ZBrushCentral

Help Backup - Answered

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Two days ago my Hard Drive decided to stop working, I have since bought a new drive and also a backup drive(wish I had thought of that earlier) as I lost over two months work. Need lest to say I am a little pissed.
I would like to be able to hit one key in ZBrush to back up my work to the new backup before I exit the program if this is possible.
Any idea’s on how I could accomplish this would be gratefully received. I am not much of a programer.

Thanks in anticipation

Wazer.

#2

I can’t think of any simple way to do this.

There are a number of excellent backup utilities available out there. These can be set to monitor specific folders or even entire drives and any time a change is made to any of the files in the monitored areas, the program will automatically back that data up to wherever you’ve specified.

Some of these programs do this instantly. Others do it once per day. But regardless, you’ll have peace of mind for more than just ZBrush – and you won’t be relying on having to remember to press the “Backup Key”.

Another option is if your new drive is the same size as the original you can set up a RAID 1 array between the two drives. This kind of RAID mirrors the two drives in real-time so everything on one is also on the other. Should one drive ever fail, you simply replace it with another same-sized drive and rebuild the array. This copies all data back over to the replacement drive and you continue as if nothing had happened.

#3

Thanks a bunch Aurick,

I think I will go with the Raid 1 array, as at my age I always forgetting to backup my files. It will cost me more but give me better protection from HD failure. At least I will sleep at nights:) and the wife.

Thanks again
Wazer

#4

I should have specified same size and speed. The best is if you can buy the same make and model as the drive you’re planning to mirror.

So if you have a SATA 2 Seagate 500 GB drive at 7,200 rpm then that’s exactly what you’d want to buy for the mirror. Although you could technically use any 500 GB SATA 2 drive that operates at 7,200 rpm.

One other thing to note: You do NOT want your mirrored drives to contain your OS. There are two reasons for this:

  1. You cannot turn a system drive into a RAID drive after the fact. Using RAID on a system drive can only be set up before the operating system is installed.
  2. Windows has built-in features for converting non-system drives into a RAID array. It’s not quite as reliable as hardware RAID (usually controlled by the motherboard these days) but also a lot easier to set up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKDCmOBqNBY

Either way, bear in mind that setting up the array will require you to wipe any data on the current disks. So make sure you have a backup of that data before you proceed. Once the array is set up you’re golden – it’s just that first hurdle you have to get over. :)