Here at ProfHacker, we do our best—as often as possible—to encourage our readers to regularly and systematically back up their files. All the joys of the digital world can quickly turn to horrors when a hard drive fails and takes with it a photo album, a set of course plans, or an article in progress.
I know this horror first hand. A few years ago, the hard drive in my Macbook failed—dramatically and suddenly. That hard drive took with it to the grave all the class plans I’d made for a new course and—most heartbreaking of all—the first chapter-and-a-half of the dissertation I’d just begun to write. At the time, we owned an external hard drive to use for backup, but I only connected my laptop to it occasionally, and Dropbox didn’t yet exist to automate such tasks. What’s more, our external harddrive started to fail as I attempted to recover the files I had backed up there.
After this experience, I resolved to better protect my data. As a first step, I replaced my external hard drive with a Drobo. What is a Drobo? This video will explain the Drobo more succinctly than I can:
Drobos provide two distinct advantages over standard external hard drives:
- They’re easy to expand. When you run out of space on your Drobo, you simply add a new internal hard drive to an empty drive bay, or replace the smallest drive with a larger one.
- They’re (relatively) immune from failure. Drobo automatically saves everything you add to it on more than one of its internal hard drives. Unlike in life, redundancy is a good thing for your data. So, when—when, not if—one drive fails, you simply pull it out and replace it with a new one. Drobo then autormatically restores the lost data from the redundant versions saved on its other internal drives. In other words, you can be sure (as one can be) that a sudden hard drive failure won’t destroy what you’ve backed up to your Drobo.
Of course, Drobo won’t protect your files if your house burns down. As we’ve said many times at ProfHacker, you should have a diverse backup plan that includes both local and remote storage. And there is another, potentially prohibitive drawback to the Drobo: price. Drobos are expensive–though the price depends greatly on which model you buy, they begin at $350 on Amazon. On top of that price, you also have to buy internal hard drives to populate the Drobo’s drive bays (though if you have a bunch of old desktop hard drives laying around, you can avoid this upfront cost).
For me, the investment was worth it. Drobo is incredibly easy to use: you just plug it in and let it work. I use SuperDuper to automatically backup my important files to the Drobo every night, but the Drobo can work just as well with Apple’s Time Machine and backup software on Windows or Linux. Even more important to me, however, is the security of the Drobo—I no longer worry that one epic hard drive failure will ruin a project (or, worse, destroy years of family photographs). Backing up to an external hard drive is good; backing up to two hard drives is better. Backing up to a data robot that handles that redundancy for you is better still.
Do you have a favorite piece of hardware for backup? How about a favorite piece of backup software? Tell us about it in the comments.
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33 Responses to Backup with D-R-O-B-O
bikegrrr - January 27, 2011 at 8:58 am
Dropbox.com is my favorite. Not only does it backup everything, I can work seamlessly from multiple computers and devices. I can even pull up a document on my iPhone.
garylynn - January 27, 2011 at 2:18 pm
I use AllWaySync to automatically backup my active files from my first internal hard drive to my second internal drive a half hour after the changes happen. Once a week I manually sync my second drive to my external USB drive. Whenever I get a round to it, I use Drive Snapshot to image my whole first drive to the external. The external drive I keep turned off unless backing up to it. And I replace all drives before their third year.
shawndenny - January 27, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Drobo may be a good solution for backup, but here at my university, we implemented it as a networked drive solution for both temporary and permanent storage. The powers in charge decided that the Drobo, being a redundant drive system would not need a backup. Unfortunately, the Drobo drives failed. All three of the redundant drives. The company sent replacements . . . and those redundant drives failed. All of this happened during the final weeks of school. Students who had stored content for class on the drive were unable to get to that content for their final projects. As such we were forced to move to another solution. Maybe on a personal level, this is an OK solution. I can’t speak to that. I can see how Drobo would possibly work as a backup drive solution just fine, but given our school’s experience. I would have a hard time investing in one myself.
drjeff - January 27, 2011 at 4:03 pm
I got a Buffalo Linkstation. They have a bigger fancier one they call the Terrastation. It’s basically a tiny file server with a decent-size hard drive built-in. (Works basically like Brobo with the optional base, Gigabit Ethernet ad all.) It has a web-browser control interface (no S/W to install), uses about 50 watts, and is the size of a medium hardcover book. You can plug two additional USB hard drives into it, for expansion or backup. I got a refurb’ed one for well under $100. I can use 1 USB slot for expansion, and the other for backup, which can then go off-site. It’s now about 2 years old, and works perfectly (so far).
