Set up your regular backup

Picture this: you’re deep into your research project, analyzing years of valuable data. Suddenly, your system fails. Without regular backups, that mountain of critical data—essential for your groundbreaking research—could vanish in an instant, like sand slipping through your fingers. This isn’t just a minor setback; it’s a disaster scenario where lost data means lost time, funding, and possibly irreplaceable scientific insights. It’s like building a house of cards only to watch it fall. Regular backups are your insurance policy against such catastrophes, ensuring that your hard work and important discoveries are preserved safely, no matter what happens. So, why risk it? Secure your data, secure your peace of mind.

Lab backup storage

server ip: 129.100.118.242

Mounting the lab backup storage

Windows

1. Open “This PC”.

   

2. Click on the ellipsis button (…)
3. From the menu select “Map network drive”

4. You’ll see a window like below.

   

5. Select an arbirtary drive for mounting the backup storage. It usually starts from the Z letter and if that is taken suggests the letter before that and so on.
6. Folder refers to the folder on the backup storage that you intend to access. Type the IP address for the storage and your folder name. For example: \\129.100.118.242\Ali
7. Make sure to check “Reconnect at sign-in” so the backup folder would be automatically mounted at start up.
8. Check “Connect using different credentials” since your credentials for the backup server would not be the same as your Western ID.
9. Click “Finish”.

10. In the new popped-up window, click “More choices” select “Use a different account”.

    

11. Enter your username and password for the backup server.
12. Check “Remember my credentials”.
13. Click “OK”.
14. The backup folder should be mounted in the drive you specified.

Mac

1. In finder, click Go > Connect to Server or press command+k.

   

2. In the window that pops up, enter the path to your folder. It would look like this: smb://129.100.118.242/<your_folder_name>.

   

3. Click “Connect”.

4. If you’re prompted for a confirmation, click “Connect”.

   

5. You’ll be asked for your credentials on the server. Select ‘Registered User” under “Connect As”. Enter your server username in the “Name” field IN ALL CAPS. Enter your password in the corresponding field. You can choose to save this credentials to your keychain as well.

   

6. Click “Connect”.
7. You should be able to access the mounted folder under the “Locations” menu in any Finder window (if not, go to Finder > Settings and turn on Connected servers).
8. Do the following to make this drive mount automatically after a reboot.

9. Go to “System Settings”, and search for “Login Items”.

   

10. Click on the + button, find and select the folder you mounted then click “Open”.

    

Linux (Ubuntu)

To mount your folder on the backup storage using smb protocol follow the instructions below:

1. Make sure you have cifs-utils installed. If you don’t, install it using apt:

    sudo apt-get install cifs-utils
   

2. Create the mount directory:

    sudo mkdir /mnt/backup
   

3. Open /etc/fstab with root privileges:

    sudo nano /etc/fstab
   

4. Add the following lines to mount the storage automatically on system boot:

    # Mount lab backup storage
    //129.100.118.242/<your_folder_name> /mnt/backup cifs uid=<username>,credentials=/home/<username>/.smbcredentials 0 0
   

   <username> is your local username.

5. Create .smbcredentials file in your home directory and enter your credentials for the backup server:

    nano ~/.smbcredentials
   

   Then,

    username=<backup_server_username>
    password=<backup_server_password>
    domain=129.100.118.242
   

6. Save the file and exit.
7. Make sure to secure your ~/.smbcredentials file:

    chmod 600 ~/.smbcredentials
   

8. Test the mount:

    sudo mount -a
   

Set-up an automatic regular backup policy

Windows

There are diffrent ways to set-up an automatic backup in windows. Third-party softwares usually offer more options, flexibility, and controls on the backup policies you define. The “EaseUS Todo Backup” is a one of the options. The free version offers more than enough for our purposes. The following will go over instruction for setting up your automatic backup using EaseUS Todo Backup.

1. Download and install “EaseUS Todo Backup” from the provided link.
2. Click “Create Backup”.
3. Click the edit icon on the top right corner of the backup plan (depicted in the picture above) and give it a name for your future reference.
4. Select the “File” option.
5. Select all files and folders that you wish to include in this backup plan. Then, click “OK” on the bottom right corner.

   You can make other backup plans that differ in their frequency or other options discussed below.

6. Click “Options” on the bottom of the window.
7. Under the Options tab, select “Backup Mode” item and change backup mode to “Native format mode”. The backup mode is “Image mode” by default which can be compressed to save space on the backup storage. However, changing it to native mode (meaning keeping the files and directory structures as they are) is more readable and you will be able to partially restore your files easier.
8. Under the Scheme tab, set the frequency of your backup rule. If you want some of your files to be backedup more/less frequently you can create other backup rules for those files. Make sure to set a backup at least once a week or more frequent.
9. (Optional) You browse other options like filter and notifications if you needed.
10. Click “OK”.
11. Click on the destination icon to set the destination of your backup.
12. Click on “Local Drive” then select the backup folder you have mounted as a drive (e.g. Z: or Y:). The app will automatically recognize that it is a network storge.
13. Click on “Save” to save your backup rule.
14. Congratulations! You’re done 🎉 Check your backups later to make sure they are made regularly.

Mac

Linux (Ubuntu)