Posted by: Kim_Hamilton on 02/01/2010 10:26 AM
Updated by: Kim_Hamilton on 02/01/2010 11:22 AM
Expires: 01/01/2015 12:00 AM
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"Tech Talk"~With Blair Wiley of Wiley Computers
The other day, I read on Comcast.net an article entitled 10 Things You Shouldn't Buy in 2010. Two of the items had to do with computers. Since computers have crept into so many people's lives to the point of unanticipated dependence (like the horseless carriage did a century ago), I think it's important to hear opinions about these subjects. Item number 4 on the list was don't buy an external hard drive. (My opinion: Mostly true.) I mostly agree with this because people will rely on it where it's unreliable, which is protecting your data. You shouldn't singularly depend on an external hard drive to back up your important and irreplaceable documents, photos, financial ....
.information, address book, email records, music and favorites. It's unreliable as a backup for a number of reasons, which I'll explain below. It is useful and convenient, however, for temporary storage, used like an oversized flash drive, which in turn is used like an oversized floppy disk from the "old days" of "sneaker-net".
Item number 7 was don't buy Windows 7. (My opinion: False)
I don't agree with this one. I think it's okay to buy Windows 7 right now. It's the most "ready" Microsoft operating system yet. More on that next time, to keep this article from being any longer than it is.
This article is about just about backups. It's a long subject because of all the options and opinions and misunderstandings. We need to address all of the options to understand the recommendations. Let's take if from the comment "don't buy an external hard drive."
External hard drives:
Cons:
We'll start with the cons, because they're the most important.
- This is a hard drive, just like the one inside of your computer. Beneath the cases, they look the same. In fact, they are the same, and they crash just the same. Then your backup is gone.
- This is near your computer -- usually in the same room -- and if you have a local event (fire, theft, nearby lightning) that costs you your computer, you could lose your external hard drive as well. Then your backup is gone.
- The free software that comes with them is surprisingly unreliable. Even if you figure out how to set it up, it tends to skip files, or fill the hard drive with backups until it's no longer working without your knowledge, or misdirect the backup onto your internal hard drive, which defeats the purpose. Then your backup was never made correctly in the first place.
- If you decide to go with a manual operation -- to backup your documents manually to your external hard drive -- the problem, you see, is that you are human. You will make a mistake eventually. The easy mistake is just not getting around to it often enough. The really bad mistake is copying your files in the wrong direction, which will write your old files over your new files. Do you really understand the drive letters and file systems well enough? Do you open two Windows Explorer screens and go from left to right each time, or sometimes do you go from right to left, or do you do it by scrolling around on a single screen? Do you check your backup space first before getting the files you want to back up, and then accidentally move your data in the wrong direction? You are human, and you will make a mistake eventually. Then your recent work is lost.
- Do you know where your email records and address book records are stored on your hard drive? These aren't like documents and photos. These are databases, and they're usually hidden in system folders in a very user-UNfriendly way. If your backup software is any good, it will find them for you automatically. But the free software that comes with external hard drives tends not to be very good. Very few end users know how to find these databases manually. This matters if you use programs like Outlook Express, Outlook, Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail, Incredimail, Eudora, Netscape or Thunderbird. This doesn't matter if you use webmail such as Yahoo or Comcast.net.
- Do you know where Quicken or Quickbooks stores your financial records? These are also databases. In the older versions (more than two or three years ago), it was in the program files. In the newer versions, its in the shared files. Do you know where these are? Neither of these are in your good-old documents folder, so you can't just back that up and think you've got everything. As with email and your address book, good backup software will find your financial records automatically for you. Free software might not. Can you find it manually? Do you know which files to backup if you do find it? This is also very user-UNfriendly. Anything to do with a database tends to be.
- Add the following as unreliable for backups for the same reasons, and more, each with additional individual weaknesses: CDs, DVDs, flash drives, floppy disks, zip drives, tapes.
This section was necessarily long in order to point out the dangers.
Pros:
- They're convenient, fast, local and portable. If you want to have a redundant, local copy of your files, external hard drives are a fast and convenient way to do so. If you want to move a very large chunk of data from one computer to another, these are also a good way to do so. But use them for convenience, not for reliability and thoroughness in backups. And remember the human element: you still might overwrite your new records with your old records.
- External hard drives hold more data than a flash drive, and they transfer data at a much faster rate as well. A flash drive has solid state electronics inside (called Flash RAM, hence the name), and they're physically one-dimensional, sometimes called a stick. An external hard drive has a spinning disk inside and is two-dimensional like most iPods or a calculator.
