Did you back up?
Discussion
Funny - I was going to post about this last week after my PC died. I had been backing everything up to an internal HDD, and then onto an external Lacie drive. The only problem was however, that the internal backup drive was begining to fail, and thus my backup scripts were failing as well, but they didn't give out any error messages to tell me about this 
Fortunately, I spotted this in time to do a full backup on Saturday morning, which was lucky as the motherboard blew up later that day and I lost access to my RAID 0 data disks
A new motherboard sorted the issue and let me get the data back, but had the disks failed too, I'd have only lost 8 hours of work rather than everything...
Not only are backups vital, but checking that they are valid is just as important too...
Fortunately, I spotted this in time to do a full backup on Saturday morning, which was lucky as the motherboard blew up later that day and I lost access to my RAID 0 data disks
A new motherboard sorted the issue and let me get the data back, but had the disks failed too, I'd have only lost 8 hours of work rather than everything... Not only are backups vital, but checking that they are valid is just as important too...
Ironic this is brought up. I kept putting off making a photo backup (just because it involved buring three DVDs) and finally did about a week ago.
I found out the hard way about backups a few years ago when the harddrive on my notebook just quit one day, and I hadn't done a backup in several months.
I found out the hard way about backups a few years ago when the harddrive on my notebook just quit one day, and I hadn't done a backup in several months.
From my Microsoft Certified chum:
'...an external USB drive is a good idea but you only have one backup. What do you do if the power supply fails on your PC and fries the internal and external HD's at the same time. It does happen.
Always have more than one backup of important data. (One to be stolen with the PC, one to be stolen as well because it wasn't off-site, one to be destroyed when you accidentally write to it instead of reading, one to be faulty.....................)
If your data is important, I would either:-
1) Get two or more external USB drives and use them in rotation. Keep the most current one off-site (Maybe in the garage?)
2) Keep backing up to DVD's. Keep the most current set off-site. Make more than one backup of important files.
Windows comes with a perfectly useable backup program - Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Backup. This will write compressed backup files directly to a USB HD or you can create the files and then burn them to DVD later. Don't think it supports DVD burning directly.'
'...an external USB drive is a good idea but you only have one backup. What do you do if the power supply fails on your PC and fries the internal and external HD's at the same time. It does happen.
Always have more than one backup of important data. (One to be stolen with the PC, one to be stolen as well because it wasn't off-site, one to be destroyed when you accidentally write to it instead of reading, one to be faulty.....................)
If your data is important, I would either:-
1) Get two or more external USB drives and use them in rotation. Keep the most current one off-site (Maybe in the garage?)
2) Keep backing up to DVD's. Keep the most current set off-site. Make more than one backup of important files.
Windows comes with a perfectly useable backup program - Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Backup. This will write compressed backup files directly to a USB HD or you can create the files and then burn them to DVD later. Don't think it supports DVD burning directly.'
DVD-R's are the answer
Every few weeks, depending on how many photos I have, I just burn the whole lot using Sonic Record Now. Once it's burned I create a new folder called "photo[x]" which is one on from the previous one and then stick all new photos in there.
A few weeks on I just burn that new folder to DVD and then continue the process.
It's simple, straight forward, and means I can find the right DVD whenever I want it. Sonic is good as it just burns the folders 'as is' to the DVD, so there is no faffing around if you want to get one back.
J
Every few weeks, depending on how many photos I have, I just burn the whole lot using Sonic Record Now. Once it's burned I create a new folder called "photo[x]" which is one on from the previous one and then stick all new photos in there.
A few weeks on I just burn that new folder to DVD and then continue the process.
It's simple, straight forward, and means I can find the right DVD whenever I want it. Sonic is good as it just burns the folders 'as is' to the DVD, so there is no faffing around if you want to get one back.
J
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