How many back up their computer on a timely basis?

[seedcorn]

I try to as I've lost way too many important things as I forget to back up and boom, get a virus, hardware problem or something else. A $5 thumb drive is a cheap investment.

How about downloading updates, and other computer operations? Just curious.

 

[remuda1]

I have an additional hard drive externally and have my computer set to backup to it automatically twice a week. I used to put off computer and software/program updates but finally came to the conclusion that it's much less annoying to just do them as they come up.

If I had to remember to manually backup my system, it would never get done

 

[Fierlin1182]

What does "backing up" mean? It sounds like I could do with one of those. Our computer is older than I am, and it frequently likes to crash, saying files are "completely unreadable" and will be deleted.

I have about seven copies of each of my film scripts though.

I'm still holding on to the ridiculous idea that one day I might be able to sell and make some money out of them. Dreeeeam on.

No. 5 did make me cry though. It was adorable.

 

[redhen]

I dont know how to do it

... and i've lost a LOT of stuff over the years because of dead computers...

 

[ivan3]

Everything being worked on is saved off-site, immediately. Otherwise, backed up, locally, daily. Primary Potential time saver (XP, mind you) is keeping another identically configured box prepped (just switch out drives - win's hardware abstraction layer doesn't choke). Have an additional three Supermicro P4SPA+ motherboards, with processors, in waiting (bought cheap after end of product cycle) if both of these burn up. I just check the stored boards, every 6 months, to see if any capacitors are leaking and need replaced. Will be running XP on P43.2's until hades freezes over (most recent XP install? 2004).

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:

Sorry to laugh, but you sound just like me!

I have NO IDEA what the heck I'm suppose to do with a computer, except type on it.

 

[arabianequine]

I have been gone for a couple months....a lot has happened but one thing that did was I lost my hard drive on my laptop.....so I lost a ton of pictures and documents. All my horses baby pics and my saints or most of them anyways. I am not very happy about it.

I don't do the back up through Norton my antivirus protection because it uses to much of my upload/download time for my limit on my internet connection.

I am however going to start buying new memory cards when they get full and saving stuff to a cd for back up.

 

[OldGuy43]

Just a word of warning about using backups. Back when I was doing tech support had a fellow call complaining that he "had the same problem as before." Checked the call log and discovered that we had just walked him through reinstalling Windows '98, (about a two hour process) a few hours previously due to a virus. I asked what he had done since the reinstall. His answer? "I had a complete backup and I used it." Of course the problem with that was that his backup had included the virus that had caused the problem in the first place.

My point? Be sure your backup is of a healthy computer. Better yet, just backup the files you can't replace. You can always reinstall your operating system from the original disks.

Yet another warning; There are viruses that will survive both a format and repartition. There are ways to eliminate them, but it's difficult, particularly if your computer is already infected.

OldGuy43's Computer Safety Tips:

1. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Install a good anti-virus program and set it to run everyday automatically. A good firewall is also a must.
2. If you lay down with dogs don't be surprised if you wake up with fleas. Be very selective as to what sites you visit. This is particularly important for links you receive in unsolicited emails.
3. Do not let your computer automatically download and install or update anything without your approval. I include Windows updates in this one. Any site, including Microsoft can and has been 'hacked'.
4. Avoid like the plague any of the so-called hacker sites. They are your best source for viruses.
5. If a friend gives you a program to try, run your virus scanner on it both before and after installing it.
6. Keep a close eye on your startup files. If you see something you don't recognize, remove it.
7. If your computer starts to run slowly don't assume it's a virus. Run a good registry cleaner and defragment the hard drive.

If enough of you good folks show an interest I'll be happy to expand on this, or just PM me with specific questions and concerns.

 

[theoldchick]

Old Guy you answered my question about potentially infecting a clean computer if downloading backup files from a potentially infected computer. Like you suggested I simply backup the documents I want to keep.

Thanks for the awesome info!

 

[welasharon]

As soon as I take pictures they are loaded onto my secondary hard drive (internal). Then I put a copy of all the raw files onto an external. After I convert them to jpegs and process them, the worked jpegs are loaded with the raws on the external. A copy of the pics, both raw and jpeg, are loaded onto a portable hard drive and taken to another external (off site) and copied there. Every few weeks they are copied to yet another external at another location....I guess you can tell I am a photographer. I nearly faint when someone goes to show me their picture and they have ALL their pics on their camera still! Almost as bad as only having the one copy on the computer! Hard drives DO fail. Eventually YOUR hard drive will fail. External drives are inexpensive and can be bought at any office supply place or Walmart. It's a lot cheaper than trying to have precious pictures recovered. Do it today people!!!!LOL