Flash drives are used today like we used to use floppy disks, except that they're larger and faster and more durable. A floppy disk holds about 1.4 MB (megabytes) of data. It takes 711 of them to make a GB (gigabyte). Thus, an 8 GB flash drive (for about $20) holds the same as 5,688 floppy disks. (Remember when Windows 3.1 came on 30 floppy disks and we thought that was a huge stack? This was before CDs.) A 320 GB external hard drive (about $120) holds the equivalent of a quarter million floppy disks (227,520). This is how technology marches forward, all in less than 20 years. (This rapid evolution is also due to the previously-untapped efficiencies of silicon and binary, but that's another story.)
My Recommendation:
I recommend a three-tiered approach to a backup.
1) Mirrored drives (if possible)
2) On-line backup (the most important one)
3) External hard drive (optional)
1) Mirrored drives. Having redundant hard drives inside of your computer will save you the most time, money and stress in the case of a hard drive crash. This is usually only available on desktop computers, but a few laptops have this capability as well. This system is called a" RAID 1". RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Drives) comes in various forms -- about 10 different arrangements -- and the easiest one for an end user is method number 1, hence RAID 1. This will turn a hard drive crash into a minor inconvenient rather than it being a major project. You'll only be down for a couple of hours during repair rather than for a few days from the time of the crash.
CAUTION: There's also a system called a RAID 0 that's commonly available for gamers and designers to use for higher data speeds, but RAID 0 actually decreases reliability in the same way that Charles Lindbergh thought about for his first solo flight across the Atlantic. Mr. Lindbergh chose a single engine airplane (The Spirit of St. Louis) because although a double engine plane would provide a working engine in case one failed, that single remaining engine probably wouldn't get his plane to Europe. Thus, he had twice the likelihood of failure with two engines than he had with one. It's the same with a RAID 0. Data is split in half (called a stripe) and then written to two different hard drives to increase transfer speed. But if either drive fails, all is lost. Thus, failure is twice as likely. RAID 0 data recovery is terribly complex and expensive. Don't make this simple mistake. Order a RAID 1, not a RAID 0. This one little digit makes all the difference.
2) On line backup. If you don't read anything else, read this section. The easiest, safest and most reliable way to backup your data is with an on line backup service. Sign up, download the software, let it find your stuff, then let it do it's job. If the worst happens, you can retrieve your data from them. Security is at least equal to your bank's web site: user name and password. There are higher security systems as well, where you have to identify yourself manually to the company in order to read your retrieved data.
If you have less then 2 GB of data to back up, you can get a free account at www.mozy.com or www.idrive.com. If you have more than 2 GB (most people do, these days), then you can get an unlimited account for $5 per month from www.mozy.com or www.carbonite.com. There are many other backup services and they're all getting better. This industry is maturing, but finding "the best" low cost one is still a moving target. Currently, I put most low cost clients on Mozy. But I don't usually move low cost clients away from other backup companies I used earlier just to put them onto Mozy. It usually isn't worth the time, if their current system is working properly. I see changes coming down the road anyway. Microsoft and Google are each working on something, for example.
One of the important things to look for is a service that provides multiple versions of your backup so that you can go back a few days if necessary to get the last good file. That was one of the weaknesses with Carbonite, initially, but they've recently added this feature (and talk about it as if they've had it all along, rather than calling it "new and improved" because then you'd know they were lacking before and you'd wonder what they're not telling you now). (Complicated, isn't it?)
If you want a super secure, on line backup with great customer service (the only one I know of with any customer service), then try www.gillwaredataservices.com. This is where I direct my small business clients, especially ones with higher security needs like doctors and lawyers and emergency personnel. Cost is about $20/mo for the first computer, with $5/mo for each additional. (Call for a quote.) If downloading a lot of data isn't an option, they can put your data on an external hard drive and ship it to you overnight. They also audit your backup records to make sure the system is working properly, and will send you an email telling you to close some certain program, for example, at night or at lunch, depending on the schedule, so the backup can run. (I also use the same company, Gillware, for crashed hard drive data recovery at www.gillware.com.)
This, above anything else, should help you sleep at night, now that you know the dangers of the alternatives.
3) External hard drives. As detailed above, these are for convenience, not for reliability. If you want one, get one, but not before you've done at least item 2) above, plus item 1) if you can.
Next time. Windows 7. Ready, or not? I say ready, and I'll tell you why next time.
Blair Wiley
Wiley Computer Works
(209) 768-2354"
Wiley Computer Works is here to accommodate people who want to drop off their computers for service in Arnold, Wiley Computer Works now has a drop off location between Giant Burger and Mason's. This location is being staffed by Sid Marsh. If possible, please try to call ahead at 770-5934 to make sure he's in, since he'll sometimes be out on a call. If the sign is out, however, then he is there and you can just drop in. Wiley Computer Works also has coverage in Sonora through Steve Orr. To make arrangements, please call Steve at 601-6475.
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