When 10 Years of Hard Work Vanishes in Mere Moments
Fear can be a great motivator.
Hard Drive Meltdown
I just finished reading an article in the June 2007 issue of Money magazine which discussed the subject of backing up data. Titled, “How to Cushion Yourself Against a Hard-Drive Crash,” the article serves as a reminder to those of us who rely heavily upon computers to remember that hard drives do fail. Without implementing appropriate back up measures, all can be quickly lost as Dave Gerardi, a magazine editor and freelance writer recently learned. I won’t share all of the details of the story, but the time, cost, and aggravation that Gerardi went through to get back on his feet is something none of us wants to experience. However, many people are in the same precarious position as Gerardi was because we have not adequately prepared for the worst case scenario — a hard drive meltdown.
CDs and a WordPress Plug-In
Most of my data is backed up to CDs. In addition, I routinely back up my blog data thanks to the WordPress Database Backup plug-in which automatically emails the database to me as scheduled. I then archive the most recent copy of the database to my bountiful GMail account, deleting the older information at once.
My Personal Vulnerability
Yet, I am still vulnerable in a few ways and that mostly has to do with photographs on my older computer. This particular PC houses some personal photographs that I would hate to lose — photos taken with a digital camera that only reside on the computer’s hard drive. The CD player is not working, so I cannot back up the photographs with that method. The floppy disk drive does work, but I’ll be darned if I use it — the limited amount of storage available on each floppy makes saving beefy photo files a ridiculous option.
Today, I am spending some of my time attaching photos to emails and sending them to my GMail account. I have plenty of storage room available there, so if Google’s massive computer network can’t hold these files, then all of us are in trouble. My next step will be to investigate other back up solutions (including remote storage) and implementing that plan sooner rather than later.
The Peril of Inaction
Are your palms sweaty yet? I hope so — inaction could cost you dearly — a bitter lesson Dave Gerardi had to learn, but one that you must avoid.
Thanks for reminding me to start backing up my computer. I recently had a computer crash…you’d think I’d get it by now!
And I agree with you about MyBlogLog. It’s a great tool (though I only have two members in my community), and some of the avatars are out of control.
Nice blog, by the way. I actually read quite a few posts. I’m also a freelance writer, so I’ll be checking out your site regularly.
Matt,
I have a 60-gig external USB drive on my computer and back up changed files to it daily. I also back up on CDs periodically, but if my computer dies, I can simply unplug the external drive and plug it into the USB port of another computer and will be back in business.
Hi Theda,
I hear you! It is easy to put off, especially with “other matters” playing in.
Your community membership has doubled too. I joined and it looks like you have an additional member. It takes time, but you’ll get there especially if other freelancers find you — we like to stick together!
Thanks for stopping by too.
Regards,
MattK
Lillie,
I think you have the best back up plan. I’m thinking of an external hard drive too — I need something that is better, quicker, and much more reliable and I need to get it now.
Thank you for sharing what you do to protect your data.
Regards,
Matt Keegan
My laptop is ANCIENT (4 years old now) so I have been preparing for the inevitable for some time now. I back up all my stuff to CDs AND online.
It sounds like you have a plan in place, Angela. A good one at that.
I just returned from Office Max where I found an external hard drive from Seagate for just $80. It has 160GB of memory and it was highly recommended by other computer user’s online. Office Max matched their on-line price; if you are interested in finding out more about this product then please read Seagate 160GB for all of the details.
Matt,
There are many options out there for back up. My husband is a computer techie, (both hardware and software) so I have learned from the best
We have several ways of backing up our things: we use extra hard drives (we have one ready to go just in case of a crash), USB drive, we also use CDs and DVDs to back up our stuff as well. External hard drives are great too, but those little USB devices are wonderful!
You did a good thing bringing this to people’s attention! Not everyone backs up and those that do, do not do it on a consistent schedule.
To Your Success!
Shannon Q.
P.S. I wondered if you guys have read these FREE reports yet. It talks about the DISASTER on the web 2.0 technology. You can download it at:
http://HenryGoldSecret.com
(Wild Stuff. No Affiliate link either!)
Ironically, I just burned some backup CDs yesterday. But, I did lose 8 years worth of e-mail late last year. I never did lean how to back that up and although I don’t store anything terribly important in e-mail, I had 8 years of correspondence with old friends. All gone now.
8 years of email gone. Ouch. I lost email with Outlook and with Hotmail, but never for that long. Today, I have GMail and if Google loses my mail then so be it. I may have to rethink that though as some of my messages are important to me too.
Hi Matt -
Add my vote to the strategy of using a USB external hard drive, plus CDs/DVDs for certain things.
My “shut down” routine — every day without fail — includes backing up every file I’ve changed or created during the day onto the external hard drive.
I have copies all of my essential software on both my desktop and my laptop, so I can take the USB hard drive and plug it in to either computer and I’m instantly set to go. Also, if one computer dies, I’m not suddenly out of business.
I burn truly archival stuff onto CDs or DVDs periodically.
Recently I’ve started emailing copies of stuff I’ve written to myself at my gmail account — doc or pdf files. One more back-up!
Color me compulsive! :-b
Bobbie, I need to back up my software too. I have a lot of stuff on disks, but “plug and play” restoral is much easier. You aren’t compulsive, just careful.