Backing Up Backup Drive

D

Doom4life

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 31, 2006
Messages
196
Hey all,

So after playing with fire for over a decade and keeping a backup of all my data on a laptop, I've finally gotten around to a proper backup solution.

My plan is two use two 2.5" hard drives with enclosures. The first drive would occasionally be used to read the data but also to backup data from three computers. The second drive would be a mirror of the first drive. In the near future, I also plan to leave a third hard drive at work in a locked place.

What is the best way to copy data from the first hard drive to the second (and eventually, third) hard drive? I've always used copy and paste but I'm thinking this might create unnecessary wear as I would first delete the data on the second drive before copying the data from the first drive.

Preferably I'd like a free solution to start with.
 
Don't back up the first backup drive onto the second. Simply rotate the two. You go around and back up the three computers onto the first drive; the next time you do a round of backups, back them up onto the second drive.

This gives you the benefit of always having a newer and an older version of each of the computers, in case you need to roll back further than the latest backup.

Edit: same goes with the third off-site drive. Don't back up the backup drives on it. Use it to make fresh backups from the computers.
 
That's an excellent idea. Although the bulk of my data is pbotos and videos you never know when having an older copy of something might be useful.

Any specific method or software you could recommend?
 
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