Of course, it’s nowhere near as cool as Drobo. If cost were not so important, or if I were not so comfortable with the technology, Drobo would be an obvious choice. Considering what it does, and how well, the price is not really out of line.
bikegrrr – If your work in Dropbox is REALLY important, be sure you back it up, somewhere. Every so often, a web-based service dies suddenly, for whatever reason, leaving people stuck. Dropbox being so popular doesn’t guarantee it can’t happen to them — many of their users are “freeloading.”
drjeff - January 27, 2011 at 4:18 pm
shawndenny – Sounds like it wasn’t really the drives that failed. The odds of having that many drive failures so close together are less than those of winning the Powerball several times in a row.
But in any case, you underscore the very important point that you can NEVER count on one piece of equipment to not fail: anything that you can’t do without, you must have at least a backup, a spare, or at least a reasonable plan for what to do if it fails.
It’s reasonable to think that Drobo will fail a lot less than most file servers, but unreasonable to think it can’t fail. In this specific case, it’s only DRIVE failures that it’s built to mitigate. (FWIW, your problem sounds like probably a SATA controller failure, which fried the original drives, was mis-diagnosed, and then fried the replacement drives.)
Either your IT department violated that well-known and important rule, or whoever installed it learned why you should not do things like that without consulting with the IT department. There’s really no excuse for having lots of crucial files stored on only one device, no matter how reliable that device should be. Either way, your “Powers in Charge” are idiots. Don’t blame the machine; it’s only a machine (though a very cool one).
drjeff - January 27, 2011 at 4:24 pm
P.S. by “idiots,” I mean “reckless, ill-informed, short-sighted, credulous — maybe even gullible — and exhibiting a grotesque failure of imagination.” I hope this explanation keeps my previous post from getting censored.
mbelvadi - May 18, 2012 at 6:41 am
White people, don’t worry – you’ve put enough mechanisms in place to ensure that a big enough proportion of those non-white people will be disenfranchised before they’re old enough to care about politics, that you won’t really lose control over the levers of power for a very long time.
rogerclegg - May 18, 2012 at 7:23 am
As the United States becomes increasingly multiethnic and multiracial, the more untenable it becomes to have a system in which our institutions (like universities) sort people according to skin color and what country their ancestors came from, treating some better and others worse on the basis of which silly little box is checked. E pluribus unum, now more than ever.
slaclair - May 18, 2012 at 10:08 am
That is a deplorable statement to make. You must only strive to perpetuate stereotypes. Instead of pulling the race card (as some are so apt to do), perhaps we can get down to the real heart of the matter: parents. I will be the first to admit that our education system is flawed. This still does not negate the need for parental involvement. It has nothing to with color, it has to do with the importance the parent places on education. Those that want more than a minimum wage job for their children help them to succeed. Regardless of the number of jobs they might have to work or obstacles they may face. Lead by the example, not by ignorance.
Richard Grayson - May 18, 2012 at 7:22 pm
There is a big disconnect in a state like Arizona, where 83% of the people 65 and over are white, but only 43% of the people 18 and under are white. There are suggestions that our Republican conservative legislature is defunding education because the student population no longer looks like them or the people who vote them into office. I think this generation gap accounts for some of the weird politics on immigration and other issues in Arizona and other states.
On the other hand, as an older person here said, it’s hard to generalize. As he said, “Some of these young nonwhite people call the old white people names. I know some of them call me and my wife Grandpa and Grandma.”
