Backing up your data

[Scruffydog777]

I started to put this in chat, but decided to post the full story here.

I think it's Edsel that I owe a huge debt of thanks. Several months ago he mentioned how people should back up their computer info. So I went out and bought a 2 TB drive and have all my stuff backed up on it and it backs up daily.

So the past couple of days my 'main drive' has shown signs of failing and it wont be a problem if it does. I'll order a new one and clone it hopefully before it fails completely.

The ironic part is that in addition to my desktop, I have a laptop I use quite a bit, mostly at work. It had shown signs of slowing down and efforts to improve things didn't do any good, so I bought a replacement drive and I was in the process of backing up info on it before I cloned it when my desktop started having issues. The best part of cloning is if you do it before the drive fails, if your new drive fails down the road, you can throw in the old one and reboot.

[Bamagirl]

Very good advice, Scruffy. Years ago I used a cloud service to back up all my stuff. Years of photos, documents, video, etc. Then one day I got a notice that they were shutting down operations and I had to download everything or it would all be deleted. While I know that today’s big cloud storage services (like Google) are probably not going away, I feel much better having my important files on an external hard drive of my own.

[Fall]

I'm glad you made this thread as I was thinking of something similar. I wanted to ask everyone how you organize your collection, and how you back it up?

For example, after joining the Alizée Hub for the umpteenth time (I didn't use it all that much and had to keep re-registering :o) I started categorizing stuff I saved and downloaded by album era, and then a folder named with the date and event of the contents.

For a quick example, when Alizée had an interview with Sébastien Cauet (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyTd2Jr0Iis) in 2013 (I think his show is/was called Chez Cauet?) performing I would have saved it under

Alizée > 5 > Chez Cauet 06-05-2013

I started doing that because I saw a similar system from other users on the Hub and it seemed more organized. I was curious about how others here organize your collections?

More on topic -
CC, you mentioned in the chatbox that you use a cloning software, Acronis, that automatically backs up your files nightly? I saw that it is about $50, which although is a relative chunk of change, backing up is always a hassle. I for one spend a couple of hours trying to get everything copied just right and not miss anything, and I always drag it out because I get bored and go on YouTube, AAm, or social media while big files/folders are copying. With that distraction naturally I forget what I'm really supposed to be doing.

Is Acronis worth it to save oneself the trouble of the above? ^ Anyone have other recommendations?

[CleverCowboy]

More on topic -
CC, you mentioned in the chatbox that you use a cloning software, Acronis, that automatically backs up your files nightly? I saw that it is about $50, which although is a relative chunk of change, backing up is always a hassle. I for one spend a couple of hours trying to get everything copied just right and not miss anything, and I always drag it out because I get bored and go on YouTube, AAm, or social media while big files/folders are copying. With that distraction naturally I forget what I'm really supposed to be doing.

Is Acronis worth it to save oneself the trouble of the above? ^ Anyone have other recommendations?

I always use commercial, paid software from companies that have a confirmed physical location and have been around a while to have issued multiple versions. If I suspect that software is from Russia or other eastern Europe countries, or China, I won't touch it. One of the problems with "free" software is that they can be full of malware. The best case scenario is that the malware is merely gathering information about your usage to target ads, but the worst case scenario is that it is gathering sensitive data to send to the software author.

I run high quality Anti-virus (ESET NOD 32) and Anti-Malware (MalwareBytes) software packages concurrently. A lot of malware can slip right by your anti-virus. MalwareBytes have saved me more than once from installing infected software. I own VMWare, which allows me to create virtualized computers within my computer and can run a VM session in a window that is completely isolated. If I have any suspicions of software, I install it on a VM computer and see what happens. If the software installs any malware, I can destroy the VM and no harm done to my main computer./

The main advantage of Acronis is it's ability to create images of your main drive (that contains the operating system and software installs) and places the image on another drive, or in the cloud, or wherever you want. In case of a catastrophic loss of my main drive where I can't boot up, I can run and buy a new drive and replace it, then use the Acronis emergency boot disc to boot my computer. From there, I use Acronis to restore the latest image right on top of the new drive. Then I restart and it boots into Windows and everything is there just like it was prior to the crash. I have had to do this once and it saves days and days of work.

If you buy an external drive, it should come with some free backup software. I like Western Digital external drives - they last forever it seems. Their backup software is excellent and you can specify folders and files, and even entire hard drives, to back up continuously in the background. If you change a file, or add a file, it picks it up and sends it to the external drive in the background. My Alizee media has a dedicated external drive. I recently purchased a new one just for her :)

All this is covered by a cloud backup which saves every file on my computer, including files off external drives, to the cloud. I used Carbonite for many years, but their prices kept creeping up and I became dissatisfied with their backup algorithm because it was missing too many files. I went to Backblaze last year which is less expensive and also lets you include the contents of all your external hard drives in your backup. So if the worst happens, I can get everything back, including Alizee files.

