As Halloween nears, it’s a good time to remember that Digital Death is lurking over your hard drive. Every time you save a Word document or copy photos from “My camera” to “My hard drive,” Digital Death inches a bit closer. With so many moving parts, the hard drive is born to fail. So, to cheat Death, start a backup plan now to create a separate archive of the precious things you store on your computer.
Why? Because it’s not just a bunch of files you’re backing up, it’s the stuff of your life: your irreplaceable pictures of the kids, the music that makes you howl and dance. Financial records. Projects. Maybe even work-related files that help you earn a paycheck. You don’t want Digital Death coming anywhere near, whispering “Trick or treat!”
Because you’re so attached to the stuff on your computer, there’s a big market of products and software to help you save it. Here, we’re going for simplicity: The easier the chore, the more likely you will do it regularly. That said, your responsibility doesn’t end once you buy or download the latest lifesaving gizmo. You have to use it properly.
Before you get going, get organized. It is so much simpler to establish a good routine if you pick one place to put the stuff you want preserved in every backup. If you always keep your old tax returns and recipe files and photos of the kids, for example, in your Documents and Settings folder on your Windows computer, nothing will be left out and potentially lost because it lives in a folder you created but forgot about. Make a habit of putting everything you have to save in one place.
HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU BACK UP?
If you’re the creative type who makes and edits video or is working on the Great American Novel, you’ll want to back up nightly. If your computer doubles as your accountant — any Quicken users in the house? — you also want to back up your money management or checkbook files each night. Otherwise, weekly backups will suffice, especially if your software can handle incremental backups — only files that have been changed will be copied.
WHAT SOFTWARE TO USE?
For starters, your Windows computer already has built-in software for the job. Backup in Windows XP and the Backup and Restore Center in Vista are not as sleek as some software and don’t have as many options, but there’s nothing to buy or download. Click Start, then All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Backup, and answer a few simple questions, primarily about what folder(s) you want to archive.
If you want more features, there are programs out there in the free-to-$30 range to get the job done (Try 2BrightSparks’ SyncBack Freeware V3.2.14 at www.2brightsparks.com/downloads.html or Cobian Backup at www.cobian. se (click on “Software”), which saves your data on your current hard drive until you buy a CD or DVD burner for your computer). More-expensive programs generally offer extra features you might like to have, so look around.
WHAT WILL YOU SAVE YOUR MEMORIES ON?
CD or DVD
If your computer has a CD or DVD burner, this option is a great way to archive and save precious files, but it requires discipline.
You have to select the files to copy, copy them onto a disk, then file the disk away. Then you have to remember to update your archive every time you write a new chapter for your novel or add to your photo collection.
You can store up to 650 megabytes on a CD or 4 gigabytes on a single-layer DVD. Buy only name brand discs; they may cost a little more but they are manufactured to last up to 25 years.
Looking ahead, DVD technology is changing to high-definition formats, but rest assured that computers with next-generation Blu-ray and HD-DVD players will be able to read the DVDs we are using now.
USB flash drive
With no moving parts, these size-of-a-stick-of gum devices are durable — but easy to lose if you’re not careful.
Currently maxing out around 4 gigabytes, they hold nearly as much as a DVD but cost more: For the price of a $40 4gb USB drive, you could buy a giant stack of DVDs, each with 4gb of room.
Also, here’s something tricky: Know your backup drive’s name. The first time you use the USB flash drive, your computer might label it Drive E (You can find this by double- clicking the My Computer icon on your desktop). That’s fine, but don’t forget your backup software is always going to assume it is supposed to work with Drive E. That means when it’s time for your next backup, be sure nothing else is connected to the computer and labeled Drive E. For instance, if you’re ready to back up and your MP3 player happens to be connected to your computer, the MP3 player might be dubbed Drive E, and the USB stick you’re about to plug in will be called Drive F. That will flummox your backup software, which will vainly search Drive E — your MP3 player — for previously backed-up files. Simply swapping the devices will set you straight.
External hard drive This destination offers plenty of space: You can buy a 500 gigabyte drive for less than $150. That’s enought to hold 125,000 copies of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.” While external hard drives come with software to help you back up your computer, lots of drives these days come with a button that when pressed, backs up your computer’s whole hard drive — no software to open or fuss with. Quite simple to use, but remember: An external unit is still a hard drive, and hard drives are born to die.
AFTER YOUR BACKUP
Once you’ve stored your stuff, lock it in a safe-deposit box, schlep it to your mother-in-law’s, just get it out of the house. If your abode is wrecked by flood or fire, at least you have undamaged archives safely off site. Speaking of which, there’s off-site storage, and there’s really off-site storage, as in …
Online storage:
A ton of options are available, but MozyHome Free (mozy.com) provides 2 gigabytes of backup, and the downloadable software is simple to use. Best of all, after your first backup, Mozy backs up only files that have changed since your last backup. That saves time waiting for backups to complete, and it saves space. Your content is heavily encrypted, so if a hacker got hold of your online data, he’d have a hard time making any sense of it. You need a reliable broadband Internet connection; otherwise the process seems to take forever. Set up Mozy to run at 3 a.m. or some such time, when Internet traffic is lower and there’s a smaller chance your data transfer will be interrupted
HOW DO I…?
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“A local grocery store has a 10 mp Traveler brand camera for $200. It sounds like a lot of money, especially for an off-brand that is being sold at a grocery store. However, is it a good return on investment? Would a Sony or Canon with the same features cost twice as much?”
Look for our answer and a comparison of cameras on a future Digital Page.
— Eric Gwinn
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