Mar 17 2010
Backing up…
Merlin Mann has put a nice post up about the importance of backing up. He asserts the ‘holy trinity’ of backing up:
- If it’s not automated, it’s not a real backup.
- If it’s not redundant, it’s not a real backup.
- If it’s not regularly rotated off-site, it’s not a real backup.
All good stuff, and I recommend you take a read of his article and the Daring Fireball article that inspired it; it’s all good ‘cautionary tale for our times’ stuff. I’m not the greatest fan of Merlin’s style of writing — I find he sometimes talks in language that is too absolute for stuff that is grey around the edges — but his blog always makes me think deeply about the things he writes about. As a blogger I think that puts him in the top 99.8th percentile.
Why do I say his voice is too absolute at times? Well, a case in point is saying that “if it’s not automated then its not a real backup”. As long as you have a plan that you stick to which keeps your backup as safe and current as it needs to be, then you have a real backup. I used to automate my backups but found that I missed too many by not having my laptop plugged in and connected to my backup drive at the right time, and then cancelling the backup when I plugged in because it wasn’t a convenient time to run. Automating it actually made my backup less safe, and manually choosing when was best for me in the day to run it kept me far more current. I know that Merlin means “automation is the best way to get you doing your backup as regularly as you need to, and that’s what we’re really aiming for here”, but the minute you use that absolute language it sounds like there is no room for the grey around the edges. And don’t even get me started on just how flawed the concept of ‘Inbox zero’ really is.