Nerd/Boffin Technical corner. Page 63

Now look twice as ridiculous with it to your ear.

Have you seen my face? It really doesn't make any difference.

It probably would to a really small person though...

Dan

I posted the following in a separate thread yesterday but have now realised it should be here ....

Somebody I know had a fire in her house recently, bad enough that she's having to stay in a hotel. Her computer melted! Now I thought my stuff was safe because I have an external hard disc which I back up regularly, but in the event of a fire, obviously this would be useless.

I've heard that you can get storage on the internet. Can anybody give advice (probably Bill)? Also, is it expensive?

You could copy everything you have done and burn it onto a disc and then hide the disk in your friends house, oh wait.

Quote: Teddy Paddalack @ September 27 2012, 12:19 PM BST

You could copy everything you have done and burn it

View original

A bit harsh.

Storing stuff on Internet service facilities is usually know as storing "In The Cloud" and is all the rage as far as Microsoft are concerned.

I've not been keen on saving stuff 'in-the-cloud' myself, it's useful if if you have various devices and want to easily transfer files between them, but in my opinion it's not very suitable for backup storage of critical files. Not because the technology used by these companies is likely to fail, they make enough secure backup arrangements of their own, but because the whole company might fail financially and vanish overnight. It has happened.

Also hackers might corrupt the Cloud data.
see: http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/consumer-security/apple-cloud-burst-how-hacker-wiped-mats-life-20120806-23orv.html

There's no absolutely secure backup method, you just have to use several methods and hope one survives any disaster.

One method that I use is to record an archive each day onto a DVD, it's all files that changed that day. When the DVD is full I put a new blank one in and put the full one into a media fire-safe.

One snag with this idea is that I'm not sure the media firesafe works for recordable DVDs, since the safe was designed for magnetic media (floppy disks & cassette tapes).

Making two DVD copies from time to time of crucial files and asking friends/family to hold them and one copy yourself is quite a good technique, you can encrypt them if you don't quite want them to read them, but make sure that you don't forget the encryption password and don't rely on it being written on your computer or on a bit of paper in your house.

Thanks Bill. I had the misapprehension that storing stuff in cyberspace was the way forward but from what you say, no. In that case I'll stick with my original plan of putting everything on cds, probably get my older son to keep them. I'm not worried about secrecy - it's all my scripts and plenty of them are already out in public.

Ooh, I'd like a fire-proof safe.

Email all your important documents to yourself. Set up a free account that's only for those documents if it'll annoy you looking at them.

Quote: AJGO @ September 27 2012, 5:09 PM BST

Email all your important documents to yourself. Set up a free account that's only for those documents if it'll annoy you looking at them.

View original

I'd thought of the email thing but I imagine the total amount of files would be too big, which would mean a lot of email accounts, which gets ridiculous.

Glad to hear you're not a massive fan of the cloud either, Bill.

As a quick and easy method, though, AJGO's answer is pretty hard to fault. Especially if you set up several accounts purely for backing up on several sites.

You're right Keewik, but it can be manageable with a bit of planning and dedicated accounts.

This looks quite good at the price?

http://www.waeplus.co.uk/product/673954/WESTERN-DIGITAL-WD-Elements-Desktop-Exte

I've got my Galaxy S3 now and rather like it as it's quick and got a great screen. However, the difference between what I could do with my HTC Desire and this isn't that huge. I mean, I haven't been as blown away as I was when I went from my Sony Ericsson W715 to the HTC Desire. I'm just wondering what will herald in the next evolution of phones what with the last big thing being touchscreen and apps.

Quote: zooo @ September 27 2012, 5:02 PM BST

Ooh, I'd like a fire-proof safe.

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http://cpc.farnell.com/safes

Quote: zooo @ September 27 2012, 5:02 PM BST

Ooh, I'd like a fire-proof safe.

View original

I read this as 'fire-proof Sade'.