Back it uuuuuuup!!

[ColleenSwerb]

Well, my oldest EHD has bit the dust. Jordan's going to try taking it apart to see what there is to see. It's 4 years old and has served me well.

But you know what? I doesn't matter. Because everything on it is backed up to at least 2 other places, 3 or 4 other places in some cases.

So, make sure you're up to date on your backups! You never when something is gonna blink out on ya.

/steps off soapbox

[heathergw]

always a good reminder, Thanks!

[Angie4b1g]

I thought this was some reference to the 90s song by Juvenile.

[Paula]

That is a PSA that I never get tired of hearing!! Thanks for the reminder. I've been so caught up in other things that I just realized I haven't backed up in over a month.

[pomi]

Done, ma'am! Thank you for the reminder!

[ColleenSwerb]

I hear ya Paula! I'll be doing the same thing on sunday when we get home from a wedding. I need to make sure my other 2 EHD's are fully backed up, and burn Jan-Mar 2010 photos to DVD. I DEF need to make sure I get our wedding and honeymoon photos backed up again as well (those are in 4 places already, but I haven't burned myself another DVD of them to keep at work).

It's a job that's never done, but it's so worth it!

Angie, I totally snorted at that.

[mlrw70]

Thanks for the gentle reminder, I have to back up everything!

[jaylensmom]

Thanks for the reminder...I will be backing up this weekend...

[pkstew2]

After losing my hard drive and EHD within 1 week of each other, I definitely need this constant reminder. Thanks Colleen!

Silly Question - is backing up to DVD just one more safe place vs. using yet one more EHD? I have photos backed up to CDs which I know I should probably transfer to DVD.

[jovi_girl]

do any of you back up to mozy? Im thinking about doing that, incase my EHD dies....

[pkstew2]

There are a couple of threads on here about Mozy. I highly recommend it after it being my only backup here lately that could save me. Others are using Backblaze instead and are very happy with it.

[ColleenSwerb]

Originally Posted by pkstew2

After losing my hard drive and EHD within 1 week of each other, I definitely need this constant reminder. Thanks Colleen!

Silly Question - is backing up to DVD just one more safe place vs. using yet one more EHD? I have photos backed up to CDs which I know I should probably transfer to DVD.

Didn't want this question to get lost so I'm gonna answer a few days late

I like the added security of having my photo's backed up to a different format. For all the security measures I take with my EHD's, (one is only turned on for backups and is unplugged from everything otherwise, and everything is plugged into a battery backup power source to avoid issues with brownouts and surges) you just never know. If our house somehow managed to get struck by lightening, that battery backup wouldn't be able to handle it and things would get fried, possibly even the one that isn't plugged in. Would my DVD's get scrambled too? I have no idea. But for me, it's just one extra precautionary measure I can take. Every 3 or 4 months I pop my old DVD's in and check to make sure they aren't corrupted, and I burn new dvd's of the stuff that isn't backed up to that format yet. It keeps me sane is all. I would HATE to lose my photos. Layouts and scrap supplies are replaceable, but my photos are not.

My husband would prefer I spend our money on EHD's than on online backups, so that's the method that I use.

[kim21673]

We back mine up every week but unfortunately some of my files are too long....not sure how to get around that?!?!?!?! There are about 2000 files that are too long to copy over and I don't have time to sit and figure out which ones are too long....I am sure it has something to do with my extensive filing system and they are just too many folders deep.

[ColleenSwerb]

I'm not sure what you mean Kim?

[kim21673]

We run a back up every week to my 1 TB EHD....there are a large number of files that won't back up b/c their file names are too long. Dh hasn't been able to figure out why. We don't know if they are too many files deep or what the issue is...b/c of the way I have things organized?!?!?!?! It's frustrating b/c my portable EHD is almost full and I am going to have to buy a bigger one soon but can't transfer my files over to a new one b/c of this issue.

I may just have to dump everything into a big folder and start organizing again....Ugh

[pkstew2]

Thanks Colleen - I just started backing up to DVDs this weekend. Wow they hold alot and thanks for the idea to check them periodically to make sure they still work. I would not have thought of that.

[ColleenSwerb]

No prob hon. Yes, DVD's do eventually corrupt so it's a good idea to check them periodically.

Kim there are a few things you can try. I don't know you have everything organized, but it's worth a shot.
1 - Try shortening the file names themselves. For example, instead of having "heatherroselli-filename.jpg" try hroselli, or just hr.
2 - If you have files buried too deeply within a file structure, try shortening some of the top folder names. Instead of "Kristin Cronin-Barrow Kits" try KCB Kits.
3 - Create a new folder at the top of the file structure and just copy all the files that won't move into that folder. Then try backing up that 1 one folder.
4 - Try doing a disk cleanup on the EHD if you've moved alot of stuff around recently. Do a de-frag on it to free up some space and see if that helps.

Also, again I have to say, just 1 EHD for backup's is not reliable enough.

[kim21673]

Thanks for the info....I am going to move things around...eliminate folders and go from there...hopefully I can make some progress in the next week and everything will back up!!!

[ColleenSwerb]

Having an organization plan makes things a lot easier. If everything is just thrown all willy-nilly anywhere it lands, things get messy REAL fast! Lol!

I'm a kit scrapper, so all my kits stay together inside designer folders. To keep files names from getting too crazy, instead of naming folders "Elements/Alpha/Paper" I use PP, EP, and AP. Small things like that can really help.

[newfiemountiewife]

Thanks for the reminder Col!

All of our pictures, my layouts and some other important stuff is on 2 EHDS (some is on 3), and the pictures are on DVDs. My scrap stuff is backed up on 1 EHD and on DVD. I mostly only panic about the pictures. Anything else I can replace