Over the weekend, I had nothing but bad luck. Seriously, it seemed as if nothing could go right.
That means Monday is for finding the silver lining. I was reminded that there are situations that are simply out of our control, eg. sewer lines breaking or having your apartment broke into. As we put more and more of our lives in electronic format, the more we have to protect those assets. It is foolish anymore not to remotely backup your images and other important computer files everyday. Mozy is a company that I have enjoyed using to accomplish just that.
Digital photos are great because you can make as many electronic copies as you want. Try doing that with film! Everyone should use this attribute to their advantage by backing up your images. Making two copies is good, but what you need to do is make sure that when you need it, your backup is there and can actually restore your images. A backup is only good if it works and will be available when you need it.
There are many programs (see SyncBack) that allow you to make a copy to another hard drive, but what everyone really needs is to make sure that your images and other computer files are backed up, safe and sound at some remote location. If right now you are making a backup of every file to an external hard drive. What happens if their is a tornado, fire, flood, or bulgary? Your back up will fail by design. The solution is remote backup. Remote backup uses the internet to electronically copy all of your images or other files to someone else's computer for safekeeping. In order to be most effective, you shouldn't have to do anything to make the backup work. It should just be automatic - you shouldn't have to do a thing.
There is a company called Mozy that will give you a free account and the necessary software. The catch is the free account is limited to 2GB of data. I don't know about you, but I have over 400 gigs of images now. No fear, for a reasonable price of about $5 a month they will let you have as much storage as you want. The downside is that uploading 400 gigs will take a LOT of time. Do yourself a favor, do not wait, do not even hesitate, get some form of remote back up. I don't care if you use Mozy or not. I think they work well, but its just one solution.
That means Monday is for finding the silver lining. I was reminded that there are situations that are simply out of our control, eg. sewer lines breaking or having your apartment broke into. As we put more and more of our lives in electronic format, the more we have to protect those assets. It is foolish anymore not to remotely backup your images and other important computer files everyday. Mozy is a company that I have enjoyed using to accomplish just that.
Digital photos are great because you can make as many electronic copies as you want. Try doing that with film! Everyone should use this attribute to their advantage by backing up your images. Making two copies is good, but what you need to do is make sure that when you need it, your backup is there and can actually restore your images. A backup is only good if it works and will be available when you need it.
There are many programs (see SyncBack) that allow you to make a copy to another hard drive, but what everyone really needs is to make sure that your images and other computer files are backed up, safe and sound at some remote location. If right now you are making a backup of every file to an external hard drive. What happens if their is a tornado, fire, flood, or bulgary? Your back up will fail by design. The solution is remote backup. Remote backup uses the internet to electronically copy all of your images or other files to someone else's computer for safekeeping. In order to be most effective, you shouldn't have to do anything to make the backup work. It should just be automatic - you shouldn't have to do a thing.
There is a company called Mozy that will give you a free account and the necessary software. The catch is the free account is limited to 2GB of data. I don't know about you, but I have over 400 gigs of images now. No fear, for a reasonable price of about $5 a month they will let you have as much storage as you want. The downside is that uploading 400 gigs will take a LOT of time. Do yourself a favor, do not wait, do not even hesitate, get some form of remote back up. I don't care if you use Mozy or not. I think they work well, but its just one solution.
I will add a Photographic Thought later on how to get the most out of Mozy, but for right now, sign up for your free account and play with it. I'm serious about doing it now. Your data will be safe. If you are interested in an annual or biannual account I have some coupons for you. If you enter APRIL you will get 10% off a MozyHome Unlimited annual account or you can enter APRIL2 for 10% off a MozyHome Unlimited biannual account.
Live Grateful.
PS - I'm fine. Thanks Mom.
Live Grateful.
PS - I'm fine. Thanks Mom.
1 comment:
Hi, I'm Carbonite's CEO and good for you for recommending online backup – the right way to go. Simple and safe. Carbonite and Mozy are the two leading companies in this space and I thought I'd explain why we don't offer 2GB free forever. First of all, when you're talking about the value of all your precious and irreplaceable photos, what's $50? Second, if you're limited to 2GB, what happens when you add more photos and go over the 2GB limit? Finally, who do you think is paying for the storage space that all those 2GB freeloaders are using? You, the paying customer. That's why Carbonite is less expensive than Mozy. Advice: Buy a subscription so you don't have hassles in the future. $50 a year gets you unlimited storage.
Regards,
Dave Friend
CEO, Carbonite Online Backup
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