I got another message today from someone who has lost files due to hardware malfunction. That makes the sixth person in the last two weeks. Seems that as fast as I can get people using proper backup, other people’s machines are failing.
To that end, let’s review the 3-2-1 backup strategy. This, at least, should be followed for all of your important files and documents. And by important I mean anything you care at all about losing.
3 – Your important files should exist in three different places. This could be your computer, your spouses computer, an external drive, a burned DVD, a remote backup, a friend’s house, whatever. Just three distinct copies of the files.
2 – Those files should be on at least two different types of media. Media can be hard drive, DVD, memory card or stick, or even original paper or film.
1 – At least one of those copies should be maintained off-site. That is away from the site of the original. Preferably in a different city or state. Think about common natural disasters. Off-site should be out of reach of those natural disasters.
An external hard drive is excellent for one of your backups. Time Machine on the Mac makes this a no-brainer, and there are some good software packages for Windows, such as Acronis True Image
. Drive space has come way down in price, and an external drive is easy to pickup and take with you in case of emergency. An external drive such as the Western Digital Elements 1 Terabyte drive is a great choice. Western Digital drives are solid and dependable and they have a good company backing them up. Now is not the time to try to find the cheapest thing you can – unless you want to regret that decision later when there is a failure.
Remember, the external hard drive should never be your primary storage point. There should be nothing on that drive that isn’t also somewhere else. Any drive can fail, internal or external. Plus, external drives are more susceptible to being jarred, knocked around, or dropped. Plus, they can be easily lost or stolen. These drives are part of a backup plan, not a sole solution.
For off-site backup, a service such as Mozy is a good choice. Again, there are a number of different alternatives, but I recommend Mozy because it works with both PCs and Macs, and because I use it personally. I have heard great things about other services, such as Carbonite, I just have not used them myself.
Finally, none of this is any good unless the backups are actually performed. The backups need to be automated so they happen without any input from you. That way you can let the backups do their thing and only check from time to time that all is well. As mentioned before, Time Machine on the Mac is excellent for this as it operates completely in the background. As well, Mozy performs your off-site backup without any input.
If you need any help getting your machines or your servers backing up properly, please call or email. A little investment up front can save a lot of time, money, and aggravation in the end.
I said finally, but I do have to add this! From time to time you need to try to recover from your backups. That’s right, you need to test that what you think is happening really is. This is something good to put on the calendar along with changing your air-conditioner filter or the oil in your car. You do those things, right? Or do we need another lesson….
Note: This strategy is not my original idea. As far as I know the notion was put forth by Peter Krogh in his book The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers. I originally heard about it through Alex Lindsay of The Pixel Corps.
Tags: backup, disaster, recover
Congratulations, you got a new PC for Christmas. Or maybe you bought a new one for your business before the end of the year tax season runs out. Either way, do you know what the first thing you should do is? I mean after taking it out of the box, admiring its awesome shine and plugging it in. That’s right, you should make sure the anti-virus software is in place and up-to-date.
If your machine didn’t come with any protective software, or if you don’t like what it came with, there are some great alternatives available for free download. Note that most of these have both free and paid versions. Even if you would like the extra features available from the paid version, I would recommend trying out the free editions first. You may find out that the software doesn’t suit your exact needs or that the free version would do everything you want.
AVG Antivirus – “No-frills protection to meet your basic security needs.” This is the AV software I recommend most often and the one I use on my own machines.
ClamWin – ClamWin is a Free Antivirus program for Microsoft Windows 7 / Vista / XP / Me / 2000 / 98 and Windows Server 2008 and 2003. ClamWin is open source, so you can even get the code behind the product. An excellent product that is constantly updated and monitored by the open source community. There is even a similar product available for the Mac.
Microsoft Security Essentials – “Microsoft Security Essentials provides real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.” Microsoft finally started producing security software for Windows, and it is actually quite good. Also, of course, coming from Microsoft it integrates quite well into the Windows environment.
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Tags: anti-virus, Security, spyware, virus
Question: What should I do with a keyboard when some keys seem to need an extra push? Is this it wear and tear or a cleaning issue?
Answer: It could easily be either simple wear and tear, or it may be that there is something stuck underneath the keys. If you turn the keyboard upside down over a trashcan, shake it, and beat on it gently, you may be surprised at the amount of hair, food particles, and other gunk that comes out. If that doesn’t solve the problem, you can often carefully pry the keys up and clean underneath them with something like hydrogen peroxide. The main requirement of the cleanser is that it is non-corrosive and doesn’t leave a residue.
For wear and tear situations or if all your cleaning fails to return your keyboard to normal performance, a regular replacement keyboard should only cost you about $20. This is not a bad investment at all for the major interface point between you and your computer.
Note: This is part of a column that originally appeared in The Daniel Island News in the weekly issue for November 18, 2009.
Tags: Daniel Island, keyboard, keys
