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Your favorite back-up/storage solutions?

RangerX

RangerX

Member
Hey guys, I been searching for a thread in the old forum that I couldn't ever find again.
People exposed some GREAT backup solutions and storage services many of them synchronised and all that.
I'd like to know what you are using? Cloud or not.

Right now I personally do a manual back-up on an external harddrive from time to time + into my mediafire account but I feel I could do more...
 
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Paolo Mazzon

Guest
Make a Python script (Python scripts are the solution to all) so when you're working, it automatically takes all the files in your workspace (Like every 15 minutes), compresses them, and puts them in a separate drive with a timestamp.

Other than that? Git.
 
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BLB

Guest
I currently just use my google drive and store all my projects there. Going hand in hand with

Paolo Mazzon
Make a Python script (Python scripts are the solution to all) so when you're working, it automatically takes all the files in your workspace (Like every 15 minutes), compresses them, and puts them in a separate drive with a timestamp.

Other than that? Git.
Click to expand...
you might be able to code up a script and use a task scheduling app like Windows Task Scheduler to run the script to copy all the files to the google drive.
 
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Paolo Mazzon

Guest
I don't trust Google Drive enough, if I'm going to use cloud saving, I use Github (Or bitbucket if you need privacy). There are tons of benefits to using a git manager over Google Drive. Realistically, any serious project should be handled by Git/SVN because it keeps track of everything.
 
FrostyCat

FrostyCat

Redemption Seeker
I'll second that advice against using Google Drive to store GMS projects. There have been reports of it being a smart-ass and changing the extensions on constituent .gmx files without permission. Neither Git nor SVN does that kind of nonsense.
 
Surgeon_

Surgeon_

Symbian Curator
I have a few backups on my hard disk, one in DropBox and one in Git Hub. So far I didn't need any of those, but hey, better safe than sorry.
 
Phil Strahl

Phil Strahl

Member
I use Dropbox and regularly save my project under a new file name, e.g. I start with "My Game 001" and each day I am working on it (or before attempting something stupid) I make a new save with incremented version number. In the two years I've been doing this, I never had problem with Dropbox, e.g. by locking files, changing extensions, etc. Dropbox is especially nice if you accidentally deleted/changed some files since you can restore/revert them to a previous version within 30 days of the change which occasionally saved my ass.

In addition to that I have a SyncBack script that runs once a week, automatically zips my whole project folder (= assets, concepts, documents, and GM-project) and writes this to a different hard drive on my in-home server, in case my computer explodes or something. I found SyncBack generally to be a great back-up solution I've been using for 8 years now. It's also great if you want to safely copy many thousands of files at once, since Windows Explorer can't be trusted to not just freeze in the middle of it ;)
 
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Andy

Guest
I use a mixture of backup methods. Do to my slow internet connection, I only save important stuff to the cloud every month or so (I can't do syncing at all times). I keep a system of several USB sticks, and some large HDDs, for full PC backups. I keep some "off site" in case of somthing like a house fire. For cloud storage I suggest Box: https://www.box.com/
 
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seanm

Guest
I used to save my project files in Google Drive.
But every now and again my file would either get entirely wiped, certain objects would be overwritten by their previous versions, and a bunch of other weird stuff would happen.

Something about the frequent saving and large amount of files in a project, combined with the auto sync, was a nightmare.

Just make a bitbucket account for free private git projects, and store them there.
 
chance

chance

predictably random
Forum Staff
Moderator
RangerX said:
Crashplan? LOL
Tell me about a name that inspires trust! haha
Click to expand...
Almost as bad as that USA television commercial about PC virus protection software, delivered by a woman with a thick Russian accent.

Not saying either of these are bad products, necessarily. But they both could use better marketing teams.
 
Turgon

Turgon

Member
Google Drive cloud storage, combined with local Windows 10 backups to an exterior hard drive. The cloud storage is for convenience and back-up, and the Windows 10 backups are an additional fail-safe.
 
Yal

Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
seanm said:
Just make a bitbucket account for free private git projects, and store them there.
Click to expand...
Seconded. I mainly use Git to make backups, not for actual source control... you just run 4 lines in the command prompt whenever you've done something important, and voiià, you've got a cloud save. Bitbucket has some really nice features besides just hosting code (for instance you can edit code directly in the repository with full color coding, which can be useful if you want to copy-paste something to show it off on a forum or something), and I definitely prefer it over GitHub.
 
K

Kris Hyre

Guest
Another for Bitbucket.

