Comments on: Life Tip of the Day: Catastrophic HDD Failure http://www.maniasarcania.com/2007/07/02/tip-of-the-day-back-up-your-important-stuff/ Hunter pets in the World of Warcraft. Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:11:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Mania http://www.maniasarcania.com/2007/07/02/tip-of-the-day-back-up-your-important-stuff/comment-page-1/#comment-249 Mania Wed, 04 Jul 2007 16:48:55 +0000 http://www.maniasarcania.com/2007/07/02/tip-of-the-day-back-up-your-important-stuff/#comment-249 Ah, good idea. I use GRC's Shields UP security check every so often, but I had forgotten about SpinRite. Thanks! Ah, good idea. I use GRC’s Shields UP security check every so often, but I had forgotten about SpinRite. Thanks!

]]> By: Groucho http://www.maniasarcania.com/2007/07/02/tip-of-the-day-back-up-your-important-stuff/comment-page-1/#comment-246 Groucho Wed, 04 Jul 2007 12:32:07 +0000 http://www.maniasarcania.com/2007/07/02/tip-of-the-day-back-up-your-important-stuff/#comment-246 Try SpinRite 6, from Gibson Research Corporation (www.grc.com). There's a lot of people out there who will swear that it can do miracles in recovering data from HDDs that seem to be hopelessly screwed. Try SpinRite 6, from Gibson Research Corporation (www.grc.com). There’s a lot of people out there who will swear that it can do miracles in recovering data from HDDs that seem to be hopelessly screwed.

]]> By: Branan http://www.maniasarcania.com/2007/07/02/tip-of-the-day-back-up-your-important-stuff/comment-page-1/#comment-240 Branan Mon, 02 Jul 2007 20:59:32 +0000 http://www.maniasarcania.com/2007/07/02/tip-of-the-day-back-up-your-important-stuff/#comment-240 As long as you know the names of the files you need to back up, it's pretty easy to do it manually. My EHD is a Western Digital MyBook Essential Edition (and is 500GB, not 300; I wrote my first post at work, I couldn't see the drive). When I get a new rig this fall or winter, I'll be able to easily port all the data I've saved to the new comp and customize it quickly and easily. Safe and convenient, what more can you ask for? Except maybe Dash for raptors! As long as you know the names of the files you need to back up, it’s pretty easy to do it manually. My EHD is a Western Digital MyBook Essential Edition (and is 500GB, not 300; I wrote my first post at work, I couldn’t see the drive). When I get a new rig this fall or winter, I’ll be able to easily port all the data I’ve saved to the new comp and customize it quickly and easily. Safe and convenient, what more can you ask for? Except maybe Dash for raptors!

]]> By: Mania http://www.maniasarcania.com/2007/07/02/tip-of-the-day-back-up-your-important-stuff/comment-page-1/#comment-236 Mania Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:44:08 +0000 http://www.maniasarcania.com/2007/07/02/tip-of-the-day-back-up-your-important-stuff/#comment-236 Ouch! That's a lot of data lost. In addition to a new hard drive, I also bought a bunch of blank DVDs on Saturday, plus a second hard drive. (We also bought some more RAM, since we were there and all. (Fry's is a dangerous place for us!) But the RAM only fit my husband's slightly older machine -- we thought we both had DDR RAM, but I have DDR2 somehow -- so he ended up with most of the goodies.) I'm going to burn all the old stuff I rescued to the DVDs and start using the second hard drive as my data drive. I was looking at an external drive for backups (and my husband thinks I should RAID the two drives I have now), but I haven't decided exactly what to do there yet. Do you use software to handle your backups, or do you do it by hand? Ouch! That’s a lot of data lost.

In addition to a new hard drive, I also bought a bunch of blank DVDs on Saturday, plus a second hard drive. (We also bought some more RAM, since we were there and all. (Fry’s is a dangerous place for us!) But the RAM only fit my husband’s slightly older machine — we thought we both had DDR RAM, but I have DDR2 somehow — so he ended up with most of the goodies.) I’m going to burn all the old stuff I rescued to the DVDs and start using the second hard drive as my data drive. I was looking at an external drive for backups (and my husband thinks I should RAID the two drives I have now), but I haven’t decided exactly what to do there yet. Do you use software to handle your backups, or do you do it by hand?

]]> By: Branan http://www.maniasarcania.com/2007/07/02/tip-of-the-day-back-up-your-important-stuff/comment-page-1/#comment-235 Branan Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:15:55 +0000 http://www.maniasarcania.com/2007/07/02/tip-of-the-day-back-up-your-important-stuff/#comment-235 Sorry to hear that, Mania! I suffered not one but two monster meltdowns early last year, resulting in the loss of 60GB or more of data. Fortunately, a lot of my oldest stuff was already backed up on CD, but the amount of newer data I lost was staggering. Since then, I have added a 300GB external hard drive to my rig, and I back up everything onto that. I make it a ritual to keep stuff like bookmarks, my personal game settings for different games, desktop schemes, etc. all backed up on the EHD in case of another meltdown. It's reassuring to know that all that stuff is safe in case horror strikes again. For $150 or so, that EHD is the best safety investment I've yet made for my comp. Branan of Steamwheedle Cartel Sorry to hear that, Mania! I suffered not one but two monster meltdowns early last year, resulting in the loss of 60GB or more of data. Fortunately, a lot of my oldest stuff was already backed up on CD, but the amount of newer data I lost was staggering.

Since then, I have added a 300GB external hard drive to my rig, and I back up everything onto that. I make it a ritual to keep stuff like bookmarks, my personal game settings for different games, desktop schemes, etc. all backed up on the EHD in case of another meltdown. It’s reassuring to know that all that stuff is safe in case horror strikes again. For $150 or so, that EHD is the best safety investment I’ve yet made for my comp.

Branan of Steamwheedle Cartel

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