We have probably discussed backups several times over the years, here or at the old slum site.
First, what brings it up: I'm backing up steam apps (so i wont have to redownload in the future) and photos. Photos are a big deal to me as an amateur photographer. Lets substitute data, because your college files are just as important. I found a few years of photos missing from my external HDs. That was a big potential loss. 1 of 5 drives i have not inspected yet. I probably have my files burned to dvds as well. So all may be fine.
Frankly this was scary as it seemed years of my life had vanished. It made methink of how much time and effort we put into creating data. It mademe think of new options like cloud storage.
Part of me thinks that any data put on the net is effectively public domain. Whether you like it or not it will be hacked. How safe do people feel with cloud solutions?
The other thing is the importance of digital data safety. How is it possible that systems as good (you hope) as gov data are being hacked? It seems to imply that our basic consumer data is easily vulnerable to being wiped out. You could take the opinion that typical consumer data is not going total cultural icons or world changing ideas. On the other hand if any country can take the digital work of any other country, you effectively have massive wealth transfers or wealth destruction happening all the time. If a worm hits all your universities and companies...
So when will governments insist on higher levels of data security for everyone? Will 50 year old photos or other types of data, still work? Or is it all throw away society again? Everything should be recreated all the time for purposes of maximal tax generation?
To me it seems that people will balk at creating data if it can/ will be destroyed all the time.
Thoughts?
I don't think the Steam app backups are useful at all if you have passable internet d/l speeds. Their backups are mainly for saving a little time re-downloading them, but you'll still need to log in and use most of them with the Steam client (which will also still require some extra downloading even after restored) IIRC.
As for backing stuff up I tend to save large amounts of files, or large individual ones, on an external USB hard drive. Then I turn it off and unplug it until I need it again. So it's usually not connected to a computer or (most notably) a power source that could blow it the fewk up.
Sometimes referred to as a "Porn Drive" in tech circles. ;D
Probably best to use a mix of backup media - external HD, discs, cloud storage. Physical media that you own and control will be the most secure as long as you maintain control over them. Keep in mind that DVD/CDs aren't really meant for long term storage. A disc you burned 10 years ago, may no longer be readable, even if it has been properly stored. Redundancy is the key.
As far as cloud storage, I don't really trust it for security or reliability, but it's handy and mostly free these days. There's lots of non-critical stuff that I don't mind storing on cloud services.
I've been using Norton Ghost with an external hard drive for years now. It's been working great for me and I see no need to change.
Ghost is solid. Or was the last time I played with it.