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Backups
Backup, backup, backups!
If there's one thing I've learned
in 20 years and 12,000 data recoveries, it's that everybody
doesn't back up their data sometimes. Computers may be dumb,
but they know when you don't have your data backed up —
because that's when they break. Don't let your computer
fool you — back up new data daily.
It's important that you keep alternating
backups, and a spare. This means to have one disk (or tape,
or thumb drive) labeled "EVEN" (for even-numbered days,
one labeled "ODD" and one spare. Eventually, something will
go wrong with a backup. For example, if an error occurs
on an "EVEN" day, and you put in your "ODD" backup, you
may ruin both. Instead, put in the spare. If there is a
problem, you've saved your extra backup (from the day before
yesterday) and have not wasted all your hard work. If there
is no problem, and it was only a temporary glitch, then
put your spare back on the shelf, reformat the "EVEN", and
carry on with your backup.
What's the best thing
to make a backup on?
There are a lot of ways to back
up your data. Most new computers come with CD-R,
or CD-RW drives. Most PCs still come with floppy disk drives
(and you can get one for a Mac). There are Zip drives, tape
drives, USB "thumb" drives, and more. My current favorites
are External FireWire or USB 2 drives, and CD-R for full
backup,s and USB thumb drives for smaller amounts of data.
There are quite a few external drives on the market today
and if you have a computer that's less than three years
old, you probably have the ports for hooking these up. They
usually come with backup software as well. As of this writing,
the drives are mostly under $200. Once installed, it's a
good idea to leave these drives off except when backing
up. That way, a power spike or other environmental event
that may destroy data on your hard disk will be unlikely
to damage the external hard disk.
For CD-RW
drives, I recommend using CD-R media only, as it's
too easy to overwrite a previous backup using a CD-RW disk.
This is a good form of backup for large amounts of data
(they hold more than 650 MB), and each disk is inexpensive.
But it leaves you with a lot of plastic disks sitting around.
That's why I typically use them only for large backups.
Heat, bending, and scratching are the enemies of CD disks.
Incidentally, while it's hard to do CD-ROM recovery, it
is possible to recover CDs that are damaged.
Zip
drives come in sizes from 100 MB to 750 MB and cost
from $60 to $200, while additional disks cost around $10
each. These are sensitive to dust, shock, too much heat,
and big magnets. Remember to alternate backups with Zip
disks as a damaged Zip drive can damage a Zip disk. Zip
disk recovery is possible, but tends to be less successful
than recovering other media.
Floppy
diskettes don't hold very much (1.4 MB), but cost
a few cents, and are easy to carry around. Almost all PCs
have them, and quite a few Macs do. Floppies are sensitive
to heat, magnetic fields, dust, bending and other rough
handling.
Tape
drives should only be used for very large amounts
of data. They are relatively expensive and slow. They're
great on large networks for after-hours backups, but they're
easily damaged. Tape recovery is difficult and expensive.
I am an unabashed fan of USB thumb
drives! These are actually memory sticks with a USB plug
on the end that act like portable hard disks. They are sturdy
- I accidentally let one go through the wash in my shirt
pocket. After it dried out, it still had my data on it (don't
try this at home)! While we've been successful performing
USB data recovery, in this case, it wasn't even necessary!
They come in sizes from 64 MB to 1 GB. They can be shared
and used on PCs and Macs without reformatting. You can buy
one at a local computer or electronics store for $35-$150.
Why not visit our hardware
store?
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