Backup Simplicity...

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Last weekend I did a show on backing up your CAD data and the methodology of 3-2-1 backup.

I talked about my method of backup that I use for a number of our server since we have multiple sites and can build in some offsite storage.  I also expressed my distain for backup tools that create the "blob backup" file that requires an application to navigate the backup and restore a file.  Because of this, I use Robocopy, which is now built into Windows.

Over the past week I have received a few requests of a simple backup script to grab a folder and copy it to another location and make sure that the copy is a mirror of the source so I thought I would share.  To add the automatic component I simply use Windows Task Scheduler so I can "Set it and forget it...".

Robocopy Backup Script:

@ECHO OFF
SET prefix="server_backup"
SET source_dir="C:\CAD Data"
SET log_filename=%prefix%.log
SET dest_dir="C:/backup"
SET options="/MIR /LOG:%log_filename%"
ROBOCOPY %source_dir% %dest_dir% %options%
:END

 In Windows7 and Windows Server 2008, Robocopy is installed by default but you will need to install it in XP or Server 2003.  You can avoid creating a *.BAT file with the above script by simply using the Windows Task Scheduler by using the "Add arguments" area when creating an action to run.  Personally I like being able to edit the script in a text editor, especially if I decide to get creative and want to add a few areas to the script.

This script is simple, fast and I can browse the backups and they are a complete mirror of my original data.  If you have variants of similar methods, share them in the comments!  NOW GO BACKUP YOUR STUFF! ~Lou

SkyDrive, and WebDAV, and Explorer, OH MY!

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Microsoft SkyDrive, a free 25GB cloud storage offering in the Windows Live suite, has two major issues when it comes to mass user adoption:

  1. The file size limit is 50MB per file
  2. No direct integration inside Windows Explorer

Although the 50MB file limit is still a controlling factor, the ability to integrate it into Windows Explorer has finally made it to the scene. There are some third party solutions (Gladinet and SD Explorer) but they come at a price and act as middleware between Windows and your hosted storage.

With the release of Microsoft Office 2010, many beta-testers and early adopters have noticed in the new File Menu (Backstage View) a new option under "Save & Send" called Save to Web.  This new option allows a user to enter their Windows Live ID and connect directly to the SkyDrive storage, revealing the WebDAV address.  This address can then be copied from the "Save As" dialog and used to map a drive to your computer.

With SkyDrive now mapped locally, all of your applications are able to access and save directly to it (as long as your files are smaller than 50MB each!)  There are reports that Microsoft is working on integrating SkyDrive into Windows, along with other offerings within their web strategy (Mesh, Windows Live, Azure).

For detailed instructions on acquiring the WebDAV address from Microsoft Office 2010, visit Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows article.  Paul details out a few aspects of other third party tools and how to map SkyDrive and link your Windows 7 login to with your Windows Live ID. 

For those of you who do not have Office 2010 and want to still map to your SkyDrive, you can go to Mike Plate's article who wrote a little application to uncover the WebDAV address directly.  I actually tried it out and it works great!  If you want to avoid the install of his "SkyDrive Simple Viewer" you can build the address from the URL in your browser's address bar once you are logged into SkyDrive by following the steps in this post on the Live community.

This is a lot of free storage and as CAD users we are always looking for ways to store data.  I hope to see Microsoft remove the 50MB file limit since that is easy to breach when working with parametric data! ~Lou

The Definition of Backup

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How do you define backup? Do you consider backup to be data redundancy or are you more in the camp that backup is disaster recovery? Maybe both? Much of our daily lives are stored in 0's and 1's especially our engineering data however how many of us are actually responsible for making sure our engineering data is safe? The common response seems to be "Oh, that is IT's job!"

Talking with engineers, many are aware that the hard disk on their computer will fail at some point but none of them know exactly when. All of us can probably remember times in our past when a HDD failed and the pain it caused and the pain potential is growing with every year that passes.  Look how much more data we generate with our computers today than we did just 5 years ago. 
The statistics are alarming no matter where you find them. Although most of the numbers vary, the ranges seem to be similar. Here is what I found:
  • ~ 4 - 6% of users actually back up their data
  • ~ 30% of business do not check or test their backups
  • ~ 75% of business that do check backups find backup failures = NO BACKUPS!
  • ~ 30% of computers will lose data due to event beyond their control
  • ~ 90% of data backed up is within the same building as the original data.
This list goes on and on with all types of statistics depending on the sources and year the statistics were collected. The trend is if you don't backup it is not a question of "IF", it is a question of "WHEN"! Many understand the impact personally when they lose photos or precious memories of their family but how does that apply to business or better yet, your engineering data? Well the impact can be devastating to a business, especially when the data contains all the lifeblood of the company. For companies that design products, the CAD data is crucial and it's backup methods should be viewed as important as the data itself. For engineers, a loss of their CAD data would obviously push out their completion date but may also crush their ingenuity and innovation drive.
Typically most companies using data servers or even PDM will be running those servers on a RAID configuration, bringing local redundancy to the data.  This is always my recommendation, however data simply being redundant is not "backup" until it resides in another location as well. Whether a big corporation or a single contractor, data backup can be done online, in the cloud with a few interesting services without physical copies being sent to an off-site storage facility.
Here are a few that I have looked at:
Many of these have been evaluated in depth by PC Magazine and most of these solutions have a free model with a few GB of storage, a personal plan and then a business option.  All of these have a "Set it and forget it" mode where you can point the local application to folders you want backed up and they will be copied up to the cloud automatically.  
Personally I wanted to make sure my selection would be with a company I felt confident would be around for the long haul and not have to worry about my "secure data" disappearing because the company went belly up. I currently use the Amazon S3 service which is not an unlimited, flat fee service but I use it with a $20 program called JungleDisk which is the client interface that automates the backups to S3 automatically. I chose this for my own use due to the AMAZON name as well as the costs associated (pay for use).  One of the most compelling offerings has been Microsoft's with a big focus on cloud computing services. SkyDrive is a free service and is offering 25GB of online storage for free! So that may be a great place to start looking.

These type of services are popping up all over the Net and can give great automatic backup of your local data quickly. The trick is to actually do it! The days of having physical copies of our designs are behind us and all of what we design is now electronic. Much of our in-process design work is stored on our local machines outside of our company's infrastructure and backup loops so that data is susceptible to loss. Take the opportunity to make sure your data is safe where ever it is (local machine, network drives, etc) and make a copy somewhere you can't walk to in 1 minute to ensure that your mind is free of worry and can focus on innovation! ~Lou