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Multiple backup jobs or one big backup?

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I am creating a backup to my NAS of my yearly photo projects (I am a full time photographer). I create seperate folders for each year's work, going back to 2008. Each year folder is .75 - 1 TB in size. I am trying to decide if I should create one large backup for all the years, or if I should create seperate, smaller backup jobs for each? I plan on a weekly "full" backup, with daily "differential". Typically, I am working in the current year, with occasional edits to prior years. So I don't expect the differential backups for pior years to be very large.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

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Ralph,

It is difficult to make a recommendation without knowing your hard disk configuration.  For example if you had a 500GB boot disk and 2 3TB HDDs, each with 3 1TB partitions, then I would recommend multiple backup jobs.  However, if you have one 4TB hard drive with one C: drive, with all of the photos in separate folders, then I would probably recommend 1 backup job.

So, if you can provide some info on your HDD configuration, including partitions, I will gladly make a recommendation.

One unsolicited recommendation I will make is:  You should have multiple copies of all your work.  One full set should be stored off site...perhaps in a safety deposit box.  HDDs are inexpensive...your data (pictures) are priceless.

Regards,

FtrPilot

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

I have a bootable system "c" drive and an internal data (non-bootable) 3TB 'k" drive that I use to hold the yearly image folders mentioned above. I need to back up the yearly image folders (2015. 2014,2013, etc) to a 24TB QNAP NAS. I am using Acronis to create automated backups to the NAS. I am trying to decide if I should create different "jobs" in Acronis to back up each year's folders independently of one another, or simply create one job to back them all up. As these image folders are for use in LightRoom, they still see changes, even prior years.

My first recommendation is that you need to backup the "C" drive, as well as your "K" drive.

For your "C" drive, I recommend a full backup every 2 weeks, with daily incremental backups or daily differential backups.  Some people have more confidence in differential backups.   Personally, I use incremental backups.  You will need to decide how many months of backups to keep...personally, I keep 2 months minimum.  You will also need to decide how to do the housekeeping (delete old backups that are no longer needed).  Personally, I do my own housekeeping.  These backups must be made using "Disk" mode not "Partition" mode.

https://forum.acronis.com/forum/100416

The link above contains good information on custom backup schemes.  These schemes were developed by GroverH...he is a proponent of ATI doing the housekeeping.

For your "K" drive, I am struggling a bit with what to recommend.  A full "Disk" mode backup could take 24 to 30 hours.  I have no clue on how long a differential or incremental backup would take.  I do believe that a full backup every week would be excessive.  You may want to do a full backup every 2 weeks (possibly even longer), with daily incremental or daily differential.

I have no experience with file/folder backups.  You may want to experiment with separate tasks (Jobs) for each yearly folder.

One thing you need to consider is how easy would it be to find and extract one file.

You will also need to decide on how to do the housekeeping.

I also recommend that you test your recovery media.  If your "C" drive crashes, and you boot with your recovery DVD, does ATI even see your NAS?

Hope this helps...let us know how things work out.

Regards,

FtrPilot