Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Gatsby]

OK, lets compare notes.

Do you do backups of your computer data?

How often do you do them?

How do you do them?

Do you use a backup program, or do you just copy the files?

Do you use a CD or DVD for backups? An external hard drive? A flash drive? A web storage site?

Do you encrypt any of your backups?

Have you ever lost data?

Do you think backups are especially important when living abroad?

If you have lost files, what do you think caused the problem?

And if someone loses files, what do you suggest they do?

How old do you think a computer or hard drive can be without having to worry too much about reliability?

If we can do this thread right, and not get too nasty, maybe this could become a sticky?

Then again, since almost nobody reads the technology forum, we might be lucky to get two responses.

[Demophobe]

I back up valuable data to 5 locations: External USB HDD, Thumb drive (only very critical grad school/work files) and then to DVD. I also have backups on 2 other computers at my jobs; they are only accessed by me.

This is mission critical stuff. Photos get backed up when the folder containing them reaches near DVD size. I backup movies I want to keep to DVD. I do not backup my entire installation, only files.

[superdave]

i back up everything to dvds ... photos are archived separately because they're big files, the rest of my documents are archived together. i don't keep movies or any such rubbish. so 2 dvds per backup is usually enough.

i try and do it every few months. my hard drive is partitioned, so i'm not worried about an OS crash. the only thing i really worry about is a power surge, which is unlikley.

probably riding my luck really ...

[eamo]

Only photos.

My work documents are on my USB drive, work computer and home computer.

The rest I can afford to lose.

[SuperHero]

I backup all of my teaching files twice a year: at the end of each semester. MY photos are backed up annually in the first week of January.

I make backups to 2 different external drives as well as DVD.

[nobbyken]

I back up photos and music on DVDs a couple of times a year.
Ideally, I would like to have 2 laptops, but until I can afford a new one....

I use Deepburner to transfer the files to DVD, it has an Append Session feature which allows me to half use a DVD and add more later.
Such as adding the pictures taken since the last back-up.

[the eye]

In case no has mentioned, Mozy offers unlimited, automatic, online backups.
$5/month. If you only need 2 Gigs of space, it's free.

It's good if you have vast Gigs to backup. And your backups won't get burned if you have a fire.
What would you guys do if you had a fire?


https://mozy.com/home

[Demophobe]

[idonojacs]

Demophobe:

[the eye]

[mindmetoo]

I seem to change out new hard drives once a year. I put the old one in a USB case. It's good to have that one as read to go HD you can swap back into your computer. Helps to figure out if something is a hardware or software problem. If it still happens on the old HD, it's hardware.

Anyway, get another HD and case. Use that to back up your files (docs, photos, video, critical porn). I don't use any software. Just drag 'n' drop. Helps to keep all your files under one or two main directories so you can just drag 'n' drop it.

[idonojacs]

Here's an idea that dawned on me in another thread:

ALzip

http://www.download.com/ALZip/3000-2250_4-10631836.html?tag=lst-0-1

I used this to compress some old MP3 files I wanted to get off my hard drive and backup some others I didn't want to remove.

I found that trying to dump a gazillion files onto a data DVD did not sit well with the DVD writer program, and Vista seemed to have troubles reading the data DVD, although XP did not. So compression was a way to reduce it down to about a dozen files to put on the DVD. It was easier to write.

ALzip has an encryption option. And I believe it offered an incremental backup option.

So some of you may want to try it. It would be helpful if you give us some feedback.

This biggest problem with the whole backup software thing is learning how to use the software. Then you should really test the files to make sure they work and you know how to retrieve them. This takes time.

So if you folks have had experience with backup programs, how about sharing which ones work well, and which don't, please?

It seems to me that making a backup to an online service sounds like a good idea. Is there some reason it isn't that I don't know?

[Demophobe]

[idonojacs]

Well, Demophobe may have a point, in a paranoid sort of way.

I know sane people who aren't too thrilled with the privacy of e-mail. If google can search for any word in the entire computer universe in a fraction of a second, yahoo could search for words in e-mail if someone there wanted to.

The question is what might you be backing up that anyone would be interested in trying to find? Your secret recipe for the world's greatest kimchi?

If you put account numbers or passwords on your computer or online, I guess if you do a little extra coding, in a standard way, like adding a couple of numbers or letters, perhaps that would help.

Plus you can encrypt stuff like that. A search engine can't see into encrypted files, I assume. Sure they can be cracked, if someone really wants to, but....

Isn't the risk of losing stuff far greater than the unlikely event of someone prying into your files at an online server?

[Demophobe]