(I was going to call this blog post “Running with Scissors” but, I didn’t want to confuse what I was writing about with the movie by Sony of the same name and therefore open myself up for a take down notice or legal battle of some sort. That would suck!)
I have just completed a task that I have been doing every year since I have owned a computer of one sort or another. I have taken last year’s images and videos that I have shot as well as other data that I have created and collected and backed it up. Doing this makes room for the stuff I’ll be doing in the up coming year and this action ensures that I have archived or stored my important data somewhere other than my computers at least once. I have multiple storage devices to minimize complete and permanent loss of my data.
As children, most of us and, I am sure pretty much all of us, were warned as children not to run with unprotected sharp implements. When one takes a good close look at a sharp implement and knows and understands what the sharp implement is capable of doing one quickly realizes that the warnings given to us by our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters or cousins makes good sense. If you run with sharp implements that are not properly protected the possibility of getting hurt is quite high. Is it possible to run with sharp implements without getting hurt or hurting others? Sure! But, why would you? Most reasonable people will think you are nuts if you choose to run with sharp implements that are not probably sheathed or scabbarded.
So then, if you know that running with unprotected sharp implements is dangerous to your health and others around you, why would you not you back up the data you have stored on your computer?
I amazed at the number of people that I know that don’t back up their data. It’s 2010. Come on! “Who should back up their data?”, you ask. Everyone who uses a computer should. Not backing up your data is about the same risk level as running with unprotected sharp implements. And being well adjusted human beings we don’t run with unprotected sharp implements.
“Come on, Kelly! What’s the big deal? I think your being an alarmist. This kind of comparison is just a scare tactic,” you say. Oh really? Have you ever had to recover from a hard drive failure and discover, much to your horror, that you can’t recover because you didn’t back up your data or maybe didn’t back up recently enough? These events happen. Just because we don’t hear about a lot of them doesn’t make this issue any less real.
You want to know why hard drives are relatively inexpensive these days? The volume of hard drives sold is a factor but, simply put (and this is an over simplification to save time and space), the reason why hard drives are relatively inexpensive is that hard drives are made with the understanding that they will eventually fail. Hard drives can be designed so that the risk of failure is very, very low but, then they would cost very much more then they do now. So the question of a hard drive failing is not IF it will happen but, WHEN it will happen. Sooner or later you’re going to encounter a hard drive failure or other computer malfunction or, theft and you will have lost all your data and quite possibly permanently. It doesn’t matter what operating system you are using. MAC OS, Windows (pick a version) or Linux. Your hard drive could eventually have a problem that will have nothing to do with operating system.
If you own a digital music player, digital camera, write documents or spreadsheets you should be backing up your data on a regular basis. If what I am talking about sounds like work that because it is! If you have gone to the trouble of downloading music, taking pictures, shooting video and all the other things that computers are capable of doing then you should be backing up your data on something or somewhere on a regular basis. There are fairly cheap solutions out there and others that are more elaborate and not so cheap.
You could pay a data recovery service to try and get your data back off your dead drive. Know that this kind of service isn’t cheap and it’s also not without risk. You could pay money that would buy you several new high end PCs and still not get your data back. It’s cheaper and easier to back up your data now while you can.
USB flash drives are amongst the cheapest way of backing up important data. I saw some in Walmart today that were under $20.00 CAD for 4GB. (GB stands for Gigabyte) You could also go for an external USB hard drive and those very in price from about $78.00 CAD for a 250GB drive to as high was you want to go for as much storage as you can think of or need. You could even put your data on a CD or DVD if you had to. Most computers made in the last 5 years, with the exception of netbooks, come with optical drives. It’s a slower way of doing things but, it still works. It’s way better than nothing!
You also may wish to choose an online backup. A Drive and Sky Drive are two that come to mind. I know there are others that are free that you can consider pay options for. DropBox not only backs up your data but synchronizes it across your various computers if you have more than one. You can start with a free account and move up in storage amount for a fee.
If you choose an external USB or FireWire drive you’ll need to have some software dedicated to the task. Microsoft has a free and unsupported application called SyncToy. There are all sorts of free backup programs. EaseUS Todo Backup and SyncBack are free. These two programs offer different advantages and possible disadvantages to keeping your data safely stored else where.
The reason why I mention possible disadvantages is that having to back up data can be viewed as being a hassle. Be careful not to chose a software package that is too complex. If it’s too complex you won’t use it. Even if you paid money for it. Try the free stuff first and see how you like it.
I have been guilty of having everything I need to keep all my data safe and then have chosen not to do it because I wanted to use my computer for something else at that time. The good news is you can automate the backup process to occur when your not sitting in front of your computer.
It’s up to you to find the backup solution that works best for you. My data is safe. Is yours? Are you running with unprotected sharp implements?
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
There’s nothing like family.
Happy New Year!
In my first blog posting I said that I may write from the Philippines. I chose not to. I decided to reflect on things that were and are happening in my life and chose to save my thoughts for another day. I was on holiday and enjoyed that holiday. Was is it exhausting? Yes, and I wouldn’t trade a minute of it. I have a bunch of new ideas for this blog as a result of our time away from Canada. I hope that I can remember them so that I can document what it is I have been thinking about.
Thanks, Dawn, for following this blog and thank you, Ean for your comments. At least there are two people that read what I have written. That’s kind of cool! I am going to try and double my readership to four. Won’t that be something?
