Back it up
I am fanatical about backing up data, and it's because I learned the hard way.
Way back when dinosaurs roamed the planet...nope, too far.
Back in the fall of 2000, I was working on my mid term papers, writing what I felt was a brilliant exposé on something in Sports Med. - my soon to be left behind preferred major - when I decided to take a break. I save my progress, switch the computer off, and go for a jaunt with some friends around downtown Salem. While Salem wasn't the hippest place to go to school, it certainly had its charms, and quaint features, and fall in the PNW is always gorgeous. And after returning from dinner, possibly a few games of billiards, and a couple mugs of hot chocolate, I returned to my room, ready to tackle the paper.
Switch. Flash. Nothing.
The hard drive ate itself along with my papers, a few computer games, and that was all she wrote. My roommate saved me from committing seppuku, and I rebuilt my computer, and was fortunate to get an extension on my papers - might have helped bringing in the hard drive that smelled like fireplace ash.
So the rule from then on was to back up everything, and back in those days there was only one real way to do that:
Burn CDs.
Nowadays it's both easier, and more complex than simply copying files to a CD, then kicking back.
I have two backups. I have a portable hard drive, and I have a cloud storage device. And both are currently kicking my butt, and making me long for the days of CDs. Terabytes of space are wonderful - I'm a space nerd, so the bigger the hard drive, the better - but when the computer says, "Can't find drive" for the fifth time, and you're starting to grind your teeth, it does get a bit frustrating.
My advice: Definitely back up your drives, but my preferred method is to purchase flash drives, label them, and copy directly. Not as safe or secure as a portable drive or cloud with password protection, but much more user friendly.
Way back when dinosaurs roamed the planet...nope, too far.
Back in the fall of 2000, I was working on my mid term papers, writing what I felt was a brilliant exposé on something in Sports Med. - my soon to be left behind preferred major - when I decided to take a break. I save my progress, switch the computer off, and go for a jaunt with some friends around downtown Salem. While Salem wasn't the hippest place to go to school, it certainly had its charms, and quaint features, and fall in the PNW is always gorgeous. And after returning from dinner, possibly a few games of billiards, and a couple mugs of hot chocolate, I returned to my room, ready to tackle the paper.
Switch. Flash. Nothing.
The hard drive ate itself along with my papers, a few computer games, and that was all she wrote. My roommate saved me from committing seppuku, and I rebuilt my computer, and was fortunate to get an extension on my papers - might have helped bringing in the hard drive that smelled like fireplace ash.
So the rule from then on was to back up everything, and back in those days there was only one real way to do that:
Burn CDs.
Nowadays it's both easier, and more complex than simply copying files to a CD, then kicking back.
I have two backups. I have a portable hard drive, and I have a cloud storage device. And both are currently kicking my butt, and making me long for the days of CDs. Terabytes of space are wonderful - I'm a space nerd, so the bigger the hard drive, the better - but when the computer says, "Can't find drive" for the fifth time, and you're starting to grind your teeth, it does get a bit frustrating.
My advice: Definitely back up your drives, but my preferred method is to purchase flash drives, label them, and copy directly. Not as safe or secure as a portable drive or cloud with password protection, but much more user friendly.
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