[lit-ideas] Backup (Re: Re: I need advice/input...)

--- On Fri, 8/22/08, Lawrence Helm <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> 
> Back to backup.  Since I have lost data over the years, I
> am paranoid about
> backup.  I have both a desktop and a laptop.  My laptop is
> a big one, a 17
> inch HP with Vista & Office 2007.   If I'm doing a
> lot of serious writing, I
> prefer the laptop, but for most things I use my desktop -
> when it is working
> properly.  I backup data from my desktop to my laptop and
> to a couple of
> hard-drive I keep for backup.
>
Not that it is any of my business, but for the sake of safe-guarding Lawrence 
Helm's Collected Poems to further generations, I'd like to offer bit of 
unsolicited advice here. Backup, whether were bank's account data or family's 
holiday pics is fairly straight forward:

1. Constantly copy data to another media in another location.
2. Periodically test that you can actually restore the data from the other 
media. This also includes finding the said data.

For #1. Having a copy in another computer is not enough, if it is the kind of 
data you really don't want to loose. If both of the computers are in the same 
location, they are subject to risk of fire, burglary, etc. affecting the 
location. And there needs to be several copies of previous versions, if your 
data gets corrupted by malware, or most likely do to your own error. Having two 
copies of unreadable file or one you just deleted half the text from, is not 
useful.

In practice, keep one copy at a reputable Internet storage. GMail is the cheap 
choice. For comfort and extra protection, there are services specialized in 
file storage, your Internet access deal might include one already. For example, 
you simply see another drive in your desktop, which is physically located in 
the service providers data center. Which will, OK should, have multiple levels 
of protection of the data for all kinds of hazard. I do this stuff for living, 
and while services go down, servers crash, software is unusable, and I am 
generally embarrassed to be part of this sorry excuse of an industry, even the 
most incompetent among the profession are highly unlike to loose data. Ever.

Part 2, finding and restoring the data is the tricky part. In a nutshell, if 
you haven't tried restoring data, you don't have a backup.


Cheers,
Teemu
Helsinki, Finland



      
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html

Other related posts: