Heard about the boss’s gift.  

Dad

It’s Halloween, but not much is scarier than going to your computer hitting the switch and getting one of a set of outcomes…you hear an unnatural clicking coming from your computer, nothing is coming on, or maybe sparks!!  I hear over and over about people who weren’t prepared for their computers to go down, and years of data is lost. Just to get you to understand the magnitude of backing up your data, here’s some stats that can help you to understand:

• 43% of computer users loose valuable data due to accidental deletion, and that is with the use of a Recycle Bin
• Only 3 out of every 100 stolen laptops are ever recovered
• Up to 13% of hard drives fail in their first year of use
• The average lifespan of a “non-server grade” hard drive is approximately 5 years
• CD-Rs have historically had problems with lifespan. The cheapest CD-Rs have been seen to only have a 2 year lifespan, DVD-R are lasting longer but have yet to be fully studied. This is due to dye fading, commercial DVD and CD don’t have this problem.
• Flash drive (or Thumb Drives) have a 10,000 to 100,000 flash limit before the old data can possibly corrupt. This means data that hasn’t been touch in a while could be corrupted (or un-remembered). This limits a flash drive to approximately 4-5 years with light to medium usage.

So there you have it. Think about all those precious pictures you’ve placed on a CD-R or DVD-R and haven’t touched.  Is it 2 years old? You might want to re-burn it.  Think about all the natural disasters? Dallas had an earthquake today, wildfires in that West Texas wind, Houston and flooding/hurricanes.  Are you going to be able to reclaim your data if something happens?  You hotel room gets broken into?  Call be paranoid but here’s my personal story:

In the past 3 years I’ve had three laptops fail on me. Four laptops in the past 5 years (well 1 laptop failed twice). I’ve also had a hard drive that was only 4 years old fail on me to the point where I had to pull out a Linux drive recovery tool and could get my data off right before it completely died.  That’s 4 possible serious data losses in 3 years.

So now that I’ve typed over 350 words on why, here’s the how.

There are multiple ways backup your files and feel comfortable. The first way is to have a redundant system, and second is online systems. We’ll start with a redundant system. This is basically having a second copy of your data so when one fails, there is a secondary system to take up the slack. The problem with redundant systems is that if there’s a natural disaster, both systems can possibly be destroyed.

SyncBack Freeware

SyncBack creates a 1-to-1 copy of the files and directories you select to another location. You can setup SyncBack to copy your entire drive to a second drive so if one goes down, you can automatically get right back up. You can even have it create a task for you so that it will run automatically in your sleep.

SyncBack is a great automatic solution, but for laptops it can’t be so automatic. For laptops you’ll have to use an external hard drive, then sync only when you plug it in making it a manual procedure. So this may not be the best choice if your using a laptop. If you want to incorporate this just comment or contact myself or Dad (yep I’m signing Dad up for this), and we’ll try to help you out. (You may give Dad a few days to familiarize himself with the program, hehe.)

Windows Backup

Do not use Windows Backup. The reason is that Windows Backup places all your backuped data into a single container file. It’s like putting all your important papers into a safe and then destroying the key. You can have another key made, but that is after you jump through many many hoops. Stay away.

The second set is online backup. Online backup has some advantages to the redundant system. It allows a company that has secure redundant systems, many of which are in different geographical areas (in case of natural disaster), to hold your data and allow you to recover from any computer you choose. There are literally hundreds of options available for this but I’ll only cover the ones I’ve found work the best.

Mozy

Mozy is an online backup system that has done a great job of making a program that doesn’t interfere with your daily computing. The concept is simple.  Sign up, download the program for your computer, tell it what to back up and you’re off. Since everyone essentially has broadband, it will upload quickly and simply allow you get something back if you’ve lost it. Unlike Windows Backup, if you do loose your data and you need something now. You can get on a second computer and get the file through their web interface.

The limitation to Mozy is the 2gb limit to their free account. To put this into perspective, I have it storing my most critical files (My Documents, Data, etc.) and am only using 627mb. As long as you don’t have it backing up your entire drive (which is not completely necessary if you plan correctly). Also, if you sign up with the links on this page before Nov. 30th, you’ll get an additional .5gb. Which is significant if you look how much I’m backing up. If you want a complete online backup solution Mozy has a $5/month unlimited storage option also.

