machine setup. Currently I utilize two Time Machine systems at home. One is specifically setup for my Mac Pro and the other is attached to an Airport Extreme Base Station which services all the wireless macs in the house. My Mac Pro has an internal 1.5TB hard drive that is used to backup the dual 250GB RAIDED drives that the OS and applications run on as well as my 500GB repository drive where I store all my work files and downloads.

The drive that is hooked to the Airport is a 500GB My Book. The My Books are outstanding external backup drives, I actually own three of them; two 250GB and one 500GB. The 500GB that is hooked to the Airport services my wife’s iMac and my MacBook.

Xmarks

Xmarks is kind of a life savor in my opinion and probably one of the coolest applications I’ve used thus far. The reason that I’m mentioning this one is simple, I use bookmarks for everything. I also utilize multiple browsers, mainly for testing websites and how they look in each, but also for speed reasons as well; Safari being faster on my MacBook than FireFox.

With Xmarks you simply install a FireFox plugin, or download a small app for Safari and setup an account. Currently Xmarks supports the following browsers:

• FireFox
• Safari
• Chrome
• IE

As far as Chrome and IE are concerned, I’m not sure what is needed to sync those. I would assume it would be a standalone application such as Safari, but since I don’t normally use them I wouldn’t know. I would highly suggest visiting their website and going over their feature list. Xmarks is MUCH more than a bookmark sync application. This is the main feature I use of Xmarks but there are MANY MANY more things it can do, most of which you may find very useful.

Conclusion

In the next bits to this series I will be outlining in more detail how I utilize each of the applications/services above. I’ll also be going into more detail the small bits of my synchronization and backup system. This is the first of many articles to come on my entire setup.

We’ve recently been having quite a few clients that have been interested in getting their files backed up and secure. This is a topic that has always interested me and I’ve done a lot of research in the past in order to get my backups setup, secure, automated and fail-safe. I’m going to go over my backup solutions and what I’ve done in the past that hasn’t worked for me.

When I first started to have files that needed to be backed up I started out with what I had at the time. Without having a secondary hard drive to rely on and no money to pay for online backup services (which weren’t even an option at the time, non existed or they were very expensive), I decided to use the only thing I had available to me. At the time I had more Cd-R’s than I knew what to do with, mainly because I burned my own music from the ever growing collection I had amassed on my computer.

This was a form of backup for me, because if I lost it on the computer than I had a CD that I could re-rip back into the computer and the other way around. Other files were backed up to Cd’s as well until they would get out dated and/or damaged, which happened very often. Cd’s aren’t a great medium to use for backups in the first place, they don’t have a very long life span before the data will start degrading and in some cases can’t even be accessed at all. After I got my Mac Pro, I decided that I would install a few hard drives to use for backup purposes.

Current Work-Station Setup

Brand and Model
Model Name:    Mac Pro
Model Identifier:    MacPro1,1

Processors
Processor Name:    Dual-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed:    2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors:    2
Total Number Of Cores:    4
Total Combined Processing Speed:    10.64 GHz

Memory (RAM)
Size:    7 GB
Type:    DDR2 FB-DIMM
Speed:    667 MHz
ECC Status:    Enabled

Graphics
Chipset Model:    NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
Bus:    PCIe
PCIe Lane Width:    x16
VRAM (Total):    256 MB

Displays
Left Display:    ViewSonic Graphic Series VG2230wm Black 22″ 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor
Right Display:    ViewSonic Graphic Series VG2230wm Black 22″ 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor

Hard Drives
Bay 1:    WDC WD2500JS-41SGB0 (250 GB) SATA 3.0Gb/s
Bay 2:    SAMSUNG SP2504C (250 GB) SATA 3.0Gb/s
Bay 3:    ST31500341AS (1.50 TB) SATA 3.0Gb/s
Bay 4:    ST3500630AS (500 GB) SATA 3.0Gb/s
Bay 1 & 2:    Striped RAID Set SATA 3.0Gb/s

Ok, enough about my system. The above drives are raided together in a Striped RAID setup. This allows the drives to function as one and I have both drives working in tandem, so I get double the speed on my writes and seeks. This helps because I work with a lot of large files and really need faster drives than what I have, but they suffice for what I currently do.

