|
|
Computer users seem to have adopted one of three basic backup strategies: system backup, data backup, and total denial. Sadly, option three seems to be the most prevalent, and too many users too often discover too late it was a really bad choice. Backup once was considered primarily a defense against a hardware failure - most often, a hard drive malfunction. Today that's only one issue. There are the dangers of viruses, Trojans, and worms transmitted via the Internet and networks. There is the issue of software "patches" (repairs) going wrong. As this is being written, for example, Microsoft has rolled out major updates, which it calls "service packs" to Office 2003 and Windows XP, and history teaches us that the company often needs to issue patches to its patches. The Catch 22 is that once installed many patches cannot be uninstalled. Similar issues exist with respect to software and hardware installations. You try out something. It doesn't work the way you expected. But you can't get rid of it completely because software vendors love to leave some files and settings behind, figuring you will change your mind and want to restore the program. Or the uninstall mechanism is as messed up as the software and doesn't work. Consider it a rule of computing that the most disastrous installations will be the hardest to remove.  Finally,
there is the need to purge your computer of chozzerai (Yiddish
for crud). Computers are big time chozzerai collectors. Over time, you
install and uninstall software, add and remove hardware, update and purge
data. Even when those changes go normally, there usually is still some
residue left behind that eventually will reduce your system performance.My personal experience is that hard drive failures and virus, etc. attacks that got threw my antivirus and firewall software are very rare occurrences. But recovering from bad installations and removing chozzerai are a constant concern. Accordingly, I do a full system back up daily. Yes, daily. Sometimes even more frequently than that if I am going to install or uninstall something. I use my computer for business and anything less than that just isn't safe.A system backup includes everything on your computer, from the operating system to the digital photo of Aunt Mary. This approach lets you roll your system back to the state it was in before it went wrong. The data backup strategy - protecting only the unique content you created - is a way to preserve information crucial to your business, but it more a way to protect against disaster than an everyday system safeguard. People who don't backup usually say that backups are too expensive, too complicated, and too tedious. Not so. The days of those touchy, snail-paced tape systems are long gone for home and small business users.I use Maxtor's "One Touch" external hard drives, which retail from around $180 to $275 depending on size and connectivity. They ship with Retrospect Express backup software, and they can also double as extra storage for your data (I keep music, videos, and photos on mine). One touch means what it says: you push a button on the device and the backup process runs. Couldn't be easier. Other manufacturers also now make like products, but Maxtor pioneered the concept of external hard drives as backup media and they are on their second generation of the product. Since we first reported favorably on them. the drives now have an anodized aluminum case that is a little more compact than the original. The OneTouch button now is illuminated and doubles as the drive activity light; there is an off-on switch on the back, and the power supply cabling has been simplified.
The new models come with capacities of 160, 200, 250 and 300 GB, and here is where the most significant changes have taken place in the second generation models. All are 7,200 rpm models except for the 300 GB which is 5,400. The first generation was the other way around, with 5,400 drives predominant and the 7,200 limited to a model aimed at video production professionals. But in the interim computer usage for multimedia has exploded and consumers are looking for multimedia-capable drive speeds, too. There also are a variety of backup software applications to use. For example, advanced users might want Dantz Development's Retrospect Professional, a more powerful version of the software that ships with the Maxtor drives. Retrospect is now is in Version 6.5 for Windows and 6.0 for the Mac. No, Mac users aren't being snubbed: Retrospect originated on the Mac, although its customer base is now moving to Windows. The Windows versions used to carry over the Mac interface, which made the software Retrospect easy to use on a Mac but borderline incomprehensible on a PC because of the different ways the Mac and Windows handle drives and folder hierarchies. Version 6.5 revised the Windows interface to be more consistent with standard Windows terminology and procedures.
Another strategy is to go for online backup - uploading you files to storage via the Internet. A number of companies such as Connected Corporation offer this service. It can be more pricey and more complicated than buying a backup drive, but for business users it does give you offsite backup of critical information -- so you don't run the risk that if a fire races through your office, you loose both the backups as well as the originals. Mac users have access to online backup through Apple's ".Mac" Internet service. This is a good approach for data backups. When you sit down to figure out the cost of a backup solution, do not forget to consider the cost of being out of business for the length of time it would take to restore your system and the cost of losing all your documents, contacts - and billing information. With that in mind, the price of a backup solution can be very cost-effective.So when exactly did you last back up your computer? (c) 2004 Al Gordon.In addition to his computer interests, Al Gordon is a principal in the Boston-area strategic consulting firm, Mary Fifield Associates, www.maryfifieldassociates.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can reach Al Gordon at:  Return to Top
Back to the Main Al Gordon Page
|
|||
This is supplemental information to the article:
As
before, OneTouch drives are available with USB 2.0, FireWire, or both.
Windows formatted drives come in all three flavors. The Mac formatted drives
are FireWire only( because FireWire is standard on the Mac and FireWire
offers better performance for external drives). I continue to recommend that
Windows users go for the combo units and put a FireWire card in your PC if
it doesn't have one. The USB will let you use the drive with other PCs
without FireWire.
On
either platform, Retrospect excels at incremental backups -- keeping track
of the day-to-day changes you make in your system to minimize the number of
files that have to be backed up daily. Retrospect not only creates a catalog
file of what it has backed up, but organizes it with "snapshot" of your
system at the time of each backup. This is a life-and-aggravation-saver. If
your system was working fine last Tuesday, but started acting up this
Wednesday, you call up last Tuesday's snapshot and restore your system to
that state. This is a lot easier than fighting with your system trying to
debug it.