Do YOU use protection? Protection for your business I mean!
ByHey everyone
How are you all?
THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT SUBJECT
Ok I would really like a massive discussion on this, and a lot of comments to see what you use..
So my business is growing I need protection, I need to back up stuff, I need to keep my business safe.
YOU NEED PROTECTION TO!!
Its something I simply dont do at the moment..
What if we woke up to find our computers blue screened, or try to access our blogs but get a page cannot be displayed error..
What do we do??
What do we do if the hard drive packs up??
I have a WP plugin that backs up my blog every day twice a day.
I am just getting around to getting an external USB drive to download all my business files and family photos onto everyday.
And I read about this program called Ubuntu.com which is a free Linux operating system, and you can create what’s called a “Live CD”, which is basically a computer operating system on a CD!
So you can probably boot your computer from the CD, and Ubuntu comes with Firefox and Open Office built in.
So YOU can still surf the Internet or continue with your online business (because your data is also on a USB drive now, right?), while you’re figuring what to do with your hard drive.
So If your main hard drive goes wrong you can still carry on working…
What are your thoughts people, what do you use?
I would love to hear everyones comments on this.
Its a very important subject and one I dont see bought up oftem..
Speak soon
And I really look forward to your comments.
Cheers
Marcus
21 Comments
April 20th, 2010 at 12:04 AM
Marcus,
I am not a techie by any means; but, I’ve seen all over the internet lately that Norton 2010 is the best system “protection” that can be found. My ISP (Comcast) offers it to their subscribers at no cost but I prefer the paid version of AVG Internet Security myself. The Norton seemed to slow my system down and I am just happier with the AVG (plus I have used them on and off since 1999). There are plenty of good programs out there and it is my uninformed guess that they are each adequate in their own rights.
Robert (sec)´s last blog ..Ah Yes…the Truth!
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April 20th, 2010 at 1:06 AM
Marcus, this is a very important subject. I’ve had Knoppix as a backup operating system on disk for a couple of years now. So far I haven’t had to use it.
I also have a backup usb portable hard drive, a back up computer, a backup broadband modem, and a backup dial up account.
Only a week or so ago though I had something to stop me being able to work which I had not considered would ever happen. The cable for my phone line went out. All of my backup systems were useless. I had no broadband or phone line.
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April 20th, 2010 at 2:52 AM
Hi Marcus,
How are you doing? Congrats on your fast progress in making lots of dough online.
I read posts on system or computer back ups once in a while but not often enough so your post is a good reminder not only to me but I think to a lot of people.
The WP plug in for DB back up is great. External hard drive is the next thing to have. I’m still working on that one.
Other than that I don’t have any ideas. I must also say that I’m not obsessing about what might happen.
I think that with the two back ups the basic protection is covered. I don’t see much need to go beyond that.
Vance
Vance Sova´s last blog ..Can You Really Get Blog Traffic From Twitter?
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April 20th, 2010 at 4:43 AM
Hi Marcus
Really important issue, and one that you never consider until it happens.
I used to make a backup of my laptop and network hard drive once a week, thus the laptop has 2 backups. I never keep any financial or personal data on the computer, this is all kept on the external drives.
I say I used to, I have lost the license key to the software, so this is a good reminder that I need to sort this out.
I will take a look at the WP plugin, one other thing that is worth considering is making an online backup, one of my friends recently had his house burgled and lost all his gadgets. If you are running a business then this could kill your business.
If you are not familiar with Linux I would get someone to do this for you, I tried this and ended up wiping my laptop. My backups came in really useful
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April 20th, 2010 at 6:20 AM
Hi Marcus
Great thoughts on ‘protection.’ As Vance noted, no one talks about this much unless the crash comes.
And I’ve moved houses, and the external drive went missing, so right now I’ve got nothing save the blog back up. I do that manually, but I’m going to look in to that plug in you talked about.
Good to see your successes, Marcus.
Anthony
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April 20th, 2010 at 8:21 AM
Hey Marcus
Very timely advice.Its only recently that I started to back up my own files.
The problem with some file backups,I think its the plugin type that Matt W advised to install,
is there are no instructions on how to reinstall your files.
There is an alternative.
In hostgator there are backups in their cpanel menu.Most other hosts would have similar,but check it out asap.
I guess the safe bet is to have as many different varieties as possible.
Hope this helps.Glad to see your success.Long may it last.
Keep in touch mate.