Edit:

I call what happened in May of 2017 the Black Swan because of it's "once in a lifetime" frequency. I have worked from a home office since 1997. Second floor spare bedroom as of right now. I am normally running three computers, and an occasional laptop. I have my computer on the network using an Ethernet cable to get optimum speed. All my cabling gets run to a network switch, which connects to the Internet provider's router/modem.

All my computers and network components are protected by a dedicated UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) for each device, which has a built in surge protector. If the power goes out, or if there is a glitch, I can keep working and not be affected. It beats having everything just go black.

In the middle of the night last year in May, a thunderstorm with lots of lightning moved through. It was around 2am when suddenly I startled awake. It was about five seconds after that there was a blinding flash of light and a Boom that shook the house. The alarm system goes off, ceiling fan goes off, then on again, night lights flicker, then I smelled burning. The burning was coming from my office, and it smelled like burning silicon and plastic. Smoke was coming from my network switch. Two computers dead. My main computer was still working. TV's, upstairs and downstairs dead. Cable box fried. Furnace fried. Garage door opener fried. The UPS units, which are designed to protect my computers, seemed OK.

The next morning I looked around the house on the outside and noticed a suspicious area on the gutter near the top of the house.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/640x480q90/923/lcT1ya.jpg

I got on the roof and saw the lightning struck the gutter in three spots which looked like .357 magnum bullet holes.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/640x480q90/924/FQitx0.jpg

The room just on the other side of that gutter is the guest bedroom. Luckily there was nobody in there. This is the outlet closest to that gutter.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/320x240q90/924/oZZhBC.jpg

I had picked up one of the UPS units and saw the battery got fried to the point where it singed the carpet underneath.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/320x240q90/921/BxfCk7.jpg

I found that the electricity went into the network cabling and fried the computer motherboards through the Ethernet cables. The only thing that seemed to save my main computer is because I used a 50 foot cable, which is much longer than I needed, but the extra length seemed to be the reason why it was spared. However, it didn't run the same after that and I had to replace it later in the summer.

Final damage assessment was $12,000. Luckily I had insurance but it took a long time to rebuild everything.

Backups came in handy and I lost nothing besides the hardware.

[Shepherd]

Damned, it's a miracle your house didn't burn down.

[Fall]

Welp, thanks for the nightmares CC, could have just said "yeah fall it's worth it" :omg::nervous::eek::fear::p

[CleverCowboy]

Welp, thanks for the nightmares CC, could have just said "yeah fall it's worth it" :omg::nervous::eek::fear::p

How about "...and my data lived happily ever after "?:D

[Scruffydog777]

Interesting story CleverCowboy.

I remember my father in law at the time, lived in Atlanta where they have numerous thunderstorms. He had a very capable surge suppressor on the power line to his computer, but not to the telephone line I believe it was at the time and a lightning strike nearby, fried his computer.


Many years ago, again my at the time father in law gave us a laptop he had used for years. The battery lost it's ability to hold a charge but we were still able to get quite a bit of use out of it with it plugged in. One day we noticed a burning smell coming from it and found out part of it where the battery was had melted. I guess what happened is the state of the battery kept deteriorating to the point where it was short circuiting the charging circuit. But luckily we noticed it in time and we took the battery out and were still able to get a lot of use out of it. But I wonder what would've happened if we had been away when this happened.

Could it have started a fire? I don't think so, but I have an old laptop that I keep my DC hub files on and the battery in it has lost it's ability to hold a charge and the laptop won't power up without it, so I have to leave it in to power it up and it is because of that incident years ago that I'm reluctant to leave it running if I'm not home.

[CleverCowboy]

Could it have started a fire? I don't think so, but I have an old laptop that I keep my DC hub files on and the battery in it has lost it's ability to hold a charge and the laptop won't power up without it, so I have to leave it in to power it up and it is because of that incident years ago that I'm reluctant to leave it running if I'm not home.

I wouldn't. Battery technology is sorely lacking advancements compared to the other components of a computer.

I still do all my work and gaming (when I get the chance) on desktops. I leave them running around the clock, even when I am not home (except for out of town). There have been almost 40 years of advancement in desktop computer technology. The power supplies can operate for years without worry. Cases have been getting larger and fans more efficient to promote better air circulation. Motherboards often are water-cooled. The biggest sources of heat besides the CPU is the mechanical hard drives and the graphics card, but moving to solid state drives cuts the heat output. Graphics cards now have their own cooling fans and/or liquid cooling. A desktop computer running has about as much a chance catching fire as your refrigerator.

