Since I develop software on both Windows and Mac computers, I need an efficient way to back up my data from these two computers. I developed different strategies for daily and archival backups.
Daily Backups
I have different strategies for backing up source code and supporting resources (e.g., PSDs, photos, and documents) on a daily basis. Backing up source code is easy with Github and BitBucket, two cloud-based git repositories. Github works better for open-source projects since it doesn’t offer many private repositories in its free tier. BitBucket, on the other hand, allows a developer to create several private repositories for oneself.
Supporting resources should be backed up outside of git. Git is primarily designed to diff source code files and doesn’t store binary files efficiently. Cloud-based solutions from Dropbox and Google Drive are better suited for supporting resources. Dropbox is suitable for unshared resources. Google Drive is ideal when collaborating with others.
Archival Backups
I also create archival backups on a periodic basis and for large files. I make archival backups on a periodic basis to take a snapshot of my work at a given point in time. Large files aren’t suitable for storing on cloud-based solutions because of slow Internet transfer rates and limited cloud-based storage in the free tier.
I make the archival backups using an external hard drive that I connect only when making backups. I format the external hard drive for both Windows and Mac using the ExFAT format. ExFAT format is built for high-capacity SD cards and works fine for large-file backups. ExFAT is patented by Microsoft and licensed by Mac. ExFAT is better than FAT/FAT32, which can’t store large files; Windows NTFS, which cannot be written by Mac (using native drivers only); and Mac HFS, which cannot be read by Windows (using native drivers only).
To create my archived copies, I use 7-Zip (Keka on Mac) to compress entire directories with git-cloned repositories, Dropbox, and Google Drive. I name the 7-Zip archives with the date when I’m making the archive. These 7-Zip archives are saved directly to the external hard drive. This way if I accidentally delete a file and isn’t found in the most recent archive, I can still find the file in an earlier archive.
Why this approach?
By now you should be wondering why all the trouble. Other backup solutions already exist with less effort. For example, Mac has Time Machine. In my approach, I know what I have intentionally backed up and what I’ve excluded. Although cloud-based backup solutions are useful for daily backup, they are not archival copies. Uninvited users can gain entry to your account and delete data without your consent (e.g., when Dropbox disabled password authentication). Archives should be hard to access, which is sufficiently hard when stored on an external hard drive.