11144703 - May 18, 2012 at 9:10 pm
Zoran, good post. I agree with you except for: “For them stupid is good and smart is bad.” Yes, but only when applied to Asians since it subverts their perpetual view of people of color as hopelessly oppressed by the whitewhite people. That’s why they love to bring up Pacific Islanders who admittedly perform not as well as mainland Asians. In that once instance too many of the far Left celebrate people of color who perform poorly, although the far Left ironically thinks of itself as the most anti-racist.
katisumas - May 18, 2012 at 11:36 pm
Richar Grayson, that is a very nice way to show respect for us oldsters…..
Besides, the birth rate counted by some outdated nineteenth century racial categories is irrelevant. People in general have lost “control over the levers of power” some time ago. The levers are held by corporate entities not definable by “race” or nationalities. These entities have absolutely no national loyalties….. So yes, being called grandma and grandpa by young people does help to humanize a sadly dehumanized world…..
mbelvadi - May 19, 2012 at 7:48 am
Hmmm, I thought Grayson’s older person was making the point that some of the non-white young people were his ACTUAL grandchildren – that is, that the white children of the retired white generation were intermarrying with the non-white population. Richard, which is it?
11144703 - May 19, 2012 at 11:39 am
MBELVADI, how exactly will people of color such as Asian Americans become disenfranchised (before they’re old enough to care about politics) since they are have greater education, greater wealth as a whole, etc. than the evil whitewhite people?
mbelvadi - May 19, 2012 at 2:08 pm
The history tying felon disenfranchisement to racial discrimination is very well documented and can easily be traced right back to Reconstruction. Some states’ legislators spoke quite openly about the need to use felon disenfranchisement to suppress the Black vote and they shaped which felonies qualified accordingly:
http://racism.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1227:voting08-1&catid=70&Itemid=185
mjricklefs - May 19, 2012 at 7:43 pm
Reinforcing the comments of 11144703 I also have wondered why Asian Americans as they increasingly succeed in this nation seem to be dropped from the discussion on challenges facing minorities rather than looked to as role models for achievement and examples of how this nation continues to be a land of significant opportunity for those who are disciplined and work hard to pursue it. In many states over 50% of our non Asian minorities are dropping out of a free high school education
tdr75 - May 23, 2012 at 7:45 am
EM … last I checked, professional basketball wasn’t a major anywhere. And if it were, the gainful employment statistics would be hideous! Maybe the five from Kentucky aren’t worrying about a job this year, but the vast majority of college basketball players aren’t going pro.
Jim Parcels did a study on hockey players in Ontario (http://www.omha.net/flash.asp?page_id=242) Of the roughly 30,000 kids in the 1975 cohort who played hockey on some level, SIX played in the NHL long enough to qualify for a pension (roughly 5 years). And 1975 was considered a strong year in Ontario hockey. You are talking astronomical odds. Given fewer roster slots in the NBA than the NHL (and the higher popularity in the recent past), the odds are even worse.
All Kentucky’s program has done is taken full advantage of the NBA’s age/school rule for their own benefit with little thought to the players (but “we are a players-first program” he says…).
The question to me related to this note is why on earth a school would agree to play Kentucky only at Kentucky or on a neutral court. Kudos to Indiana for calling them out and refusing such an arrangement. Calipari’s rationale is ridiculous and shallow. He doesn’t want his young kids playing in a hostile environment… poor John.
What is “not fair to the players” is that their entire attendance at college is a completely undisguised sham. These kids are not and never will be at Kentucky to get an education. They are there to “go pro.”
dlws8607 - May 23, 2012 at 8:10 am
It sounds like electronicmuse is an athletic supporter with no grasp of what faculty at universities do or the supposed role of athletics at universities. If EM’s assertion is true, we should discontinue almost all athletic departments based on the number of students who fail to gain employment in professional athletics.
