Back up now!

The recent floods in Brisbane highlighted to me how we always need to be prepared for low probability-high impact events. So I went out and bought a second hard drive for backup. I realised that having a laptop and backup in the same location is not sufficient. Fires, floods, and theft do happen. So don't just back up now. Get a second one in a different location. Furthermore, the earlier you are in your career the more important this is. Losing your thesis or all your data is the worst thing that can happen.

Comments

  1. StephanJanuary 29, 2011 at 8:06 PM

    Another good option for essential documents is the service Dropbox. It automatically synchronizes your files across whichever computers you have it installed on and keeps a backup (including the last 30 days of changes) in the cloud and available online. It's even better than a hard drive in some sense because it's effectively always plugged in if you're online.

    The free service only includes 2GB of space, but that's enough for my needs, especially since there are a few ways to get extra space free. Speaking of which, if you sign up you should use my referral link so we both get a bonus: http://db.tt/PZNNkBG

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 29, 2011 at 11:00 PM

    Stephan has suggested a very good option. I'm also a dropbox user and it is, indeed, easy and good to use.

    Other services as Mozy also offer free online backup but the data is directly saved to their servers instead of having it synchronized among cpus. Take a look!

    Cheers

    ReplyDelete

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