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Joined: May 2024
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Hello,
My husband, a Sax and Clarinet musician, uses BIAB extensively. Recently, there was a software glitch and he lost over 700 arrangements/songs. He is busily re-doing them, but I'd like to know how we can backup his songs so this won't happen again.
He uses BIAB on the external hard drive it came on, on his Windows 11 laptop. I have a Windows 11 PC and I use Backblaze to backup my PC and a couple of external hard drives attached to it. I would like to attach his BIAB external drive to my PC to allow Backblaze to back it up. But I don't know what happens when you attach the BIAB external drive to a new PC. Does it automatically try to install anything on the PC it's attached to? I don't want it to install anything on my PC, I just want to attach the drive and let Backblaze back it up every week or so.
Hoping somebody can clarify how I can do this for my husband.
Thank you so much!
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Hello SLM and welcome to the forum.
In order for your husband's BiaB user files (or any files to be backed up) they need to be in a folder that gets backed up. So in this case, make sure he saves his .SGU files (and any other files he wants backed up) to a folder that's in the backup path so that your Backblaze software can back them up. The fact that you are running BiaB from an external hard drive is immaterial.
For 30 years or so this is a rough description of how I have organized my user files.
1. Start by creating a folder on the C: drive called "Data". This is a 1st tier folder.
2. Under the "Data" folder, create 2nd tier folders with names of interest like "Music", "Home", "Finances", etc.
3. Under the "Music" folder create a 3rd tier folder called "BiaB"
4. Whenever you create a song in BiaB be sure to save it in C:\Data\Music\BiaB (obviously you can create 4th, 5th, 6th or more tiers depending on how grannular you want your folder hierachy to be.
5. This is where the payoff and safety happens. When it comes time to backup your user files, all you need to backup C:\Data and everything underneath it including your BiaB files will be backed up.
Remember, if a file is not in the backup path (under your 1st tier folder) it won't be backed up.
Personally, I don't trust backing up to the cloud, mainly because of spotty internet connections. So we backup to a high capacity external hard drive.
Hope this helps.
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677BiaB 2026 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
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Adding to Bass Thumper's excellent suggestions I will add that I keep my SGU/MGU files on a separate external hard drive. I have two external hard drives with BiaB songs backed up. Also do not keep your backup external hard drives attached to your computer as if your computer gets infected it could also infect your backups. I use a toaster similar to this for my external drives: https://www.amazon.com/SSK-External...msclkid=bd0d1ffea9cd10c33aca79c790736146Also like Bass Thumper I do not trust cloud storage.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Does it automatically try to install anything on the PC it's attached to? I don't want it to install anything on my PC, I just want to attach the drive and let Backblaze back it up every week or so. No, it doesn't automatically install anything. You have to choose to do that. I use a program called FreeFileSync to keep my files synchronised across multiple machines. The same program would keep files synchronised across, for example, two USB drives. That might decouple you from part of the backup process.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11
BIAB2026 Audiophile, a bunch of other software.
Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts
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Thanks, rharv, MarioD, and Bass Thumper, I truly appreciate your thoughtful answers. My husband saves his songs/arrangements on the same external hard drive as the BiaB program (NOT on his laptop). So I must connect the hard drive to my PC in order to back it up. The main question I had was whether I could safely plug in the BiaB external hard drive to my PC without it thinking it needed to auto-install anything on my PC.
Gordon Scott, thank you! The fact it doesn't automatically install anything is exactly what I needed to know. My husband plays jazz, too, and is (IMHO) very good.
Just as an aside, I do trust BackBlaze. I've been using it for years for my photography business (the reason for the two other external hard drives I have attached to my PC) and have never had a problem with it.
Again, thanks so much, everyone, I tried google searches but until I found this forum, I could not find an answer to my question. You guys are great!
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So I must connect the hard drive to my PC in order to back it up With a network drive I do not think this is necessarily true, you could still see it as a network drive, even if the USB is connected to his PC, though his PC must be powered up and and the drive 'shared' for this to happen. But if moving it is easier for you, then great! Glad we could help. /a USB drive is just another drive as far as the OS is concerned ..at least in my experience ..
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Good answers above. I’m curious about the loss of 700 songs. Are you sure they were lost? Want to give us some detail about that part?
