Behind the blog post!
I hate to rant on my family but sometimes they can be hardest people to deal with. My Sister (I’ve got a lot of ’em) brought me this Acer Aspire One [Amazon Affiliate] laptop and asked me to get her data off it. I really don’t have a problem with the laptop myself but what happened was something only another Geek would cringe. The screen was cracked and the laptop wouldn’t boot. The basic signs of a the laptop being dropped or smashed along the lines. Anyways, she asked me to get her I-Tunes stuff off your computer. That part isn’t really a problem because you can pretty much find the technical manuals for free. So that problem was solved for me because I never taken apart a small laptop like that. However, upon inspection of the cables I would need to use the hard drive. I found I had a really old version of the IDE and Atapi USB connector and didn’t have a SATA USB Cable. I bought one off Amazon which was Cables To Go 30504 USB 2.0 to IDE or Serial ATA Drive Adapter (Black) [Amazon Affiliate]. It Plugged in and started right up the Hard drive. I must say it was the simplist plug and copy of files, that I’ve done in a long while.
Data Backup!
I really don’t buy from Itunes because of the fact I only get one file copy and if that is lost or stolen, then I have lost my money. I prefer Amazon Video [Amazon Affiliate], because I can have 2 downloads and still stream it all I want. I wanted to at least talk about some ways to backup again, I’m sure you’ve heard me talk about backing up once. I hate for anyone to loose their data because they didn’t want to backup. So I’m going to give you some help:
- Decide what type of backup! This is the first step I take to figure out what type of backup I want.
- Crashplan Plus [Affiliate link] is what I recommend. You can backup all your household for just 6 dollars a month. Works on All Major Operating Systems Linux/Mac/Windows, so no worries there.
- Keep alert for Warning signs of a Hard Drive going bad. This is also why you need to keep your data backed up.
- Free backups are also better than nothing. I don’t recommend as much because you get what you pay for, but it still might help you if their was a problem.
- Don’t forget about Backing up your Drivers for those important hardware add-on. I’ve seen it before, people have to go re-download them once they re-install the Operating system. This will help prevent it.
- If you want to keep your OEM Operating System, you might want to Backup your Hidden Partition on the Drive.
In the End, it is what you want!
Nothing is set in stone, so you can always decide to do it your own way but you must remember to do it often and you must remember to have two or three ways to back up your software in case something terrible happens. If you don’t you just might regret it, and you know how important those pictures of your kids are.
Paul Sylvester
I would also suggest using a Microsoft Home Server solution for backing up all home based systems.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/windows-home-server