Ray
Ray Briscard´s last blog ..RSS Feeds.RSS Marketing.
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April 20th, 2010 at 2:14 PM
Hi Marcus
I agree with Vance that external USB hard drive is the way to go with a backup regime that incrementally backs everything up even though I dont do it now (and should)
You can buy a Hard Drive caddy from ebay for around £10 and a decent hard drive for not too much nowadays so it shouldn’t be to difficult to do.
In time I would advocate networking your system at home so your work is kept on a mini server with RAID mirrored disks and proper backup tapes kept in a separate location (in case of buglary etc)
You are then keeping your important files away from your PC and have a secondary level of security with the tapes – that is when u are making loads of dosh and living on it properly.
Pete
Peter Davies´s last blog ..Internet Marketing Or Internet Selling?
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April 21st, 2010 at 1:44 PM
Great advice Marcus
Love reading your blog some amazing infomation
keep it up
I no this pain to well I lost all my posts after changing theme of my blog i now use an external hard drive every month and use WP DB back up.
take care
Matt
Matthew Cook´s last blog ..Plan Your Internet Life
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April 22nd, 2010 at 6:11 AM
Hi Marcus,
This has absolutely nothing to do with protection (although I do need it!) I just wanted to tell you I heard the audio consultation you did with John and it was amazing!
You are Rockin’!
Glad I am getting to know you and very excited for your success in this very up and down, stop and go business!
Take care and I will talk to ya later!
Lisa~
Lisa´s last blog ..Finding a Passionate Niche
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April 23rd, 2010 at 8:58 PM
Hey Marcus
I totally agree you have to backup, I learned it the hard way. Last year I was building a complicated Auction website when my computer completely crashed, and I hadn’t backed up. It took me ages to get back to where I was before everything crashed.
So I bought an extra hard drive. Also I tend to keep things online as well, hotmail has harddrive known as skydrive, then there is google documents, that you can open and use any file type now.
Ubuntu is great as well.
Cheers
Kerie
Kerie ´s last blog ..Building a List using PLR Products
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April 25th, 2010 at 12:50 AM
Like yourself, I have a linux CD with which the computer can boot up and run off the disk, if the hard disk ever has a problem. Its Knoppix, as another commentor had.
Flash drives a pretty good, but I would also recommend CD’s or DVD’s and external hard drives. I’ve had at least one flash drive become unreadable after time.
As you can see from my website, I do part time PC repair for people in my area (Delaware Valley.) http://www.nurtell.com/computerDr
Take care,
Jeff from Pennsylvania
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April 26th, 2010 at 11:17 AM
I recently had a computer crash and went blue screen. i have since purchased an external hard drive with a fan.Any other ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks for this post.
thanks
Steve reh
steve reh´s last blog ..An Easy Way To Make Some Money
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April 26th, 2010 at 4:30 PM
Hey Marcus,
Strange that you are talking about this considering my computer just went pop a week or so ago.
It was certainly a pain and I could have done with the CD that you are talking about there. Fortunately most of my stuff is kept on external hard drives and thats been a lifesaver so I didn’t lose too much time.
Making sure you backup your aweber as well as your computers files is vital as one problem and your business grinds to a halt.
Cheers mate.
Andy
Andy Michaels´s last blog ..Launches Are Like Buses. Wait Ages For a Good One Then Two Come At Once!
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April 28th, 2010 at 4:21 PM
Marcus,
How’s it going ? I haven’t really thought about backing anything up but I GUESS i BETTER DO IT. I believe WordPress actually backs your blog up for you if you have the plugin which is good. I need to look into this because I have heard some horror stories!
Darren´s last blog ..Online Marketing Promotion: The Super Affiliate Handbook
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May 3rd, 2010 at 2:22 PM
Hi Marcus!
Some good advise from the people above. I also trust my hosting provider (HostMonster) to not loose my data, but I should have a back up for sure.
What I for the data that I have on my computer is this:
After everyday, I put my entire work on an USB stick. This way I not only have a back up, but I also have basically my entire business with me all the time (which is necessary, since I am seldom in one country let alone city for a long time).
Once a week, I copy my entire data onto my external HDD. This way I have three copies.
If all these mediums fail at the same time, I guess its destiny!!!
Cheers,
Dieter
Dieter Stone´s last blog ..Defining the Nightmare
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May 7th, 2010 at 6:22 PM
Hey guys all of YOU
Really sorry I have not replied to all of you by name.
