Contemplations on the Art of Music Production

My Best Practice Backup Strategy for Small Business

Updated: 2022-03-17

Click, click, click… Ever experienced the panic when your hard drive starts making that sound? I have. And of course I didn’t have a proper backup strategy in place.

For a long time I had trouble keeping up with making backups. Finally I figured out the solution: I needed to automate it.

It’s been 8 years now since that day. Things have worked out really well since I decided to implement a proper backup strategy for my small business.

Data Backup Strategy – The Risks

Beyond the day to day aspects of running a small business, my entire life’s work sits on my hard drives. It would be terrible to lose that.

There are several types of risks I wanted to protect my data against.

Hard drive failure

I’ve had several hard drives fail in the past. It’s crucial to understand that all mechanical drives will fail at some point. It’s only a question of when. Even brand new drives as well as SSD ones can fail.

Ransomware attack / hacking

Even though I think I’m pretty well aware and protected against such things, it makes sense to prepare against ransomware, malware and hacking.

I will mention here that as part of my ransomware backup strategy, I’m also using Nord VPN which hides my traffic and provides protection against threats.

Physical disasters

These would include things like fires, power surges and flooding. I’m doing what I reasonably can to prevent these things, but again – you never know.

Theft

Unfortunately, computers are prime targets for theft and burglaries. While I am taking measures to not become an easy target, you can never rule out the possibility of crime.

Requirements

Besides covering the risks mentioned above, there are three main requirements I wanted my backup strategy to meet.

1. Fully automatic backups

In the past I’ve dealt with backups manually. Eventually I realised it’s busywork that I could easily automate.

Not only that. An automated backup process is far superior in frequency and consistency.

Everything backup related needs to be automated and require little to no maintenance. It relieves me from having to remember to do it manually. One less thing to worry about.

2. Off-site backup copy

The only way to cover for physical disasters or theft is to have a second backup off-site. This is where cloud backup comes in.

3. Version history

What if I accidentally deleted something? My automated backup system would mirror that change.

Or maybe at some point I want to return to an earlier version of a project or a file?

I needed a solution that incorporates version history.

The 3-2-1 Backup Strategy

I decided to implement the 3-2-1 backup strategy. Many think it’s the best backup strategy for small business and personal use alike, because it’s straightforward and affordable but still covers a lot of ground.

The idea is to have three copies of your data:

  1. The primary data (your computer and drives)
  2. A local backup (stored on a separate device to your primary copy)
  3. An off-site backup

The 3-2-1 method is a best practice backup strategy that is widely recommended. It’s not perfect, but it gets you a long way with a very modest investment. It’s a good option for small business backup strategy.

I ended up with a data backup strategy that consists of two components:

  1. A cloud backup with version history of my computer and all external drives. For this I chose Backblaze.
  2. A bootable clone of my system drive. I went with Get Backup Pro for this.

1. Cloud backup with version history

I researched lots of different options for cloud backup. I ended up choosing Backblaze. Their service is one of the cheapest but still has great features for a cloud backup strategy.

Backup strategy - Backblaze
Backblaze is super straightforward to use.

Backblaze features in a nutshell:

  • Unlimited storage space and bandwidth. You can back up your computer and all your external drives without worrying about limits or extra costs.
  • 30 days version history by default, extendable to 1 year or forever.
  • Fully automatic. You can set up scheduling as well, but I prefer to have it continuously update changed files into the cloud.
  • Free and easy file recovery.
  • Affordable.

If you need a more advanced solution, there’s Backblaze Business. With it you can do Veeam, NAS, server and computer backups with centrally managed admin and extended version history.

I have now been using Backblaze for 8 years without any issues. It gives me great peace of mind. I don’t have to think about it at all – it just works and my backups are always up to date.

You can read my full article about Backblaze here.

2. A bootable clone backup

I always have projects to work on and deadlines to meet. I don’t want to risk any downtime.

A bootable clone backup ensures that if my main drive fails, I can simply boot up from the clone and continue working.

I decided to use the Get Backup Pro software to create a clone of my main drive. Get Backup Pro comes with the Setapp software bundle which I’m already using for all kinds of tasks in my small business (check it out, it’s pretty great). If you wanted to buy it separately, it’s $19.99.