Howl away, all of you whiny socialist (at least when it comes to athletic entertainment) athletic supporters, who don’t have a clue about what universities are for and proudly demonstrate this.
kessingerw1 - May 23, 2012 at 8:36 am
Isn’t the reason for people to go to college to “go pro” in something? If you wanted to go to college to be a lawyer, you would go to Harvard because it is a top law school. If you wanted to be a doctor, you would go somewhere with a top medical school. So, these athletes that are forced to go to college for a year by the NBA are going to a college that can help them to succeed in “going pro”, just like every other student.
The best suggestion I have heard to help this issue is to create some type of major that is geared toward student athletes that have great potential to go pro. Make it an associate degree that focuses on the business side of professional athletics so that when they do leave school to become pro, they are more prepared for that world.
11179102 - May 23, 2012 at 8:41 am
tdr75, I appreciate your comments but believe they would support Calipari’s position – he is not recruiting every kid, only the top 3 or 4 high school players each year that are already committed to a “1-and-done” collegiate experience and are already screened as NBA-material. The majority of Kentucky’s players that appear to get playing time are indeed looking to play professionally. Given this, the Kentucky model is player-focused in this strange way.
As you say “All Kentucky’s program has done is taken full advantage of the NBA’s age/school rule for their own benefit…” You are correct. Give Calipari this – he has created his model by following the rules provided by the NCAA and NBA and built in broad daylight. We don’t have to like it, but reality is what it is. In this light, Calipari is not the problem, just a symptom of the problem.
In the end, the Kentucky situation is a symptom of the professionalization of D1 athletics and could also include the issues of conference realignment and positioning of high-profile programs to maximize TV exposure and media contracts. Someday there needs to be a meeting of the minds among the NFL, NBA and NCAA on whatever farm system deemed needed for our sports-crazed society. Then colleges and universities can return to their primary mission of education for its students who choose to participate in athletics.
rcsloan - May 23, 2012 at 8:50 am
Last I heard, to become a lawyer by way of Harvard, you actually have to graduate with a degree. Same situation for medical school. Are you suggesting that students headed for the NBA will also have to graduate with a degree?
kaesser08 - May 23, 2012 at 8:57 am
11179102, you are correct. A lot has been said about Calipari but for the most part he is working within the rules of the system (NCAA and NBA) and is doing what he is hired to do, recruit high tier talent to be competitive at the highest level. Other top programs, including Duke, are losing players after one year to try their skills at the professional ranks. Thus, I find the selection of Calipari as the target of this groups anger to be misguided.
kessingerw1 - May 23, 2012 at 9:29 am
In a way, yes I am saying that. Why not be able to graduate with some sort of Associate degree in professional athletics? If this is the direction that university sports are headed in, train the student athletes to succeed at that level on both the athletic side and the business side. Many professional athletes go broke because they are unable to handle the business side. If you want these athletes to also be students, give them an option to get a degree that will help in their chosen career path.
fiscalwiz - May 23, 2012 at 9:49 am
Kentucky players with NBA intentions — the one and done guys — attend one semester of classes and, assuming they are meeting athletic expectations, don’t go to classes in the spring semester. They have eligibility based on the first semester and registration for the spring and that is all that matters. So Kentucky should award an associates degree in basketball on the basis of one semester worth of academic performance. That ought to handle it.
If the NCAA wants to change the dynamic so that its schools actually play with students, make athletic scholarships 5 year deals for the students, rather than the one year guarantees they now are, and do not allow schools to award a new scholarship until the student initially awarded it has graduated from some university or until 5 years have elapsed. That would bring a bit of student-athlete back into the system, should the NCAA care about that.
