After years of freelancing, HD crashes, failed logic bords, thieves and a few other disasters I have decided to adress my constant headache; regular backups. After looking into network discs, time machines, Drobos and some other solutions I decided to go full-cloud on this one. Earlier I had some external harddrives where I archived my work and made not so regular backups. After a few months of trial and error, I found the perfect solution for me … and it only costs 20 dollars a month.

My back-up has three main components;1. Instant/realtime backup of workfolders and DBs. 2. Daily backups of my complete workstation/laptop. 3. Passive backups on my archives that is activated automatically when I archive stuff

My back-up has three main components;1. Instant/realtime backup of workfolders and DBs. 2. Daily backups of my complete workstation/laptop. 3. Passive backups on my archives that is activated automatically when I archive stuff

The setup has three basic components;

1. Instant/realtime backup for the stuff I work right now + databases.
2. Daily backups of my complete workstation/laptop.
3. Passive backups of my archives that is activated automatically when I archive stuff.

For the instant backups I use Dropbox Pro with the Symlinks-script installed (more about that at the end of the post). Via the symlink- script Dropbox monitors my workfolders/files and backs them up the very second anything changes. Dropbox offers 50Gb storage for $9.99 a month or 100Gb for $19.99 a month. I signed up for the 50Gb account and it has worked fine for me so far.

For the daily/nightly backups of my laptop I chosed iDrive.com. They offer 150Gb for $4.95 a month and has an extremely good interface when you want to create your backup sets. The size restriction on the account hasn’t been a problem to me, and I guess they will offer unlimited storage in a near future.

For the “passive” archive backups I have choosen to go with Mozy.com. I really wanted to use Backblaze.com since I felt that is was more flexible, faster and has a better user experience in general but I have files that is up to 20 years old that has to be backed up from old cd-roms (remember those days :-) and somehow OSX Leopard won’t read those discs. So I had to go with OSX Tiger on the archive server … and Backblaze isn’t available for Tiger. Anyway, Mozy offers unlimited storage at $4.95 a month so thats perfect for the archives.

Here is how you set up the Symlinks script on a Mac.

The Symlinks script allows me to sync/backup folders outside the default Dropbox folder. That way I can keep my filestructure and the workflow I have had pre-Dropbox.Basically it let’s me right-click any folder or document and create an alias (symlink) to my Dropbox-folder. Via that symlink Dropbox can then monitor my workfolders/files and sync/back up any file the second it changes.

First download the Symlinks files.

1. Place the “Create Symbolic Link.workflow” file in Home Folder/Library/Workflows/Applications/Finder/

2.Place the “Create Symbolic Link.action” file in
Home Folder/Library/Automator

If any of the folders do not exist … create them.

How to create Symlinks using Automator:

1. Right Click file or folder you wish to monitor.
2. Choose More
3. Choose Automator
4. Select Create Symbolic Link

5. Once you select Create Symbolic Link the script will prompt you and ask for the location of the alias/symlink. Choose your Dropbox folder and click continue.
6. The symlink will be created in the Dropbox folder and look like a traditional Mac-alias within the Dropbox folder.

Step-by-step tutorial based on “Dropbox Tutorial – OS X Symlinks.pdf” by Stephen Russet.

For more detailed information please visit the Dropbox wiki