I am confused as to why everyone is spending time buying external hard drives and what-not. These would be damaged in a fire or flood as well and all of the information is still lost. I really think people should be looking into online solutions that will save your information electronically for access in case of an emergency. That's why I moved everyone to Carbonite so that if the unthinkable happens, all I have to do is access my account from a different and it all comes back. > -----Original Message----- > From: txgen-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:txgen-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Robin Inge > Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 4:09 PM > To: txgen@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [TXGEN] backup solutions > > I think I will look into this instead.  Will this also work > for photos.  I have so many photos and documents that I need > to back up.  I dont like saving to disk as the titles and > properties information I have added is lost.  I have them > organized by yr and category and so on.  Would like to keep > them that way. >   > > > Robin R Inge > "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but > by the number of moments that take our breath away" >   >   > > > > > > ________________________________ > From: Lawrence E. Oliver <oliverl@suddenlink.net> > To: txgen@rootsweb.com > Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 1:27:36 PM > Subject: Re: [TXGEN] backup solutions > > Actually, you can get USB Flash Drives up to 64GB now. > They're in the $120 to $200 dollar range though. > > Larry > > > > >-----Original Message----- > > >From: txgen-bounces@rootsweb.com > > >[mailto:txgen-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Morton1000@aol.com > > >Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 11:47 AM > > >To: txgen@rootsweb.com > > >Subject: Re: [TXGEN] backup solutions > > > > > >MB stand for megabyte. If you look at your files in the > folders, most > > >of them will say something like 2KB - 2 kilobytes. A > megabtye is 1000 > > >kilobytes. A gigabyte is 1,000,000,000 bytes, 1,000,000 kilogbytes. > > > > > >The external drives you mention at WalMart are not big > enough to do > > >much good. You can get thumb drives (usb > > >drives) that are 4 gigabytes - larger than any of the > walmart drives > > >you mentioned. > > > > > >Chris > > > > > > > > >************** > > >Feeling the pinch at the grocery store?  Make dinner for > $10 or less. > > >(http://food.aol.com/frugal-feasts?ncid=emlcntusfood00000001) > > > > > >------------------------------- > > >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > >TXGEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > > >without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > TXGEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > TXGEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Kimm, you are very correct... backing up to only an (1) external HD that stays in your office is only going to cover a disk failure, as long as it crashes when you're NOT backing up.... there are too many other catastrophes that can happen. The first thing you must do is decide what is critical enough to need a backup. In other words if you lost your computer what will your "cost" be to recover if you do not have proper backup. Personally, 1)my websites - I have them backed up on a web site (NEVER EVER make updates to a website online. Always make changes on your computer and ftp them online.) 2)photographs - I'm a major pack rat (hence D drive being too small), so 90% probably should be deleted anyway!! The decent ones are online anyway! 3)Documents - Resume, spreadsheets, tax returns, etc... Awww, it would be a pain to recreate if I had too... If these are important I have a paper copy in the file cabinet. So bottom line - nothing that is going to be more than a royal pain... Actually I'd be more upset by just loosing the computer than about what's on it!!! And yes, I have had a disk crash! I have my computer set up with 2 hard drives - a C drive and a D drive (I actually have 3 - an E drive because D wasn't big enough!!) The C drive contains only the "install" programs... Windows, Office, PSP, FTM, Expression Web, Adobe, etc.etc. I've got those "backed up" simply by having the install CD's for them or I can download from the web. So I don't worry about backing up the C drive. What I should also do is to create a backup of my install CDs and store them off site. Another reason I don't worry about the C drive is about once a year I format it and rebuild it anyway... cleans it up and the computer runs better, but I don't recommend doing that unless you know and understand what you're doing. With a D drive I don't worry about having to copy my data first - well, for the most part!! The D drive contains anything I "create". Webpages, documents, spreadsheets, photographs, etc. Also anything I download is downloaded into a "zip" directory, especially fonts that I add, or programs that I download and install, and can't get back later. ie: If you purchase software online, but only have a 90 day window in which you can download. Now backup the D drive. So if the C drive crashes, I rebuild it... if D crashes I restore it... if computer is stolen or destroyed I get really upset and then I get a new one (ugh) and do both! Backup rules: Never backup to only one medium. Whether external drive, CDs, DVDs or whatever, a minimum of TWO mediums are required. What if your system (hard drive) crashes during a backup, then you have nothing!! (I've had that happen and had to travel to GA to rebuild the entire system and it wasn't a PC). Just be sure when a backup occurs, it's not writing over the only backup you have. Always send a copy off site. Someone mentioned a safe deposit box which is a good idea for what we are talking about. Corporations will send to a different region of the country, but usually able to get it back in hours. Keep one copy (-1) onsite, and one copy (0) off site. (0 is the current backup, -1 is the first previous, -2 is the next one etc). Be careful of disk images. Odds are if you have to replace your computer it won't have the same configuration. There's a lot more to this than what I've mentioned, or anyone else has mentioned... we are only hitting some of the basics!!! An online back up like Kimm is talking is backing up off site. No matter what happens, fire, flood, hurricane, she is has access to her backup and is able to recover. I'm not advocating any online service, or any brick & mortar method - just saying if you want to be completely covered that's what you should do, and I probably have forgotten something!! In the corporate world it's called "Disaster Recovery"... It's up to you to determine just how much of a disaster it would be at home??? My 2 cents jimmy Kimm Antell wrote: > I am confused as to why everyone is spending time buying external hard > drives and what-not. These would be damaged in a fire or flood as well and > all of the information is still lost. I really think people should be > looking into online solutions that will save your information electronically > for access in case of an emergency. That's why I moved everyone to > Carbonite so that if the unthinkable happens, all I have to do is access my > account from a different and it all comes back. >