I’ve setup Mozy to backup my critical data at midnight everyday on my desktop. Then I have it done when my internet and computer is idle on my laptop. One of the great things about Mozy’s system is that it won’t back up files over and over if you haven’t changed them. So after the first backup, the rest take just minutes.

I’d recommend this service.

Dropbox

Dropbox is different from Mozy in that it sets up a directory on your computer that automatically backs up immediately when the file is changed. They also have a great web interface that allows you to get your files immediately from anywhere you are. They also have a sharing system. Dad and I have been able to share large files very easily. The nice thing about the sharing is as soon as Dad placed it the directory on his computer it is immediately on my computer.

Dropbox also has a 2gb limit, but once again when you look at the files you want to keep stored that’s not bad. The best thing I use it for are my Quicken files. This whether I’m on my desktop or on my laptop my Quicken files are always up to date on either computer. I keep a resume on it so I can get it anywhere at short notice.

Both Dad and I have invites so just post here that you want an account and we’ll send one your way.

There is another group of online backups specifically geared towards media. Music, videos, and pictures can take up a large amount of space so the 2gb storage systems are not practical. Here’s my list of great media online backup systems.

Picasa Web Albums

Picasa is Google’s picture storage system. It integrates easily with Picasa’s desktop album software. They offer 1gb for free and allow to upgrade to 10gb for $20/year. You can upload the full size photo and have them store it until you need it.

Flickr

Flickr is what I use. They offer free service that allows 100mb of photos to be uploaded per month. The service also will only display your last 200 photos. They aren’t deleted but will not be displayed on the site. The best thing about Flickr is that for $25/year you can have unlimited space and unlimited uploads. I can store my full size uploads to this site and pull them down when I need them. Also, you can set the privacy settings to only allow friends, family, family and friends, or no one to see the photos. That way if there are photos you don’t want out there for the world to see you can restrict access.

Mp3Tunes

If you’re like me, you’ve converted all your CDs to mp3 to store on your computer. Mp3Tunes allows you to upload your mp3s so you can listen to them anywhere. They also only offer 2gb for free, but as an early adopter I received an unlimited storage for free for a while. For $60 a year you can have 50gb of storage for your mp3s.

Video isn’t that big of a deal right now. Most video is still taken on magnetic tape which has a 70-100 lifespan. Some places to look at that I’ve tried, but can’t vouch for as a backup solutions is Vimeo and Flickr also has a video service but I haven’t tried it.

As I’ve said there are other services out there including Box.net, Carbonite, Syncplicity, SmugMug, and others. I haven’t tried these but I’m sure they are good in their own right.

Hope you are having a splendiforous day and many many more to come.

Happy Birthday.

Thanks Shan for just being you,

Kent

Please watch this and forward to everyone you know!!!!

Happy Birthday wishes and wishing you the very best of the coming year.

Kent and Gail

I love you!!!

Mom #2

That brings me to my question.  Would you be willing to have the site run in a “Member’s Only” mode?

This mode could take many forms, the few I can think of off hand are these:

1. Completely block site without a login.  This would mean that everything posted would be block from people that don’t log in.  That way Dad and I can control who has access and who doesn’t.  No post would be seen by people that haven’t logged in.
2. Partially blocked site.  (If possible)  This would allow for all regular posts to be posted “Member’s Only”.  But you can flag it if you want it accessible to people that are not logged in.  This one I prefer, I’m just unsure if I’d be able to do it.
3. Completely Open, but private posts.  This is kind of the opposite of before. This would allow all regular posts available for the world, but you could mark it specially at only for private viewing.  I’m not a big fan of this.  But it’s probably the easiest to implement, but absolutely terrible to administrate.  Plus I don’t think it’s as intuitive for you guys (the end users).

So that’s my thoughts.  Let me know what you think.  I really want the site to be a place where you don’t have to be concerned about the privacy of what you post.  I think we can get there, just not sure if you all will be up for it.  I’d like to hear your thoughts not only if it’s a decent idea but also thoughts of how to make it happen.  Thanks!

SOOOO.  Happy Birthday.  Now that you are on the other side of the slippery slope, just hang on for the best ride of your life.

Hope everything is getting back to normal and hope you have the best of days.