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.

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…

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

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

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

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

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

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!

thanks

Steve reh
steve reh´s last blog ..An Easy Way To Make Some Money