[BLOG] System failure, backups, and the cloud
It finally happened: instantaneous and complete drive failure. I've had many scares over the years, but always escaped the clutches of significant data loss. Last night, it didn't look like I was going to be so lucky.
My system locked up such that it took 5 minutes to bring up the Task Manager. There was an error restarting, and Windows XP froze on the loading screen. Rebooted again, and it all came crashing down: no boot device. Clicking drive. Mild panic.
It turns out that things weren't quite as bad as I thought, though.
First, I use Google Docs, so all my recent documents were safe. I use Gmail, so I had no local copies of email to lose. I use Xmarks to sync my Firefox bookmarks, so I didn't lose those. I keep my archive of old documents and project files on a separate internal drive, and I keep my current live web work on a third drive. I back up my iTunes library every couple months, and had just done so 2 weeks ago. Finally, I had just been working at a client's office that morning, and so most of my Desktop files were on a jump drive.
So what did I lose? Whatever was fresh on my Desktop and My Documents folder: a $2 iTunes purchase, a few relatively unimportant documents, and a logo I was working on for a local club. Really, the loss was very minimal due to leaving most of my work in "the cloud" of Google and Xmarks, keeping my work files on separate hard drives, and backing up my most important data regularly. However, minimal still isn't zero. How can I keep myself from having any loss from a system crash?
I downloaded Dropbox a while back but didn't get into using it for whatever reason. Well, that's changing now. Dropbox automatically syncs whatever files you drop into it (up to 2GB on the free version) with its servers, which are then synced to any other computers you have it installed on. It's really slick, and it's my new My Documents folder from here on in.
I was being pretty cautious before, but you can always take more steps to protect yourself for when Lady Platter Crash rears her ugly head. Hopefully the next time we meet, I'll be able to just smile and wave as I carry on.
My system locked up such that it took 5 minutes to bring up the Task Manager. There was an error restarting, and Windows XP froze on the loading screen. Rebooted again, and it all came crashing down: no boot device. Clicking drive. Mild panic.
It turns out that things weren't quite as bad as I thought, though.
First, I use Google Docs, so all my recent documents were safe. I use Gmail, so I had no local copies of email to lose. I use Xmarks to sync my Firefox bookmarks, so I didn't lose those. I keep my archive of old documents and project files on a separate internal drive, and I keep my current live web work on a third drive. I back up my iTunes library every couple months, and had just done so 2 weeks ago. Finally, I had just been working at a client's office that morning, and so most of my Desktop files were on a jump drive.
So what did I lose? Whatever was fresh on my Desktop and My Documents folder: a $2 iTunes purchase, a few relatively unimportant documents, and a logo I was working on for a local club. Really, the loss was very minimal due to leaving most of my work in "the cloud" of Google and Xmarks, keeping my work files on separate hard drives, and backing up my most important data regularly. However, minimal still isn't zero. How can I keep myself from having any loss from a system crash?
I downloaded Dropbox a while back but didn't get into using it for whatever reason. Well, that's changing now. Dropbox automatically syncs whatever files you drop into it (up to 2GB on the free version) with its servers, which are then synced to any other computers you have it installed on. It's really slick, and it's my new My Documents folder from here on in.
I was being pretty cautious before, but you can always take more steps to protect yourself for when Lady Platter Crash rears her ugly head. Hopefully the next time we meet, I'll be able to just smile and wave as I carry on.
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