22266017 - May 23, 2012 at 9:49 am
Exactly! And furthermore, Calipari has been one of the most vocal coaches against the current rules, calling out the NBA and the current NCAA president repeatedly. In addition, he celebrates his four-year graduates just as much as his NBA players. Take a look at his facebook page where he raves about Eloy Vargas and Darius Miller for graduating. Finally, the best evidence is that all of his past players love him and are committed to him, regardless of whether they’ve gone pro or not. Sounds players-first to me and sounds like a pretty decent fellow.
wisensale - May 23, 2012 at 9:57 am
So should we be shocked by this article? Just read Taylor Branch’s article in The Atlantic last fall. Then think of Fred Friendly’s comment when he was at CBS: “Television is making so much money being bad, it can’t afford to be good.” Just change a few words in that sentence and apply it to college sports and the point is made.
kessingerw1 - May 23, 2012 at 10:10 am
You need to look up your facts on those one-and-done players. Only one has not completed their spring semester at Kentucky and he has since said that he wishes that he would have. That player was Daniel Orton. If you would look at this year’s team, you will see that they all finished out the spring semester and the projected #1 player in the draft ended up with a GPA of over a 3.0 (I can’t remember exactly, but 3.6 keeps coming to mind.)
cmmoore1 - May 23, 2012 at 10:12 am
Calipari got “stunned” when his UK team came to IU in December 2011. What he is really inferring here is that he doesn’t want his home court winning record broken. He doesn’t want the better and improved Indiana basketball team with players who are staying in school and pursuing degrees to come down to Lexington this December 2012 and go into “his house” and beat them.
So to make it look legitimate he wraps in a package that includes neutral sites for everyone that’s a non-conference team and calls it practice for the NCAA tournament. I guess that’s all part of the practice for being a professional play too. You get to practice how to travel around. Just add that to your schedule of taking classes. I hope they are easy classes so they can get on with the profession of being a basketball player.
rescomp - May 23, 2012 at 10:58 am
It’s pretty interesting reading all the posts from those trying to find a rationale for Calipari’s behavior. Oh he’s playting within the rules, but let’s see what cost Kentucky will eventually pay from associating itself with him. Calipari will leave Kentucky in shambles as he did with UMass and Memphis. This is not a good guy. He’s a snake oil salesman who comes to town, makes a few million, and leaves you far worse off than you were before he arrived. Sure, you’ll get some temporary thrill, but it all catches up to you for hiring him — and with any luck it will catch up with him.
22266017 - May 23, 2012 at 11:06 am
He had no knowledge or control over what happened with Camby. And with Rose, the NCAA cleared him to play for Memphis and then reversed course only after Rose had already left for the NBA. How is Calipari supposed to plan for that? You can hate him for his success all you want. But, there’s no evidence that he has been aware of or participated in these major violations.
pianiste - May 23, 2012 at 11:09 am
“‘No other program is losing five or six players a year’ to the NBA, he wrote on his blog. ‘This is a players-first program, and you cannot put a young team into situations that are not fair to the players.’”
Hello? The reason that Calipari loses a half-dozen players to the NBA each year is because he recruits players who are ready for the NBA after one or two years of college. And when those go pro, he recruits more. John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins went pro and were replaced by Anthony Davis (2011-2012 college player of the year), who will be replaced by another one-and-done star. If anybody has cause to end the series, it’d be Indiana, which every year plays against a Kentucky team that’s more NBA D-League (probably better) than NCAA.
And as for Calipari’s record of good deeds, his supporters ought to review his record, especially that at UMass.
Kentucky, which had a pretty good pro basketball team, the Colonels, in the ABA, lost it in the merger. Since then Kentucky and Louisville have filled that bill.
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icbomber23 - May 23, 2012 at 2:48 pm
The problem with your argument, Kessinger, is that almost none of the players who play sports at the college level go pro, let alone have lucrative, long-term careers. Last season, there were 46 players drafted into the NBA from colleges.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/draft/NBA_2011.html
Even factoring in other professional leagues around the world, there simply aren’t as many jobs out there as there would likely be players who wanted to take advantage of it. This isn’t unique to basketball, but would skills they learned be transferable, especially if the player only stayed in school for a few years?
While I think your idea to include a degree component on the business side of the game is a good idea, I’m not sure that an AA degree alone is going to prepare those players for the “business side of professional sports.”