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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I used this program to attempt to recover a hard drive last year. I got 95% of the data back. There are other such programs. EaseUS
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SLM.
in a previous life in tech that i cant detail i worked in tech re secure systems.
i would also urge you to consider off site backup of your songs etc etc.
eg with a friend or relative or an institution.
frankly i'm paranoid about security these days for various reasons....including because of the private and public breaches//cases we hear on tv daily etc etc.
fyi my music production pc never sees the net. (for more details...read my tips in the tips forum to save me retyping.)
in summary i do the following...
..when i receive the pg drive...its copied
to very fast m.2 drive and the pg one is kept for backup.
when i finish a song its backed up on multiple ssd drives and also ssd's stored offsite.
just some ideas...hth.
happiness
om.
Last edited by justanoldmuso; 05/07/24 07:21 AM.
my songs....mixed for good earbuds...(fyi..my vocs on all songs..) https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs(90 songs created useing bb/rb) (lots of tips of mine in pg tips forum.)
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Expert
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I used to do all the stuff (and more) suggested by others.
I also worked for some very uptight people in the tech world.
Lots of badges an other stuff.
I know there's always somebody out there selling you on the idea you need to do more.
I think you need to do as little as possible. Your data is not that important to others.
All you really want is an easy reliable backup copy. I believe I figured that out.
I store all my biab (and daw) stuff in the cloud as part of my workflow.
Once or twice a year I copy the cloud stuff to a local drive. Sometimes more often.
Trust, but verify.
Cloud people are very good at data management.
Better than you or I, probably better than anyone on this forum.
I choose to Leave it to the pros. You may do otherwise.
I use no spinning drives anywhere anymore. All ssd's.
10 years into this stratedgerie i have encountered zero problems. Its very little work on my part.
A directory full of biab sgu's is pretty small to begin with, compared to audio files (flac,wav, etc)
I know, the world could end tomorrow and my data would evaporate.
Or someone could make off with my lifes work....
I used to work for those guys.... They don't want anything your or I have.
biab2026(Mac) Latest Build
Mac OS (Latest)
Apple Mac Mini M2 pro 32GB Ram
Logic Pro (latest or pretty close)
Blue and White Sea Star
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Thanks, again, everyone! You've all been a big help!
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I set up folders that encompass one year's worth of work. So I call the latest folder "2024" and last year's was "2023" and so on. When I work on something that I like and want to keep, I simply SAVE it into that folder. Periodically, I will simply COPY/PASTE that entire folder to any one of a number of backup drives.... hard drives in the computer, USB external drives and thumb drives. That assures that I have a backup copy somewhere else that will likely save my butt at some point.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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No one has pointed out a basic tenant of BIAB: You do not have to install anything if you run BIAB from the external drive. If running it from your System drive, then you must install the app (this automatically installs supporting files but nothing else). With Audiophile especially, it's not unusual to install and run BIAB from your System drive using only the Drums and Real Tracks folders on the external HDD, saving about 1.3TB that doesn't have to be copied over. Your Projects and other Work files reside on your internal drive and you hardly ever back up your Libraries HDD.
There's way too much we do not know.
Usually (always?) when something like 700 files are lost, a basic mistake was made. When you are lucky, the files were just misplaced and dillegent searching will find that directory and you can breathe a sigh of relief. If you actually stored them on a HDD (mechanical hard disk), then recovery software can do a pretty good job of getting your files back. If accidentally deleted on an SSD (solid state drive), files are gone as soon as TRIM (part of the OS) and Garbage Collection (part of the drive's firmware) have prepared the cells for new data (anywhere from 5 minutes to 72 hours) and then there is no recovery. The higher versions of BIAB still ship on an HDD last I checked but this may be changing.
What Backblaze covers nowadays depends and it can only work if the computer is on and the drives are connected and awake. They have plenty of documentation on that—read and make sure you are set up the way that you need to be.
The problem with Backblaze is not the backing up of your fies; it's the restoration. You must get into the documentation so that you're never surprised.
BIAB 2026 Audiophile Mac
24Core/60CoreGPU M2 MacStudioUltra/8TB/192GB Sequoia/Tahoe, M1 & M5 MBAir, 2012 MBP
Digital Performer11, Logic, Finale27/Dorico/Encore/SmartScore/Notion/Overture
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Last Chance! The Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® Special Ends Today (May 31, 2026) at 11:59pm PDT!
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