On Dec 18, 2009, at 6:11 PM, Robert Tait wrote:
I use a service, that back up my hard drive over the internet. The
one I use is http://mozy.com/, but there are several out there.
Costs me less than $100 to have a frequently updated image of my
laptop hard drive (automatic, transparent, and encrypted).
If you can afford it, this is a good short-term hedge against
disaster, for mission-critical files. I am not going to trust (long
term) a for-profit business with archiving my files. What if they
don't turn a profit and shut down one day?
I spread sever CDs of Austin cave trips around back in 2000, I have
no clue how they were stored, or if they still work.
My hard drive has to get bigger every couple of years.
The rate at which hard drive storage is expanding vs. cost, I've found
that my data isn't doubling at quite the prevailing rate for hard
drives, so I've been able to move to the next affordable size up in
hard drives without it being a headache since I first seriously
started storing data on computers, in about 2001. I think the
progression at home has been 20GB> 60GB> 120GB> 250GB> 500GB. All for
around $100.00-$150.00 each time. (wait until the size you need isn't
the biggest & best -- there's always a sweet-spot just below huge
that's affordable Compare 2TB to 1TB disks in price, right now)
As to backing up -- I have two internal drives. 1 is system & software
only. The other is data only. The point to that being a nuke & pave of
the system drive does not have to be accompanied by the gnashing of
teeth over data. I have 2 external drives in the house, which are
mirrors (backed up daily & weekly) of the two internal drives. This is
a hedge against drive failure, only. I also back up all RAW files from
the camera to DVD, as well as some other mission-critical data,
like .AIF files from 24-track studio recordings, that were expensive.
Lastly, I have removable drives that I occasionally back all this up
to (every couple months, when I remember, or when there's a huge
project that needs backing up) that live off site. If my house burns
down/is burgled, I hope that these drives don't fail simultaneously. :-)
I have some data CD's that are approaching the 10-year mark now, so
I'll be curious to dig them out & see how they're doing, at some point
on a slow day. I certainly don't trust them as a sole source for
critical files.
PS.. I wonder if one day, people will start backing up digital
images on Kodachrome, for archival storage... never mind.
*pours 40*
*snif*
Chris
