[REQUEST] Data Backup - Flash Drive or External SSD?

I am going to say it again - you need two backups, if something goes wrong you end up with egg on your face when either the data is lost or you have to use customer provided backups if they have them !
 
Stever said:
I am going to say it again - you need two backups, if something goes wrong you end up with egg on your face when either the data is lost or you have to use customer provided backups if they have them !
Click to expand...
That eats up time. I have never done this and never has it been an issue. I backup the data 1x and transfer it over to the new computer or new drive (or back to the computer when nuking & paving).

I would consider doing it if it were for a business.
 
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Stever said:
you have to use customer provided backups if they have them !
Click to expand...

Well, if the customer doesn't have them, I'm certainly not responsible for having them (unless I'm their MSP and that's part of the agreement).

Whether I do one additional copy versus two is really dependent on the criticality of the data. And for a home (as in residential, not business from home) user, particularly if the backup is going to a cloud service, one is more than enough. Sometimes it's even enough for a small home-based business.

It's about risk assessment and ability to get data back if needed. The probability of any off-site backup that's kept in a professional data center "going missing" to begin with is incredibly small. The probability of that incredibly small probability occurring simultaneously with the need to recover from it is so small as not to warrant serious consideration. Data centers have backups of the backups already, and were the original to disappear they'd be recovering that customer data so it would be back again.
 
I view it as a matter of profesional pride that the clients data in a tech's hands should never be lost !
I don't care if it is cat pics or company financial stuff, it goes back to them !
I have had 3 spinning rust drives fail, on one the electronics failed, board swaped from an identical drive to fix it.
Drive 2 was a customer sourced drive that was blank the next day after a full reinstall :(
Drive 3 was a brand new 4TB for my own personal backups that started loosing data after 2 days :(

Data loss is waiting for the opertunity to catch you out !
 
Stever said:
I am going to say it again - you need two backups, if something goes wrong you end up with egg on your face when either the data is lost or you have to use customer provided backups if they have them !
Click to expand...
Unless you are in an actual data recovery scenario that is overkill. This is a drive used to transfer data to a new machine. Highly unlikely you are going to have your own equipment fail AND not have the original drive.
 
@Appletax Inside of there is a standard mSATA SSD connected to a USB-C adapter. I just bought one of those for an older laptop with an mSATA port because the client wanted a 1TB SSD + a 2TB hard drive in his computer. It was so much cheaper buying this vs. a standalone mSATA drive. Internal mSATA drives just weren't that popular and it seems that manufacturers aren't replacing the stock that was sold out due to Coronavirus. A 500GB mSATA drive goes for like $400 on eBay new in box.
 
Since I do Windows only and no Apple, I rather have NTFS.
exFAT (and the other FATs, as well) lacks a journal, and so is vulnerable to corruption when the volume is not properly unmounted or ejected, or during unexpected shutdowns.
Click to expand...
 
Appletax said:
By default, it's formatted with exFAT. I will be using it to temporarily backup customer data. Data won't be on it for long.
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If your goal is maximum speed and you want cross compatibility with Mac OS then stay with exFAT. If you want the data to be a little bit safer, use NTFS. Honestly, just don't pull it out without making sure it's no longer in use and exFAT will be fine. I personally use NTFS with my external hard drives and exFAT for my external SSDs. I also keep a 4TB external hard drive around that's formatted with exFAT so I can transfer large amounts of data from a Mac if necessary. It's rare but sometimes I get in a Mac with 2TB+ of data on it.
 
Appletax said:
That eats up time. I have never done this and never has it been an issue. I backup the data 1x and transfer it over to the new computer or new drive (or back to the computer when nuking & paving).

I would consider doing it if it were for a business.
Click to expand...
This is how I look at it. If I make one copy and either dies I no longer have a back, just the original. So I'll have to stop what I'm doing to make a backup again.
 
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