Backup strategy - Get Backup Pro
Get Backup Pro interface. You can set up many different types of backup tasks.

The initial creation of the clone takes some time. After that, the daily backing up happens quickly. Get Backup Pro uses incremental backups (it only updates what has changed).

Your data backup strategy?

I’m quite happy with this backup solution. It protects me against ransomware, physical disasters, theft as well as my own mistakes.

The combination of Backblaze and Get Backup Pro is very cost effective (not to mention I get the 200+ other apps that come with Get Backup Pro in Setapp).

For additional security, I’m using Nord VPN to hide my traffic and threat protection.

You don’t have to adapt this strategy as it is. Whether you’re just looking for a cloud backup strategy or a comprehensive backup strategy for a small business, you can consider these elements as a part of your solution.

How are you dealing with backups?  Any tips, ideas or further thoughts? Let me know in the comments.


Posted

in

by

Comments

20 responses to “My Best Practice Backup Strategy for Small Business”

  1. BlaakkEye Avatar
    BlaakkEye

    Hey there! 🙂

    I have my system on a 120GB SSD. I have 2 x 1TB hybrids, with 5 striped partitions for more carefree, yet organized, usage (stream recording video files for example), and 2 mirrored partitions, which contain copies of my important data, as well as a system image clone of an optimised state Installing software to a non-system disk when possible to maintain system drive ‘freshness’. 🙂

    And the above (data and image) on a small external drive. And file history backups to a laptop over the network. I have a few bootable USB sticks too, with plenty of command line file recovery utils.

    I use the tools built into Windows 8.1, but I used to use a program called Cobian Backup (Windows), which I think is freeware and has plenty of features.

    As for cloud storage…. certain, small files I upload simply as a reminder yeah, but I have no need to go beyond the general ‘free allowance’ offered by most services out there, at least….. not just yet.

    1. Ilpo Karkkainen Avatar

      Hey, thanks for letting us know. Sounds like a solid setup! I definitely want to go for running the system on SSD with my next computer upgrade (planning to move from laptop to desktop).

      The biggest selling point of cloud backups (and Backblaze in particular) for me is that it is a very easy way to achieve location independency with any of the data I want. I hope I never need it but if the worst ever happens, like if a lightning damages all my hard drives at once or there is a fire or a burglary, at least my data and work still exists.

  2. BigBreakMusic Avatar
    BigBreakMusic

    I follow a similar strategy. I can’t stress enough the importance of backups. You must have off-site backups. You never know when there could be a fire, earthquake etc that would take your business down. I use an iMac for my production computer but also have a MacBook set up for traveling which has a mirror image of the studio computer. Local backups are performed:
    1. Time Machine connected to the iMac and wireless from the MacBook. I find there are more excuses to NOT plug a Time Machine drive into the laptop so it does it through the air.
    2. Use of Carbon Copy Cloner to keep the images up to date.
    3. Chronosync is used to keep the projects on the MacBook and the iMac in sync (as well as documents, music, photos etc). This is great because when I have to take off I know I have all my projects and other important documents pretty much ready to go.
    4. All sounds and instrument expansions and presets are on an external drive.

    This brings the next thing that people often forget about. If you have an external drive housing data (photos, music etc) that isn’t on any computer you MUST back up that external drive to another drive. My main computer’s sounds are housed on a 4TB firewire drive and that syncs to another external 4TB firefire drive. I have a portable drive for the sounds so that when I travel with the MacBook it is sync and ready to go.

    Off-site Backup:
    I use CrashPlan because I can back up an unlimited amount of data on 10 different devices for a single annual price. This lets me keep mirrored copies in the cloud . The service uses revisioning which is great so that I can pull a file several generations back if I am on the road and not in front of the Time Machine Drives.

    1. Ilpo Karkkainen Avatar

      Thanks, that’s very interesting. I will be moving from laptop to desktop as my primary machine at some point, and been wondering how I should work that out in terms of backups. Great info, thanks.

  3. MaestroDon Avatar
    MaestroDon

    Backblaze FTW. I use them as well. It’s a very low resource drain. Almost nothing. Inexpensive yet quick. Works in the background. I rarely think about it. I agree, it’s a no brainer.

    1. Ilpo Karkkainen Avatar

      Yeah it’s great! The low resource drain is a good point. You’re right – hadn’t thought of that.

