How long do you keep a (backup) hard drive running?

I presume this isn't your only backup (otherwise it wouldn't really be a backup) so just crack on and restore it from another source when it eventually dies.

Get another and alternate them.

I switch mine at the end of work every Friday. One comes home, one stays at work.

If it's your only backup if couldn't hurt... Spin drives are cheap.

Your Mac might die at some point, at which point you'll want access to that backup HDD
That backup HDD will die at some point, at which point you'll want access to the data on the Mac

It's *reasonably* safe to assume only one will die at the same time (excluding things like malware attack which affects both at the same time - minimised by not having the backup always plugged in / always on the network). My bigger fear these days is that (ransomeware) happening to both my drives - hence I keep them unplugged

If it’s your only backup if couldn’t hurt… Spin drives are cheap.

This. If it's really important stuff that would be life changing to lose. Eg gb's worth of pictures. Just do a big copy a few times a year and give it to another family member to keep in their house?

I use two hard drives numbered 1 and 2, these are used to back up once a week, alternating between the two.

Then once a month I upload the important stuff to online storage, if its not stored offsite somewhere, then its not backed up IMO.

Flannol saved me some typing.

Bin all physical stuff off and put it in the cloud.

The companies that do that are cheaper than you shelling out for hardware and much much much more reliable.

Ten or fifteen years ago it was worth it. Now it's not.

If you've got windows - pay for onedrive and stop worrying.

Bin all physical stuff off and put it in the cloud.

Cloud yes, bin no.

Online cloud storage is susceptible to ransomware. You need a properly airgapped backup (such as a backup drive in a drawer at someone else's house) in addition to whatever else you use. If you can see the files from your PC, so can malware.

Bin all physical stuff off and put it in the cloud.

I felt Cougar twitch as I read this (I also twitched). Just no, really no. It can be part of a back-up system but all eggs shouldn't be in the same basket.

Sorry @Cougar - but that's massive overkill for almost everybody.

If you think there's less chance of your "backup solution" being stolen or you dropping it than microsoft or google having a massive breach and no backup then that's crazy.

For the vast majority of consumers we're talking backups of photos and memories and the like. Maybe the odd legal document. If you really want physical backups of the billions of photos you've taken then select some good ones and send them to a company that makes books of them.

It just ain't worth it. Cloud, don't bother with owt else.

Speaking as an IT pro btw.

"cloud" isnt infallible, what if you die and your family loose access? What if the DC gets hacked?

Cloud storage has its uses, and often you get a decent amount free anyway, say with a google account, and it's cheap enough to subscribe for more storage.

Equally a physical disk in a seperate location is a sound Idea. For example I have google drive and one backup, copied to 3 disks in different locations. The chances of all 3 drives failing or being burned in a house fire are statistically irrelevant.
A 1 TB drive is about £35 new, but I just use old drives that used to be in old machines, (more likeley to suffer mechanical failiure, but as above, thre are 3 of them) so my backups are essentially free.

For personal use, at least for me, a combination of cheap old physical drives and free cloud storage is more than enough for essentials.

Cloud, don’t bother with owt else.

Speaking as an IT pro btw.

Hmm, mkayy...lol

Thanks for the reminder - I do have 2x backups, but they are, uh, one on top of the other.

Now that I'm going into the office once a week, I could easily be doing the swapping thing. But annoyingly the 10 year old one is one of those big old things with its own power supply. I'll sort something out!

But I'll see how long it goes for. It's a 2TB Buffalo, and cost me £69 from Dabs (remember them?). Which seems remarkably cheap now!

If you think there’s less chance of your “backup solution” being stolen or you dropping it than microsoft or google having a massive breach and no backup then that’s crazy.

I'm not talking about a Microsoft breach, I'm talking about a local infection. Ransomware will actively seek out online backups including OneDrive, and including OneDrive's historic versioning data, before locking you out and going "bitcoin plz kkthxbi" What's easier, getting on to MS to restore from their backups, or pulling a USB hard drive out of a nearby drawer?

Speaking as a Cybersecurity pro btw. I gave up being an IT pro after 25 years. 😁

Or the very simple fault of the broadband being down, say with a chamber full of water between you and the exchange. (One of my favourites for our work internet access going out in winter).

Internal backup drive in main pc where all the primary data is also. (quick/easy to back up frequently. and also easy to restore if I cock something up and want to recover quick)

2 external hdds on rotation, one kept hidden in the outhouse in a tupperware container.

Most of my data replicated up to the cloud also. Just not all the raw photos.

I would not trust important data to 1 cloud copy + local primary. Good as part of an overall solution tho.

Solutions Architect btw.