You get a cloudbackup in case your home burns down, oh and there's that little version control thingy you may want to look into. ;)
 
T

ThompMel

Guest
Yal said:
Seconded. I mainly use Git to make backups, not for actual source control... you just run 4 lines in the command prompt whenever you've done something important, and voiià, you've got a cloud save. Bitbucket has some really nice features besides just hosting code (for instance you can edit code directly in the repository with full color coding, which can be useful if you want to copy-paste something to show it off on a forum or something), and I definitely prefer it over GitHub.
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Are you happy with Git? I have been looking for a new backup system and was actually just reading about a comparison between Git and SVN here, trying to figure out which one is the right one for me. It seems like Git is probably the better choice as it gives you access to local copies that can be worked on, right? Would love to hear from anyone who has used SVN too!
 
L

L0v3

Guest
Well I got 1TB dropbox space i might as well use, so all my backups go there. Not really working with a team so not much use for source control. If I were to work with a team, I'd use git as I'm most faimiliar with this.
 
Nallebeorn

Nallebeorn

Member
I have my GM backup directory set to a subfolder in my Dropbox directory. It's starting to fill up, though, since I'm on the free plan, so I'll probably switch to Mega soon (they offer 50GB for free + encrypted storage).
For more important projects, I use Git + Bitbucket. But for small things, I don't really want to use source control and the Dropbox/Mega way means I get automatic backups of all projects without having to configure anything.
 
Genetix

Genetix

Member
I'm guilty of using Dropbox as well. Have been for a few years now and it has never once gave me any problems. I only have 3gb of storage though, so I keep most of my resources on my local hard drive. I also move older projects (You know the 200+ games a year you start and don't finish) to my hard drive as well. Keeping a separate HD for storage and for your OS can help, but is not fool proof by any means. Ever so often i'll burn a lot of that data onto a disc (although that's not perfect either).... Recently i've been really tempted to go pro with dropbox, you get like 2tb of storage and more advanced backup/restore options for about $10 a month, might really be a smart move some day.

I did try saving that data with Google Drive for awhile, but it seems to cause minor (if not potentially major) issues with GMS project files.
 
Z

zircher

Guest
Main PC, thumb drive, laptop. I like to work offline so no cloud based backups unless I'm moving a temp file through One Note or something.
 
J

Jaqueta

Guest
I use Dropbox, the only problem I have with it, is that the download speed sometimes is pretty slow.
However, I constantly change between 2 Machines (One at work and other at home), and having the same project on both saves me a lot of time when developing.
 
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Drewster

Guest
Paolo Mazzon said:
I don't trust Google Drive enough, if I'm going to use cloud saving, I use Github (Or bitbucket if you need privacy). There are tons of benefits to using a git manager over Google Drive. Realistically, any serious project should be handled by Git/SVN because it keeps track of everything.
Click to expand...
Why do you say bitbucket if you need privacy? ie., what's the matter with Github?

Agree about git over google drive though.
 
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Drewster

Guest
Paolo Mazzon said:
@Drewster
Private repositories cost money on GitHub but are free on Bitbucket.
Click to expand...
Ahhh I see. I've only used github so I guess I don't know.
But that brings up an interesting question...

I like free better, but if it's something I care about, it's probably safer if I'm paying -- or am I just being paranoid?
 
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Paolo Mazzon

Guest
Drewster said:
Ahhh I see. I've only used github so I guess I don't know.
But that brings up an interesting question...

I like free better, but if it's something I care about, it's probably safer if I'm paying -- or am I just being paranoid?
Click to expand...
Paranoid. As this question on Quora states, they both cost money in the private repository department, just for different things. The exact quote is
GH charges per private repo, BB charges per private collaborator.
Click to expand...
If you're just one programmer with no team like myself, Bitbucket is a good free option.
 
BlessHayGaming

BlessHayGaming

Member
I use Bitbucket for my main project (with SourceTree as my local interface) - super easy to setup and use :) For all my other projects I simply use Google drive.
 
Yal

Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
Having tried both before settling on one, I'd say I prefer Git since its command structure is more direct, basically making it easier to understand what each command does and in what order you apply them to get the effect you want. The git GUIs I've seen are pretty messy, and using git from the command line is a lot easier than you'd expect coming from a non-cmd-using background (to make a backup to an existing repository, you just need to run three commands - one to add all files in the project folder to the 'next commit', one to make the commit (essentially creating a local backup), and one to push the commit to the remote repository (sending over a copy of the local backup to make an online backup)).

I recommend BitBucket as well, it has some pretty cool online tools that let you see files in the repository directly from your browser. Pretty useful when you send over plaintext code and want to check files for some reason or another, even edit them to make small changes when you can't access a computer with the right stuff installed. There's a bunch of visualization thingies that makes branches easier to track too, but it's not really a thing for using it as a simple online backup host.
 
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