      1. Courtez Presberry Avatar
        Courtez Presberry

        do you use samples and vst?

  4. Tadro Abbott Avatar
    Tadro Abbott

    I’ve been using a cloud backup for a while but found that if I was recording and it was trying to backup the changes as I went, it was just too much reeding and writing for my harddrive and I had to disable to the backup until I was finished working (and then remember to turn it back on…. ha!)

    You potentially have a data backing up in 3 directions (cloud, clone and time machine) while you work, do you have any problems with your internal drive keeping up or anything like that?

    1. Ilpo Karkkainen Avatar

      Good point. The way I work, I rarely record audio live so I have not found that to be a big problem. My projects are also usually fairly modest when it comes to number of audio tracks.

      I have always made it a priority to get 7200 RPM drives. With a 5400 it could be a lot worse. So most of the time its fine for me but I do pause the backups sometimes if I start running out of juice. More often for me its a case of running out of CPU power.

      However – yeah like you said when doing live recording it can be a problem, especially if recording multiple tracks.

      Eventually I want to go for a SSD drive as system+work drive. That should make things smoother.

  5. Bicho Raro Avatar
    Bicho Raro

    hi Ilpo, great suggestions as usual

    I only have a doubt on the use of the clouds .
    what are the regulations on copyright ?
    the ownership of the files contained in the cloud
    remain solely and exclusively mine?
    thanks in advance

    1. Ilpo Karkkainen Avatar

      Hi, I maybe naive but i don’t worry about it myself.

      You should check the terms and conditions of any cloud service you are interested in for information on their specific conditions, because there are probably differences between companies. Also it might help to search for any discussion on relevant topics.

  6. Courtez Presberry Avatar
    Courtez Presberry

    I notice you only have talked about the c drive (operating system hard drive) and the back up. I take it that you don’t use vst and samples libraries, because if so you didn’t say that.
    I would like to do this backup, however I use multiple hard drives, so how would this work for me?

    1. Ilpo Karkkainen Avatar

      I have multiple hard drives – no problems at all. It’s your choise what to back up.

    2. J_Whtrz Avatar
      J_Whtrz

      with cloud storage (and probably most other types of back up) you can select what parts of what drives you want to back up. Not sure what this has to do with VSTs and libraries.

  7. dryl presberry Avatar
    dryl presberry

    It was probably my antivirus conflicting

  8. Trevor Avatar
    Trevor

    Hey Resound, thanks so much for this article. What I’m noticing as I am starting to research a method for my own backups is that most of the software available (i’m using a PC) have built in cloud functionality as well as keeping a local backup with history like Time Machine. I’m curious why you use 3 different services for you 3-2-1 backup strategy versus a solution that integrates them all together?

    1. Ilpo Kärkkäinen Avatar
      Ilpo Kärkkäinen

      Hey Trevor,

      Thanks for the question. This post is almost 5 years old so it’s based on the research I did back then. There are probably many new options available now. I’m still using this method though (with some small changes), it has worked great for me. Let me know about your findings/recommendations!

  9. John Citizen Avatar
    John Citizen

    Important article.

    I don’t fully understand the difference between simply having full backups (ie. on Time Machine, for example) Vs. Having a ‘Bootable Clone’.

    If my main computer dies, can I not simply restore my previous system via the data that has been backed up to the Time Machine?

    1. Ilpo Kärkkäinen Avatar
      Ilpo Kärkkäinen

      Good question. Yes you can restore the data via Time Machine. But only after you have a new system up and running, which could take days sometimes. With a bootable clone, it’s only a matter of booting up from the clone drive. So you can continue working without downtime.

      To me that’s important as I completely rely on my computer to do my work, deliver to clients and pay the bills. So every day of downtime costs me. If you only use the computer for a hobby, downtime may not matter that much to you.

      1. Courtez Presberry Avatar
        Courtez Presberry

        Have you ever did a video on this information? while I sincerely appreciate this information it just hard to understand without video reference. I believe the bootable drive needs to be explain in depth so people can understand how people a bootable clone hard drive is and they need to know the precise informaton in which you are relaying. This is courtez presberry, I’ve posted in the past and I have no problem with paying for a video course of this information .
        I hope all is well for you and thank you once again for providing this great content about saving data.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.