Laptops are a different story. Most everybody now wants them to be a desktop computer replacement, and the manufacturers have the pressure of redesigning them almost yearly to make them thinner, lighter and more powerful so that they can even run the most graphics intensive games. The increasing power demands of the components and stagnating battery technology means hotter running laptops for power users. I've had some laptops that made my lap sweat and get hot if put directly on my lap. I've had a laptop take the sheen off a polished wooden table because of the excessive heat of the bottom of the case. I got by this for a while by using a laptop stand with built in USB fans to keep the case cooler. Now I use an oversized gaming mouse pad to shield my desk from the heat. I still worry about the heat build up inside the plastic case of a laptop enough so that I would not leave the house with one running.

[Scruffydog777]

My attempt to use Windows 'create image' didn't work in my attempt to transfer everything on my old laptop hdd 'directly' to my new hdd. There is also a 'Windows Easy Transfer' program that might be capable of doing it, but again not in a direct manner.

So I did some research on line and downloaded Macrium Reflect which is free for just the basic program. It's about 60% through the process now.

After this, I'll replace the small ssd it uses for cache.

[CleverCowboy]

My attempt to use Windows 'create image' didn't work in my attempt to transfer everything on my old laptop hdd 'directly' to my new hdd. There is also a 'Windows Easy Transfer' program that might be capable of doing it, but again not in a direct manner.

So I did some research on line and downloaded Macrium Reflect which is free for just the basic program. It's about 60% through the process now.

After this, I'll replace the small ssd it uses for cache.

Windows Easy Transfer will only pick up folders that are stored with your user profile (Documents, Music, etc.). If you create your own folders off the root of the hard drive, it will not pick it up.

Macrium Reflect looks legit. Let us know what your experience with it was like.

[Scruffydog777]

After a 3 week delivery time from China, I replaced the motherboard on my Lenovo Y510P. There were some hiccups, but it's up and running fine now.

[CleverCowboy]

After a 3 week delivery time from China, I replaced the motherboard on my Lenovo Y510P. There were some hiccups, but it's up and running fine now.

You swapped out a laptop motherboard on your own? Not an easy task!

[Scruffydog777]

I thought it was going to be a very tough job, but the hardest parts were removing the keyboard from the bezel, then the bezel from the frame. They are tight fits and you have to bend the plastic, almost to the point of braking.

But I found a pdf file on line and a few youtube videos on my exact model that made the rest of it fairly simple.

But I did make one mistake that cost me half a day. When putting in the process, there is a fastener that you turn fully counter clockwise to remove it. When putting it in the new mb, it's capable of rotating 180 degrees, but I saw there was a tab that when I turned it 90 degrees, it was evenly engaged in a slot that runs along side the cpu, so I felt that was where it should be. I put the rest of it together and it wouldn't boot.

I suspected maybe one of the ribbons wasn't fully engaged, but I had the cpu fastener in the back of my mind. After all the ribbons checked out okay, I looked at the YT videos that I had consulted so much for the rest of the process and it says to turn it fully the other way. When I did that, I noticed the cpu does move laterally when you do it so it must not have been making good enough contact the first time around.

Live and learn!

[Bamagirl]

Interesting story CleverCowboy.

I remember my father in law at the time, lived in Atlanta where they have numerous thunderstorms. He had a very capable surge suppressor on the power line to his computer, but not to the telephone line I believe it was at the time and a lightning strike nearby, fried his computer.


Many years ago, again my at the time father in law gave us a laptop he had used for years. The battery lost it's ability to hold a charge but we were still able to get quite a bit of use out of it with it plugged in. One day we noticed a burning smell coming from it and found out part of it where the battery was had melted. I guess what happened is the state of the battery kept deteriorating to the point where it was short circuiting the charging circuit. But luckily we noticed it in time and we took the battery out and were still able to get a lot of use out of it. But I wonder what would've happened if we had been away when this happened.

Could it have started a fire? I don't think so, but I have an old laptop that I keep my DC hub files on and the battery in it has lost it's ability to hold a charge and the laptop won't power up without it, so I have to leave it in to power it up and it is because of that incident years ago that I'm reluctant to leave it running if I'm not home.
After reading all of this I am now going to unplug my laptop every night! I hadn't been doing that...but I think I'd rather be safe than sorry!

[CleverCowboy]

I limit myself to component upgrades these days - cards or memory that fit in a slot, and I'm done. I did a laptop screen replacement five years ago and it was a pain.

Back in the early days, I liked to build systems from scratch just because. There wasn't a lot of standardization, so often getting the motherboard into the case without breaking it was a real chore, only to find that the posts did not exactly line up with the motherboard screw holes. Even when the screw holes were right, there was always those one or two that are impossible to get to with a normal screwdriver because a piece of metal was in the way. I kept dropping the tiny screws into the bottom of the case and would have to fish them out with needle nosed pliers. Many a swear word was uttered.

So glad I ended up in software and not hardware! :)