Reminder for all!

Ems

Ems

Betta lover!
Jan 4, 2005
1,140
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British Columbia
Well I don't know if anyone noticed, but I was offline for a week: Computer problems :(

I'm just posting to remind everyone to back up your files (if you haven't already).

I've always had issues with this computer, as it is old and hasn't been formatted for a while. I had a main folder with many subfolders inside. Sunday night (the 12th of March) my boyfriend was on the computer and it started acting up, so he rebooted. It wouldn't load the Operating system so we had to reinstall it. Finally got it up again and my folder was there, but everything in it was gone. All of my programs, music, pictures, videos, school work, ALL GONE. I was so upset over it. :(

This is not a thread to determine what happened; I just want to remind everyone to back up your files, don't wait until it is too late and lose precious files.
 
I always back up at very least once a month, but I had to learn my lesson much like you did Ems. A spare lightly used 40gb hd is about 25 bucks around here, so I have one of those and I use my DVD burner as well. Sorry to hear that Ems, I know how bad that sucks.
 
Had a comp crash that had around 150gigs on it. I lost a lot of stuff, mostly programs and whatnot I can reinstall but 1,000's of photos and other important files got lost. I had some great pics of the Audubon Aquarium fish and other inhabitants before it was ruined by Katrina on there I've lost. :(

Now I have a 200gig backup drive that does automatic weekly backups to prevent that from happening again.
 
When I was in college, I had a folder with every assignation, research and homework for every class I had attended. Even computer programs.

Then I was formatting a friend's hard disk. I connected it, loaded DOS (if anyone remembers it) and typed format d:
For some reason the DOS considered D: my main hard disk, and I lost everything.

So I always recommend getting a backup every other week, or so. AND VERY IMPORTANT, use CD, DVD ot Tape backpus. I used to have a 4 GB disk for backup at office, and a voltage peak destroyed both the main and the backup disks.
 
An easy and cost effective way to prevent an OS Crash from wiping everything out is to partition your hard drive when you format. My current computer has an 80gb hard drive partitioned into drive c: (15gb with Windows XP) d:(40gb with programs etc installed) and e: (25gb for photo's and documents etc)

This will let you keep all your information seperated from your Operating System so if it crashes I can just reformat my c: drive while everything else stays intact. Of course if the entire unit goes I'm SOL but at least this way I've got some protection without having thousands of cd's sitting on my desk.
 
I'm really thinking of an external hard drive now......

What would be a good size for the 'average user'? (but with lots of 8Megapixel photos)

:confused:



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A partition does nothing when you have a hardware failure like mine was. People never think about the hardware failures. I now have the OS on an entirely seperate drive from the files. I also use DVD-RW's to back up information in addition to the external back up drive. And if they ever do dual layer DVD-RW, I'll use them as well.

The way I went about backing up my hard drive is to get one that had at least as much storage capacity as the drive(s) I want to back up plus an additional 25% incase there were other things I wanted to store there seperately from the main back ups.
 
Last edited:
125gJoe said:
I'm really thinking of an external hard drive now......

What would be a good size for the 'average user'? (but with lots of 8Megapixel photos)

:confused:



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Click to expand...

Just look at how muck info you have stored and consider the same capacity for your backup.

The price for a 40Gb and an 80Gb is lees then $10 here.
 
Teelie said:
I also use DVD-RW's to back up information in addition to the external back up drive.
Click to expand...
This is a very important point since a HDD backup, while convenient, is as prone to damage or corruption as the primary HDD.

Backing up to physical media, such as CD or DVD, allows you to archive your data by storing it in a safe place, away from your computer. Storage of the media can become a pain but one that will be worth it if your system crashes.

Good thread. :)

Peace...
 
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