I want to get suggestions on the best way to backup. Let me give the scenario I am looking for.
1. PGV is the only way you have your genealogy information, assume nothing on your home computer (or at least not all in one place or maybe not all on the same computer, maybe some on work computer, some on home computer, some on Dads computer, etc).
2. You want to backup so that should your host crash or the data is corrupted, or you move hosts, you could start again with no loss of data, or say my brother wanted to start their own site and was going to use my data as the starting point, I could give him my backup disk and he could start from there to set it up on his host (and No, not looking to do this, just using example to set up the scenario.)
So I don't want just the GEDCOM, but also all the multimedia, all the users, settings, databases, etc backed up. Is there a way through PGV, or is it just easier to go to the main folder on the web host, copy that folder to the hard drive, then go to the SQL administration on the host and make a backup of the database, then copy both the folder and that SQL file to a CD/DVD and put away for safekeeping? Or am I barking up the completely wrong tree (pun intended:-)
Thanks,
Doc
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Anonymous
-
2009-10-25
Doc, I would say you have it pretty well sorted.
You are right that PGV doesn't have any built in backup for the database, so however you do it, you will need two processes.
First, use PGVs backup option. That will will provided a fresh copy of your GEDCOM file, all your media items, GEDCOM config settings, and any other files stored in your /index folder.
Second, you should, as you realise, also backup your DB. You can do as you describe, and do it from whatever admin panel you choose. I prefer to use a tool called 'MySQLDumper" (A free download). I even created a new menu item for it in PGV, so it would be handy, although thats not really necessary.
I run both of these backups every week.
The third issue is what to do with these backups once you have them. Personally I prefer not to use CDs as a backup media. Who knows how long they really last, or when they will become obsolete?. I have two automated systems running:
1 - I have a separate, external hard-drive, with backup software that gets a copy of all my important data every night. I leave my PCs running permanently, so that is all automated. So now I have a backup on my "normal" PC, plus a copy, and an archive of the previous copy (courtesy of the backup software I use).
2 - Finally I subscribe to an off-line backup service (very cheap) that gives me 10GB of storage, backed up each night over the internet. This gets a copy of my external drive, but stored safely away from my home (in case of fire).
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What I do is run a backup script that makes a backup of my database on a daily basis. To this I add a copy of the gedcom and some other important files and I email this to my gmail account. As the amount of storage in Gmail is huge (> 7GB) you can store quite some backups there. You should even be able to send a copy of your media-files there.
Just for savety I do encrypt the database contents, as I do not want Google to search my database.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
I want to get suggestions on the best way to backup. Let me give the scenario I am looking for.
1. PGV is the only way you have your genealogy information, assume nothing on your home computer (or at least not all in one place or maybe not all on the same computer, maybe some on work computer, some on home computer, some on Dads computer, etc).
2. You want to backup so that should your host crash or the data is corrupted, or you move hosts, you could start again with no loss of data, or say my brother wanted to start their own site and was going to use my data as the starting point, I could give him my backup disk and he could start from there to set it up on his host (and No, not looking to do this, just using example to set up the scenario.)
So I don't want just the GEDCOM, but also all the multimedia, all the users, settings, databases, etc backed up. Is there a way through PGV, or is it just easier to go to the main folder on the web host, copy that folder to the hard drive, then go to the SQL administration on the host and make a backup of the database, then copy both the folder and that SQL file to a CD/DVD and put away for safekeeping? Or am I barking up the completely wrong tree (pun intended:-)
Thanks,
Doc
Doc, I would say you have it pretty well sorted.
You are right that PGV doesn't have any built in backup for the database, so however you do it, you will need two processes.
First, use PGVs backup option. That will will provided a fresh copy of your GEDCOM file, all your media items, GEDCOM config settings, and any other files stored in your /index folder.
Second, you should, as you realise, also backup your DB. You can do as you describe, and do it from whatever admin panel you choose. I prefer to use a tool called 'MySQLDumper" (A free download). I even created a new menu item for it in PGV, so it would be handy, although thats not really necessary.
I run both of these backups every week.
The third issue is what to do with these backups once you have them. Personally I prefer not to use CDs as a backup media. Who knows how long they really last, or when they will become obsolete?. I have two automated systems running:
1 - I have a separate, external hard-drive, with backup software that gets a copy of all my important data every night. I leave my PCs running permanently, so that is all automated. So now I have a backup on my "normal" PC, plus a copy, and an archive of the previous copy (courtesy of the backup software I use).
2 - Finally I subscribe to an off-line backup service (very cheap) that gives me 10GB of storage, backed up each night over the internet. This gets a copy of my external drive, but stored safely away from my home (in case of fire).
What I do is run a backup script that makes a backup of my database on a daily basis. To this I add a copy of the gedcom and some other important files and I email this to my gmail account. As the amount of storage in Gmail is huge (> 7GB) you can store quite some backups there. You should even be able to send a copy of your media-files there.
Just for savety I do encrypt the database contents, as I do not want Google to search my database.