BUT awesome stuff guys some great ideas there I read all of them and enjoyed what you had to share.
I will now have to utilise some of them..
Take care and I will be answering each comment personal in future as they come in.
Take it easy
Marcus
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May 10th, 2010 at 5:57 PM
[...] How I need to back up more often and strengthen the security of my business, as written by Marcus Passey recently(sorry Marcus, should have taken [...]
May 13th, 2010 at 5:23 AM
Hi Marcus,
Great stuff on needing protection. I am a newbie to internet marketing so this information will help greatly. Hopefully as I grow my online real estate I will definitely implement this. I too have a WP plugin on my blog so at least that’s a start. Take care!
Anna
Anna Haller´s last blog ..The start of a new life
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May 19th, 2010 at 7:49 PM
Hey Marcus,
I have had computer crashes and it is no fun trying to re-establish all the information and personal stuff that is lost. Even when you buy a new computer, transferring the files from one harddrive to a new one is far better when the right type of backup is used.
Always back it up.
Great post,
Mike
Mike Helton´s last blog ..Building Relationships Through List Marketing
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June 12th, 2010 at 9:17 PM
Marcus
What a great blog post title, really grabs your attention.
I have already experienced the blue or black screen of death in the past and learned my lesson, I back up everything now!
Sally
Sally Neill´s last blog ..David Walker, Sally’s First Skype Interview…
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November 21st, 2010 at 5:17 PM
I am so glad to see someone talk about this. I AM a computer hardware techie. I’ve been doing it for 25 years and have owned my own computer shop for the past 10 years. I’m going to shout the following:
NEVER TRUST A HARD DRIVE!
I can assure you that hard drive failure is the number one computer hardware failure. Following that is power supply and motherboard failure, in that order.
Notebook/Laptop computers are extremely popular and this appears to be especially true among IM’rs. Hard drive failure in laptops is about twice as common as similar failures in desktop computers. The reason? HEAT! Laptops are not well ventilated and the components are exposed to much more heat. Heat is the dire enemy of electronic components.
I see a lot of posters trusting backups to external USB drives. I too, fell victim to this thinking and got stung BIG. Most of the external drives you see on the market are in sealed enclosures. Guess what? They get HOT and go bye-bye on a regular basis. A second reason that these units are often sealed is that they contain drives that are low-end cheapies or factory seconds that did not pass final quality control inspections. The failure rate is astounding.
External drive recommendations: Don’t buy it if it doesn’t have a fan for cooling. Not some little one inch fan, but a nice, big 80mm fan. Buy the enclosure and drive separately and assemble it yourself. This is a 10 minute, simple task. Don’t skimp on price. You get exactly what you pay for in computer hardware. Make sure there is an on/off power switch on the enclosure. DON’T let your external drive run constantly. Every drive has a MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure). The less you run it, the longer it will last.
Next is the subject of Flash drives. I use them every day. I’ve also had 7 or 8 of them just not work the next time I plug them in. It takes very little in the way of a voltage spike to kill them. Short term, copying from one computer to another, they are very useful. Long term, trusted backups? NO!
So what is the answer to backups? There are several, but they all boil down to one concept: MULTIPLE backups. I use multiple external drives. I also use file servers on my network. Don’t let the word “server” lock up your brain. You can take almost any old computer and install an operating system on it, put in 2 or 3 big hard drives, and you have a file server. One of mine is an old Pentium 3 900mhz Dell Optiplex that someone gave me. It works great. Remember that no heavy computing is going on in a file server. It’s just storage. No massive computing horsepower is necessary.
Another option is to use an on-line backup service like MOZY. There are many of these services. I can’t really use these economically because I have over 6 terabytes of data to store. Most of you won’t have anywhere near that much.
This covers the hardware end of data security pretty well, but there is another aspect you need to consider: Viruses and Malware. Here is what I am currently using as a professional:
Avira anti-virus (free version)
Malwarebytes – Free and one of the finest pieces of software ever written.
Ccleaner – Free. Helps optimize your registry and get rid of orphaned files, temporary files, etc.
95% of all the computers that come into my shop have either Norton or McAfee anti-virus installed on them . . . and they are viruses to the hilt. These companies have huge advertising budgets and big names, but their software is extremely invasive and does not do what they are supposed to do. They are always ranked high in magazine and website reviews. Why? Because the advertising dollars they spend force the magazines and webmasters to “honor” them with high rankings.
Hope this helps.
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