In order to backup the 500 Gigs of those two drives, I purchased a 500 GB hard drive to use with Time Machine, once I upgraded to Leopard. I soon outgrew this and didn’t really like the idea of my files being on the same drives as my operating system, as it caused bottle necks when working with larger graphics. So I decided to purchase a 1.5 TB hard drive. This drive became my new Time Machine drive and the 500GB drive became my Repository, which houses all of my files.

So here is how my backup system works on the Mac Pro.

Dual 250GB Hard Drives – Operating System, Applications and any other files that run on a regular basis.
500GB Hard Drive – Used as my file repository; all of my work files, documents, pictures, music, movies and so on go on this drive.
1.5TB Hard Drive – Used as my Time Machine drive, all of the above drives use the one 1.5 TB as a backup drive.

The above setup is for in-house use only and has worked great for the past 8 months now. Having such a large amount of space to revision my backups with Time Machine allows me to recover files that were deleted, lost or renamed months ago. This has saved me a number of times and I will never be able to function without having a system such as this.

Now, what happens if something happens to the computer itself? Well I have a way to protect against lightning strikes and/or power surges. First I have a whole house surge protection system installed, if you don’t, do it. They are cheap and your power company will normally spread the payments out over a few months and it’s only around $20 to get them to come out and install it. I think total the system cost us roughly $150, but over 3 months it wasn’t much at all. The next thing I use is a UPS system, that has a very nice surge protection system built in. This saves me from power outages, surges and a number of other problems. This has saved me roughly 30+ times since I’ve purchased it, just from random outages with our power company, storms and the like. I roughly have 5 minutes to get my files saved and my system shut down, then the batteries die.

To cover myself from a fire or other natural disaster, I use online backup services. I used Mozy for the longest time because they offered unlimited space for a great price. Only problem is they have a very bad Mac application and I decided to switch. Now I haven’t been with them for roughly 5 months now, so it is possible that their application is much better, it was in beta when I used it. I moved over to iDrive, which has a great Mac application, but I was paying the same price as Mozy but only got 150 Gigs of space, needless to say I filled that pretty fast and made the decision to move to another company.

While I was searching for companies I decided to give a company a try that is very similar to Mozy, but didn’t have a Mac application at the time. Lucky for me when I was ready to switch, they had in fact released their Mac app, Carbonite. I have been with them now for well over 4 months and I am extremely happy. On my account I currently have around 200 Gigs backed up, with another 300 in the pipe to be uploaded. I keep mine throttled on my system, simply because I work on the web daily, as well as the other 3 adults in my house. So I can’t consume all of the up bandwidth and kill everyone’s bandwidth. I also run a few company servers here as well as a gaming server, which all require bandwidth as well.

My wife has a Carbonite account as well and she has loved her as well. She runs her flat out, mainly because her computer houses all of our family photos and videos, so we wanted to make sure it backed up quickly and also so it backups up fast when they are uploaded to the computer so those files are safe. Currently I have a server running here at the home office aptly dubbed “Obtuse”, which is my companies full time backup server. All of our web servers (A few in the Texas DC), as well as some of the office servers all backup to this one server. I have purchased a pro license for the Linux version of an application called Crash Plan, which runs full time on Obtuse. In a few days I will be setting up all the other computers in the house with this application (which is free for the standard version) and those computers will backup to Obtuse as well. So this will give me another layer of protection, which is still in-house, but having multiple copies of the same data, even in the same place, is better than 1.

So to re-cap. Get a backup system in place and automate it. There are applications for Windows that act the same as Time Machine, you’ll just need to do a little digging to find them. I don’t know of any free off hand, but Retrospect is a paid one that I’ve used in the past and works great. If you don’t want to spend any money, get with a few of your friends and have them all install Crash Plan, it works on Windows, OS X and Linux. Once they’ve got it installed and you do as well, invite each other to backup to your computer. Give them a little bit of space and get the same amount from them, then your computers are backing up to each other and it will be remotely and FREE. The files are all encrypted so no one will have access to the files and vise versa, it’s completely safe. There isn’t any excuse these days to not backup your files.

If anyone wants or needs any help with setting up a backup plan, post a comment and I’ll do my best to help you out. I’ve worked with a lot of the backup software on the market today and if I haven’t, I have all major operating systems installed on my Mac Pro with VMWare, so I can install them as well and help you solve whatever issue you have.