At 11:50 AM 1/30/2010, Joe Yablonski wrote:
I just read Dave's great suggestion re back-up:
Firstly, as an engineer Dave will tell you a hard drive will
definately pack-up. We only dont know when.
As I see both hard drives and DVDs are quite reasonably priced.
My suggestions:
Make a copy of your software to DVD, (or hard drive), with all
pertinent numbers on the envelope.
Then leave your software copies at a neighbours or friend, then
upgrade as you change or get more software.
I agree totally, this is a lot of extra work, but it sure gives you
good peace of mind.
As I'm getting older, I'm forgetting where my software info is
at. This way you know it is safe and usable from your friend or
neighbour (definately off site)
BTW, this also protects from somebody breaking and stealing your computer.
Dave, I always enjoy reading your articles.
Joe Yablonski
Thanks, Joe. There are a bunch of good and interesting points in your
note. Let's see if I can extract them in a way that makes sense to me:
(1) You can use all sorts of media for the backup:
Hard drive (as I do).
DVD (as I used to do, until a single backup exceeded 2 DVDs).
Flash drive (you didn't mention, but Harry did).
(1a) Just to compare relative prices:
Hard drive: about $100 for a terabyte, but let's say $100 for 500GB
if you are going to require a USB interface (probably essential for
backup). That's about $.20 per GB
DVD: about $.25 for an almost 5GB disk. That's $.05 per GB, but you
can't reuse it. Suppose you have 35GB to back up (as I do). So that's
$2 per backup for media alone. It's also A LOT more labor-intensive,
if you count your own time for anything. (I know this from extensive
experience.) But even on media cost alone, if you back up once a
week, in a year you have paid for a hard drive in DVD costs.
Reality check: If you have to put in the work of backing up to
multiple DVDs, you will not back up once a week; it will take
discipline to do it once a month. If you back up to a large enough
hard drive, once a week is easy. (Again, I know this from
experience.) So DVDs will wind up being less expensive -- and a much
less-current backup -- than these figures suggest.
Flash drive: over the larger sizes (8GB - 128GB) it runs $2-$3/GB.
Expensive, but very convenient if you get a big enough flash for your
whole backup.
(2) You can get off-site backup by making a pact with a friend or
neighbor to store one another's backup media. A bit inconvenient for
both of you, but only a bit. Could be a very good idea.
It's an especially good idea if you use DVDs for backup. It only
requires one trip to the neighbor per backup. (If you use hard- or
flash-drive, you have to go to get the device, then again to drop it
off after backup.) And, if you put off for a day or two taking it to
the neighbor's and have a site-destruction event in that time, you
still have DVDs with an older backup at the neighbor's.
Does not work nearly as well for flash- or hard-drive, unless you get
two devices and alternate them. That is every bit as good, but double
the media cost. If you alternate, then the most recent backup will be
at the neighbor's, and you have a device with an older backup --
ready to use for your next backup.
(3) "this also protects from somebody breaking and stealing your computer."
Every backup scheme has this property, unless you assume that a thief
will run off with your backup as well as your computer. Not very likely.
And you have to trust your friend with your backup data, unless you
choose to encrypt it.
Thanks, Joe.
DaveT
--
Shoptalk ** Sponsored by the new Aldila Voodoo.
Learn more at http://aldilavoodoo.com/
