Bulletproof Backups

It's invisible but the risk of DATA LOSS threatens our valuable digital media on every single device (from smartphones, tablets, computers, up to entire data centers). Prevent this from today on with regular data backups performed on site for quick recovery and kept offline to prevent ransomware attacks.

📋 Planning & Preparation

• Read the documents to plan your backup strategy, recommended is the 3-2-1 rule.
• Fetch hard drives with enough capacity (use different vendors/models/types and maybe rugged ones).
• Check the hard drives for errors and use error-free ones only.
• Choose unique names (e.g. "Backup #1 (4TB)") and label the hard drives with it.
• Connect the hard drives to the PC and rename them accordingly.
• Download this repo (5.8MB), unzip it, and copy it as 📁bulletproof-backups folder onto each hard drive.
• Set up a reminder in your digital calendar to perform the backup every day/week/month/etc.

▶️ Perform the Backup

1. Connect your mobile device(s) to the PC and copy photos into the Pictures folder, videos into the Videos folder, and so on.
2. Connect the next hard drive to the PC and open the 📁bulletproof-backups folder, then 📁scripts.
3. Execute the appropriate backup script, e.g. 📄save_Home_folder.bat to copy your home folder (with your pictures, videos, etc.) to the drive at 📁bulletproof-backups/DATA
4. Disconnect the drive properly and store it carefully in a separate and secure location.

🪂 Recover Your Data

1. Get the hard drive with the latest(!) backup. Read Logbook.csv if in doubt.
2. Check the hard drive. Read the documents if it's damaged.
3. Connect the hard drive to your PC and open the folders: 📁bulletproof-backups, then 📁DATA.
4. Copy or sync the missing or corrupted data back to your PC. DO NOT move the data! BE CAREFUL to set source and destination correct!
5. Disconnect the drive properly and store it carefully in a separate and secure location again.

💡 Hints

• A full backup is performed once (slow for big data). From next time on only changes are copied (extremely fast).
• No encryption is performed to keep it simple and robust. Use an encryption program and a vault to prevent unauthorized access.
• Logbook.csv gets updated automatically by the backup scripts (a table in .CSV format containing all the backup details).
• Test your backups regularly to ensure that they are working properly. Restore your backups to a test environment and check that all of your data can be accessed as expected.
• DISCLAIMER: All informations are given according to my best knowledge, but without guarantee.

🤝 Contributing

• Contributions, suggestions, and improvements are welcome!
• Open an Issue if you encounter bugs or have feature ideas.
• Create a Pull Request if you'd like to improve something.

📜 License & Copyright

This open source project is licensed under the CC0-1.0 license. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.