Free Computer Consultant Tip-Of-The-Week for September 26,
2008
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What's In YOUR Backup?
Two things happened this make that prompt me to ask the
question
"What's in Your Backup?"
First, one of my clients was burglarized. Fortunately not
much was
taken, but they did make a mess and totally disrupt a few days
of
work.
But this company falls under HIPAA and has peoples
personal
information on their computers. What if that's what they had
been
after?
This client had good backups and had tapes both locked up on
site
and some off site. Good move. And for good measure the
backups
are encrypted. But what if they had hauled off the entire
server?
We could recover, yes; but that data would be at risk.
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But what about your home computer?
==================================
I awoke last Sunday to a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) on my
PC.
Not what I needed. I blogged about the recovery, but this
tip is
about the backup.
Fortunately only Windows was scrambled and most of my data
is on
the network drive. XSitePro, which I use for my website,
won't
tolerate a network drive (incomprehensible in this day and age
of
computing).
But think about what it takes to really get you back where
you were:
- Email & contacts
- Software that you have downloaded only and the license key
came
via email
- Dozens of tweaks to software applications or Windows
- Pictures
- Videos
- MP3's you paid for or picked up however
- Browser bookmarks and saved passwords
- Email configuration settings
All gone in a flash.
Check out my support forum (http://www.freecomputerconsultant.com/forum/)
and see how many people are trying to get
data back with no backup of any kind.
Fortunately, I had:
- Acronis True Image drive backup
- MozBackup for full Firefox and Thunderbird configuration
& data
- Data backed up or stored on other media
- System State backup
- Restore Points
- A detailed list of every program install and significant
tweak
(it's even more detailed now)
The things on this list that aren't free are reasonable.
In fact, I came across a 20% OFF coupon for Acronis True
Image
that expires September 30th.
Save 20% on Acronis True Image 11 with coupon code ATIH20!
Expires 9/30/08
http://www.kqzyfj.com/email-2217220-10576651?sid=Newsletter
If that link gives you trouble, try this one:
http://www.tkqlhce.com/email-2217220-10394273?sid=Newsletter
But use the coupon code ATIH20
And you can get all kinds of USB hard drives, thumb drives,
SD disks, etc
at Buy.com and get free shipping on most of it:
http://www.freecomputerconsultant.com/go/buy/
Don't take your computer system lightly. I hear all the time
from people
who say they don't backup because there isn't really anything
on it, then
they want me to come up with a miracle way to retrieve
something from a
dead drive or help them get back up and running once the
inevitable crash
does come.
Be Prepared!
Until next time...
-----------
You can keep up with articles I write and videos I create,
for the most part, at:
http://www.AssociatedContent.com/freecomputerconsultant
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When was the last time you backed up YOUR PC?
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The Free Computer Consultant
http://www.FreeComputerConsultant.com
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