In February MacFormat there is a group test of online backup services and CrashPlan+ comes out the best of six they tested.
Diana On Feb 15, 10:36 am, Toby Leighton <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello all, > > I am going to send this to the SMUG group, who helped me out a lot yesterday > morning when I was in a slightly frantic panic, and to BNM because there are > a lot of mac users, and freelancers who may benefit from the advice here. I > wouldn't usually cross post like this, or write such a long essay of an > email so I hope this is allowed in this case. > > After yesterday mornings "dead computer" situation I am pleased to report > that I am already back up and running, repaired and everything. Apple store > turned the repair around for me much faster than I was anticipating, not > because I got any special favours, but because they were quiet at the > moment, they already had the necessary part in stock etc. I was lucky in > this case, I know this. > > So I was prepared to be without my main computer for approx 1 week, and I > would like to announce the programs, and lessons learned so that everyone > here can see how a very real potential disaster was made rather painless > indeed. I rely on my computer for my work, as I'm sure many of you do too, > so I strongly encourage everyone here to look at their own situations and > how much you rely on your own tech and what you would do if the worst were > to happen... > > 1) have a spare computer. Mine is an old but working G4 tower, It was free > from this very group (cogapp was clearing out), and its now running OSX 10.5 > server. It was too slow for me to carry on the photoshop work I was doing. > Opening a 600dpi tif file even in preview took rather a while so I wasn't > going to entertain the notion of doing any touch-up work. > *Lesson learned*. If you have a spare computer, It can be quite old, but > make sure that it is at least capable of running the applications you need, > even if you don't keep them installed. If I needed any intel only apps I > would have been stuck, so a backup computer capable of running the same OS > would have been ideal, but this did the job. I was able to finish the > scanning I was doing, the touch-ups can wait until the main computer is > back. > > 2) backups! Time machine is good, but you can only access your backed up > files from another mac using the time machine interface. I have moved away > from time machine and now use crashplan which works in exactly the same > style as time machine, but you can restore your files (including different > versions of them) from a PC, linux, mac os, or even web page interface. You > can use it to backup any computer to any other computer for free! regardless > of the OS! I pay them $5 a month for unlimited online storage (for one > computer) and right now it feels like the best $5 I have ever spent in my > life. * * > *Lesson learned* - I had removed my scanning folder from the backup set, as > it would have been sending hundreds of 50-60Mb files up and down the > internet which weren't going to be staying as TIF for very long as they get > worked on and resized down. This was foolish, because when the computer > failed, these were exactly the files that I needed to get to the most, and > I'm paying for unlimited online storage, so I may as well not be scared to > make use of it. Luckily I was able to move them using target mode into.... > > 3) Dropbox. The documents I need to keep handy, such as my invoices and > receipts are in Dropbox. Theres also some company sensitive stuff in there > too, so luckily I was able to use my mac in target mode to remove the > Dropbox folder before sending it in for service. Dropbox doesn't have a > remote-wipe functionality, which would in hindsight be a nice feature, but > it allowed me to access my important documents from my iphone, and from > public computers using the web interface. All this for free! its beyond > belief. I feel like I should give them some money because its so good, but > their free product meets my needs perfectly well. > > 4) passwords. I live by keychain in macosx. I randomly generate password > for everything and keep them all in keychains. You can access your keychain > as a file, the default one is ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain When you > go to another computer, just copy that file with you. optionally rename it > to "my passwords" if you wish, and double click it. When you are on the > other machine you will still be able to access your webspace / ebay / bank / > wifi networks by entering your old account password. > *Lesson learned!* keychain is great, like time machine, but its mac only. > I have been meaning for ages to move away from keychain and start using the > program called 1passwd. like crashplan, it does the same thing as keychain, > only you can use it on windows as well, and even your iphone. > > So with the combination of those programs I was able to send my computer > straight into the apple store for repair, rather than having to spend half a > day faffing around getting my important stuff off it first and hoping I had > remembered everything I needed... the sooner it goes in for repair, the > sooner it is back working. > > For the benefit of the BNM readers, I am obviously using a mac here as my > main computer, but the programs mentioned are all available for windows and > sometimes linux too. This means that I could at a moments notice > effectively carry on with my work on any computer I had to hand. If sony > hadn't removed linux support from the PS3 I could have even used that as a > reasonably powerful machine instead of the G4 tower. This week I have 3 > pieces of work on, plus an interview on wednesday, so its not exactly an > ideal time to be without my computer, but then again, is it ever an ideal > time for these things to happen? > > Please all learn from my positive experience and prepare yourselves for the > disaster before it actually happens. Most of the programs I have mentioned > are either free or very very cheap. > > Toby -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sussex Mac User Group" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/smug?hl=en-GB.
