Thursday, January 29, 2009

Instructions are coming

I made another set of blocks this morning for the log cabin quilt and took lots of photos to write up some instructions today. As I was getting set up, I thought I'd pose a question. How do you you all back up your computers?

About 4 years ago I bought an external hard drive for the desktop and between that and periodic burning of data to DVD's that computer is covered but I was getting a LOT of data on the laptop and while I was burning DVD's periodically, in Decmember I decided I needed a hard drive for backing up this computer too. I couldn't believe how small these drives are now.

Here's a photo just for fun - I love it when Chesty perches on the arm of the sofa or chair - he looks so cute!


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12 comments:

Nancy said...

I still burn CDs to back up my laptop, but I can see the benefits of an external hard drive. it certainly would be more convenient. I'll have to check into that.

Suzanne Earley said...

I've been burning DVDs of our photos and putting them in our safe deposit box. I need to do more about data backup. I have some important files duplicated here at the shop vs. at home.

Having an external hard drive will save you if you have a hard drive crash in the computer, but won't do much if your house burns down.

I've heard about some online backup options, but haven't done much to investigate.

I'm really jealous because my husband bought a 1.5 Terabyte external hard drive for himself at work. Crazy!!

Millie said...

Hardware is hardware, and hardware fails. I'm a geek in real life. I back up my own computer, and my company's laptops and now, our servers, with an online backup service. The data is encrypted before it leaves, so it is secure. The price is very reasonable, and can be restored easily. Large quantities of data will take time to restore, but that's a factor of the internet. For a company, we'd get a new hard drive overnight shipped to us. But the peace of mind is great. We can restore stolen laptops, or even move data from one computer to a new one very easily. We use Mozy.com, but there are others, notably Carbonite.com.

Good luck!

Susan said...

Wow, wish I had read this post a few days ago! The laptop died the other day without backed up data.... hopefully my computer guy can retrieve it! So.... this is the new one and I'm going to actually back up to the external hard drive that I didn't use....:(!

Love the blog... thanks!!!

swooze said...

Chesty looks so happy and relaxed. He sure has settled in hasn't he?

Gabriele said...

I purchased a 250 GB clickfree automatic backup for multi-pc application. You just hook it up like you would an mp3 player, sync your camera, pda etc. and it starts by itself. My kind of thing, because I don't like to fumble with computer settings to get stuff to work. lol
With this little gadget I can back-up up to 10 computers - not that I'd need that. So my thought is, if I do this regularly on the main computer and lap top, I'll just need to grab this little box in case of an emergency and have all of the information with me.

Quiltdivajulie said...

I have two external hard drives that are used to safeguard the files on my laptop. I back up to one every Sunday. I clone to the other once a month (backup to the backup).

DH has a similar set up for his computers (home and work - he's a telecommuter)

Lesson learned the hard way: It is all about being consistent and diligent with your backup routine. No hardware will save you if you don't use it.

♪♪Melody♪♪ and Puddin said...

I hate to have to admit it, but I don't do anything. I backed up when I first got my computer but nothing since. I am thinking of getting the external thing but just haven't

Anonymous said...

My DH is the "backer upper" in this house. He has a number of external hard drives and stores our data that way ... knock wood we've not had to restore much data but the relief of knowing it is there is enough to inspire us to do it. We DO need to get into a better habit of doing it more often ... sometimes we get lax {{sigh}}

Unknown said...

I have a hard drive for backing up my computer. But it doesn´t help if you don´t doing any backups ;) like me. And now my computer ist broken and all my data is lost :(
I just did backups for my shop, for luck ;)
LG
Christiane

Quiltgal said...

I use and external hard drive and I keep thinking that I should put my photo's on disc and put them in the safety deposit box, just in case.

Irene said...

I'm way behind in my blog reading this week but we back up ours to an external drive too. We just got a new one a couple of months ago and you are so right - they are so small and compact now and easy to store.

Chesty, as always is adorable!