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#103508 - 07/13/08 12:56 PM
Online backups
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mtangel
New Member
Registered: 05/13/08
Posts: 9
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I posted this on another MT board but was hoping that some of the experts here could also weigh in on this.
I've been researching my options as to the most cost and time efficient way to back up the files on my already burgeoning and ever expanding hard drive. Through my study I've stumbled across the dynamic of online backups.
Have any of you here had any experience with this? My most pressing concern lies in knowing whether or not they are actually secure.
Any thoughts on this would be most appreciated.
_________________________
The current state of MT pay in four words or less, you ask?... Will type for food.
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#103514 - 07/13/08 01:57 PM
Re: Online backups
[Re: mtangel]
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14tonks
Member
Registered: 10/25/01
Posts: 6974
Loc: Only 3rd world country in US
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Are they actually secure? As with anything else online, I wouldn't consider it truly secure unless I had encrypted it before uploading and the site I'd uploaded it to did not have the key to decrypt it.
Beyond that, I would keep a secondary backup of anything I had used a backup site online for. Those sites come and go. Generally there will be little or notice to the subscribers before an online company of any kind goes belly up--one fine day they just aren't there any more, nor is any data you were storing on their servers.
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#103519 - 07/13/08 03:31 PM
Re: Online backups
[Re: 14tonks]
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mtangel
New Member
Registered: 05/13/08
Posts: 9
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Thanks, tonks. I was hoping that you would weigh in on this one.
_________________________
The current state of MT pay in four words or less, you ask?... Will type for food.
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#103520 - 07/13/08 03:32 PM
Re: Online backups
[Re: mtangel]
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MTmagic
New Member
Registered: 05/15/07
Posts: 19
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Instead of an unknown, like an online backup service you do not know and where it might be difficult or time consuming to recover files, why not back up to DVDs? (Hopefully, your computer will burn DVDs.) DVDs are pretty inexpensive if you buy them at your warehouse store or on sale at, say, OfficeMax.
Or, you could purchase an external hard drive and back your files up to that.
It's best to keep your backups offsite (with a family member or a friend). You can encrypt your backups if necessary to be HIPAA compliant.
I always keep a backup in case of a hard disk crash, theft, computer virus, or lightning stike. So far, I've only had the lightning strike, and backups were very nice to have.
Edited by MTmagic (07/13/08 03:35 PM)
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#103522 - 07/13/08 03:49 PM
Re: Online backups
[Re: MTmagic]
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haggis
Member
Registered: 04/29/04
Posts: 2859
Loc: Left Coast, FL
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DVDs? LOL. . . lemme figure how many I'll need to back up almost a terabyte of data. . .
An external firewire drive is the way to go. You can set it up to mirror everything on your main drive so there's no downtime in a catastrophic crash--no reinstalling, no passwords or serial numbers to remember--you just replace the fried drive, boot from the external, and copy it all over fresh. Firewire is important because USB will take so much longer. I recently discovered that HDs have come way down in price now that everyone's saving movies to their computers, and got a 500GB firewire drive with case for about $120. I think I paid that much a couple years ago for a 200GB drive alone.
I suspect if you go to Productivity Talk, there's a ton of information about all things technical to answer specifics.
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#103530 - 07/13/08 05:25 PM
Re: Online backups
[Re: haggis]
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14tonks
Member
Registered: 10/25/01
Posts: 6974
Loc: Only 3rd world country in US
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Actually, Haggis, USB2 and Firewire speeds are comparable these days,and a fair number of PCs don't have a Firewire connection. I agree that an external hard drive is the fastest recovery option. However, if you want a sequence of backups in case something was wrong with your latest one, it still pays to back up at least your operating system and critical data on rewritable media, if not the rest of your terabyte of music and video entertainment.
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#103534 - 07/13/08 06:34 PM
Re: Online backups
[Re: 14tonks]
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haggis
Member
Registered: 04/29/04
Posts: 2859
Loc: Left Coast, FL
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Hm. Well, you know I'm blissfully ignorant of the peecee side. That's why I linked to PT.
I'll spare the commercial for Time Machine because it isn't going to be relevant to most MTs, but I have to say that as a backup drive, speed probably isn't of the utmost importance (or I would've invested in a nice serial ATA drive to install in the computer itself). Even USB is going to be effortless AND more cost effective, compared to burning crap to DVDs every so often.
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#103602 - 07/14/08 10:11 PM
Re: Online backups
[Re: haggis]
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MTmagic
New Member
Registered: 05/15/07
Posts: 19
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DVDs? LOL. . . lemme figure how many I'll need to back up almost a terabyte of data. . .
I can back up all of my MT files on a single DVD with room to spare. I hope you don't have a terrabyte of transcription files.
Another alternative for those backing just MT files is a flash drive ... pretty cheap and easy if you have 1GB or less to store ... but not a good idea for a terabyte of data.
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#103623 - 07/15/08 07:56 AM
Re: Online backups
[Re: MTmagic]
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haggis
Member
Registered: 04/29/04
Posts: 2859
Loc: Left Coast, FL
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I hope you don't have a terrabyte of transcription files.
Of course not. I don't even use my own computer for work. Regardless, I can't imagine not backing up the whole works to prevent catastrophic downtime should the main HD go kerplooey, and that would go double for something I earn my living with.
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#103881 - 07/16/08 11:56 PM
Re: Online backups
[Re: haggis]
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mtangel
New Member
Registered: 05/13/08
Posts: 9
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Thanks again, everyone. I've decided to use portable media (CD's) to back up my word processing and photo files (I actually want to remove them completely from the hard drive to free up space) and an external hard drive for my system backup.
I appreciate your input.
_________________________
The current state of MT pay in four words or less, you ask?... Will type for food.
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