Backup, Backup, Backup

 Backing up our data is something that most of us don’t put much thought to until after our computer has had a hiccup or we’ve deleted something in error. We take our computers for granted using them day in day out without realising how important the data is that we  store on it. 

 The simplest form of backup is to have an external hard drive and just copy across all your important files every so often, I wouldn’t leave it any longer than a month between backups though. Backing up in this way isn’t efficient but its better than nothing, there is still a danger you could miss files when copying across to the hard drive.

 The next option is to buy some backup software, the advantage with this is you can tell the software how often you want to backup and after the first backup you can get it to just backup new files or updated ones. if you’ve got a Mac then your already one step ahead of most Windows users as with upto date OSX software you’ve already got backup software built in called Time Machine. I would recommend everyone to have at least this level of backup.

 Having an external hard drive with your backup is very sensible, but what happens if someone breaks into your house and steals your computer and the external hard drive or if you house goes up in flames? Well you’ll loose everything, this is where having an off site copy of your data makes sense. There are several options for this, you can have a hard drive you keep somewhere else that you bring back to your computer every so often to backup and if your going to do this then you should do it about once a month. Another option is cloud based back-up, the real advantage of this is depending on how good the solution is you can potentially access your data anywhere on any computer. There are a couple of disadvantages with cloud based software, firstly most companies will only let you backup whats on your main hard drive and secondly your initial backup can take some time depending on how much you have to backup.

 A lot of ISP’s are starting to provide cloud based backup at very reasonable rates, you do need to check a couple of things before diving in head long to using them or any other cloud backup service. Firstly do they have a limit on how much you can backup with them. Next where do their servers sit, do they have a secure facility and what country. The what country part is important because if it’s outside the jurisdiction of your local data protection laws then their is a good chance your data will not be protected to the same level. In my case the company I use have their servers based in the European Union so I’m covered by the European Data Protection Act. You also need to check how easy it is to get all your data deleted if you ever move away from the provider and what guarantees they provide to ensure this is done. Finally you need to check what their process for backing up is, as you never know what could happen.

Presently I have the below four levels of back up:-

• Site Based Hard Drive - Time Machine 500Gb

• Cloud Based - Mobile Me 20Gb 

• Cloud Based - V Stuff Unlimited (500Gb)

• Portable - iPhone 8Gb

I don’t use all four levels for all my data as not all of them are suitable, the things I do backup across all four are E-mail, Contacts and Calendar. I only backup everything over two levels and thats site based and cloud based via V Stuff, this comes down to the fact I have 400GB of data stored on my main hard drive and the other two levels just don’t have the space.

The key thing is to have your data backed up somewhere, if it isn’t backed up then its as good as lost so remember backup, backup, backup.

Disclosure - I presently work for Virgin Media Business which is part of Virgin Media who provide the online backup and storage product V-Stuff.

Baaaaa..........

I find it amusing that the response I get from some people when they hear I’ve got an iPhone is to make the noise of a sheep. Their logic is that everyone who has an Apple product only does because they followed the rest of the flock.

 I’ve been an Apple user since 2004, I was brought round to the Mac way of thinking after having to replace the motherboard on my Windows PC twice in 18 months. I’d decided the pain versus the pleasure of owning a Windows PC just wasn’t worth it anymore. I do a lot of photography and thats what I mainly use my computers for, the last thing I want is for it to crash halfway through importing or editing shots and thats what I was getting on a regular basis with my Windows machine. I remember discussing my how painful I found the Window PC experience to my then girlfriends father, he just turned round and said get a Mac. He owned a children's book publishing company and had always used Macs for the creative side as he found them more dependable. 

 My first Mac was a Mac Mini, it was a cheap way into owning a Mac as I could use my existing monitor and keyboard. Macs have never been cheap computers, but I have long believed in the phrase you pay for what you get. I remember paying about £500 for it and my first reaction once I got it home and set-up was it just works. The nice thing was also finding that the software that came with it covered of most of my needs from writing, spreadsheets, music and even photography to a degree. In the end I only had to buy one piece of software and that was for digital photo processing, iPhoto was ok for holiday snaps but not serious photography.

 Mac Mini - now used as home entertainment server (2010)

The interesting thing over the last 6 years has been watching people with no IT knowledge switch to Macs and seeing the genuine excitement in their faces when they start talking about their new computers and the biggest thing that always sticks out to me is when they say it just works. What Apple has done well is to make their environment into a place people don’t feel intimidated by the technology in front of them. Some call this the dumbing down of computers, I call it the empowering of the user. Apple have realised not everyone wants to delve under the hood, so they’ve made it so you don’t have to. If your the sort of person who likes tinkering then Apple has given you the ability to do so (on the computer side), the best of both worlds.  

Unfortunately over the last couple of years with the appearance of the iPod, iPhone and now the iPad Apple products are being seen as fashion items. This is a line that has been pushed mainly by die hard PC (windows) users who appear to be personally threatened by the popularity of Apple products. This isn’t a new trend, we've had it with Canon and Nikon, Ford and Vauxhall, Nike and Adidas for some strange reason when people buy into a product they feel they have to defend their decision to the death. The fact is it’s their decision and not someone else's, they took it because of the unique circumstances in their lives and you can guarantee no one else will have the exact same circumstances in theirs. Oh don’t get me wrong there are people out there who do buy based upon what they think is fashionable but the vast majority don’t, if you think they do then maybe you need to look at yourself and check you haven’t fallen into the flock off knocking something for the sake of knocking it.

 Oh and on the iPad front yes I’m planing to get one at some point as it fills a need in my own business plan and if you thing that makes me a sheep well Baaaaaaa......