I’m going full-disclosure here. I live in a back-up free universe. Not that that’s a good thing. It’s a horrible thing. Sure, I have a NAS to which I download all my files now and again. But, in my world, now and again is when I feel like it, when I have time, or when the mood strikes. The mood doesn’t strike me all that often, if I’m honest.
So, here I sit, thinking I’m moderately protected but in actual fact, if my PC or Mac went tango-uniform, I would be in serious trouble. Music, mostly gone. Pictures, mostly gone. Documents, images, projects, school work, mostly gone. I trust my existence upon the warranty of several hard drive manufacturers and that, my friend, is a sad state of affairs. Normally, a story of woe and a bucket of tears would accompany such an epiphany but I think listening to Leo LaPorte’s podcast has given me a nudge in the right direction. With any luck, I’ll be safe and secure in no time. Well, not exactly no time but close enough. My plan? Read on and learn, as I have.
Having a local backup is good. Long ago, in a galaxy far, far, away, one would backup their data on CD or even DVD but file size and the sheer quantity of data has pushed those options off the table. With the prices of hard drives dropping like a stone, a portable hard drive looks to be a quick and advantageous option but, once more, the problem is if your backup option is in the same physical location as the original files, then you really have no backup. Theft, fire, or flood will destroy all the files and one will be left with nothing. Leo LaPorte’s answer? Off-site backup. My plan it to purchase the new, rave reviewed HP Media Server. I certainly could create a server from scrap parts and a copy of Windows Server 2003, but HP has put together a stunning package of software and hardware that has really created quite the buzz. So, my server will automatically pull the designated files from three computers, including two PC’s and one Mac. That represents step one in the backup process; everything moderately safe on a local file server. From there all the data is pushed from the server to a cloud storage client, automatically. After doing some research, it appears either Carbonite or Mozy are the best options. Potential disaster should be averted.