Now, where was I going with this? Oh, yeah. I remember. *Smile*
That’s all I have to say. Thank you for reading!
Seriously though, I say again, “There’s nothing like family.” When you live some of the places I’ve lived, and most times by myself, I can certainly tell you that I value my family highly. The person that I’ve learned a lot about family from has been my wife. She comes from a different culture than mine and a large family. We have just returned from visiting her family. I’ll just say that she has 8 brothers and sisters, all of whom are still alive as well as her mother.
Whether it be the pressures of life or other issues that are real or imagined we (I can replace we with “I” but, for the sake of where I’m going with this I’m going to allow “we” to suffice.) often allow things to get in the way of our relationships and thus the decay begins. Decay that we can neither afford or allow. The family unit is under pressure all over the world. I’ve seen it. I find it rather amazing that the same pressures the family unit faces in Canada are the same pressures the family unit faces elsewhere in the world sometimes to a horrifying degree. The good news is most all of us can do something about ensuring the outcome is better instead of worse.
My immediate family has lost two people within the past decade: My oldest sister and my younger brother. Two siblings are left, me and my little sister. Our lives have been changed forever by the loss of our siblings. I believe that my relationship with my remaining sibling is one of the most important relationships in my life. My remaining sister and for that matter, my parents, though they divorced long ago and moved on to live differently in different places, are very important to me. Is that weird? No more weird than being a child of two races. That would be me in case you were wondering.
Within this past year my sister and I have taken to spending time with another family member. Our niece. The child of our departed brother. Getting to know her has been a wonderful adventure. She needs family just like everyone else that I have ever met.
My sister and I both plan on outliving our parents! Does that mean I’ll stop doing some of the crazy fun things that I like doing? Nah! It means I’ll be more careful doing what few crazy fun things that I like doing. It means I’ll think about the relationships with my family members and remember why it is that I do what it is I do in the first place.
I have chosen not to post pictures with this blog post because I want you, the reader, to think about family and whom or what that may mean to you. It’s not important what my family looks like. It is important that I love them. So I do.
Is my family perfect? Not even close! My family has had it’s issues and problems. I have had my issues and problems with my family. The important thing is that these people, as well as my wife’s family, are still my family. I am committed to my family and spending time with my family is high priority. I wasn’t always so interested in my family and I have paid the price for that. Once I realized the best thing to do was spend time with my family in spite of our differences my life changed significantly for the better. Funny how that happens!
In my first blog posting I said that I may write from the Philippines. I chose not to. I decided to reflect on things that were and are happening in my life and chose to save my thoughts for another day. I was on holiday and enjoyed that holiday. Was is it exhausting? Yes, and I wouldn’t trade a minute of it. I have a bunch of new ideas for this blog as a result of our time away from Canada. I hope that I can remember them so that I can document what it is I have been thinking about.
Thanks, Dawn, for following this blog and thank you, Ean for your comments. At least there are two people that read what I have written. That’s kind of cool! I am going to try and double my readership to four. Won’t that be something?
Now, where was I going with this? Oh, yeah. I remember. *Smile*
That’s all I have to say. Thank you for reading!
Seriously though, I say again, “There’s nothing like family.” When you live some of the places I’ve lived, and most times by myself, I can certainly tell you that I value my family highly. The person that I’ve learned a lot about family from has been my wife. She comes from a different culture than mine and a large family. We have just returned from visiting her family. I’ll just say that she has 8 brothers and sisters, all of whom are still alive as well as her mother.
Whether it be the pressures of life or other issues that are real or imagined we (I can replace we with “I” but, for the sake of where I’m going with this I’m going to allow “we” to suffice.) often allow things to get in the way of our relationships and thus the decay begins. Decay that we can neither afford or allow. The family unit is under pressure all over the world. I’ve seen it. I find it rather amazing that the same pressures the family unit faces in Canada are the same pressures the family unit faces elsewhere in the world sometimes to a horrifying degree. The good news is most all of us can do something about ensuring the outcome is better instead of worse.
My immediate family has lost two people within the past decade: My oldest sister and my younger brother. Two siblings are left, me and my little sister. Our lives have been changed forever by the loss of our siblings. I believe that my relationship with my remaining sibling is one of the most important relationships in my life. My remaining sister and for that matter, my parents, though they divorced long ago and moved on to live differently in different places, are very important to me. Is that weird? No more weird than being a child of two races. That would be me in case you were wondering.
Within this past year my sister and I have taken to spending time with another family member. Our niece. The child of our departed brother. Getting to know her has been a wonderful adventure. She needs family just like everyone else that I have ever met.
My sister and I both plan on outliving our parents! Does that mean I’ll stop doing some of the crazy fun things that I like doing? Nah! It means I’ll be more careful doing what few crazy fun things that I like doing. It means I’ll think about the relationships with my family members and remember why it is that I do what it is I do in the first place.
I have chosen not to post pictures with this blog post because I want you, the reader, to think about family and whom or what that may mean to you. It’s not important what my family looks like. It is important that I love them. So I do.
Is my family perfect? Not even close! My family has had it’s issues and problems. I have had my issues and problems with my family. The important thing is that these people, as well as my wife’s family, are still my family. I am committed to my family and spending time with my family is high priority. I wasn’t always so interested in my family and I have paid the price for that. Once I realized the best thing to do was spend time with my family in spite of our differences my life changed significantly for the better. Funny how that happens!
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