Everyone Must Back Up

I thought of putting this entry into the Computer Circus blog, but it was so general and uneventful, that I figured it was appropriate for this general, uneventful blog.

I was feeling this feeling in my gut that I get just before something bad happens to my computer(s). I have learned to pay attention to these nagging little feelings, because they have been so foretelling in the past. This time, I decided to do something before something happened.

I have had some drives sitting around for some time, waiting for something to be done with them. One was a drive that crapped out some time ago (I am sure there is an entry in the Computer Circus about it). Another was an image copy of that drive...I THINK...as it was labeled as a mirror drive (with the added notation, "in limbo"). I have no long term memory anymore, so I do not know what the state of the drive was, exactly. But another drive that I didn't notice until I was just about done with my operation today, was a backup of my current data drive, as of January, 2006.

My operation today consisted of backing up my main computer. I took the "in limbo" drive and wiped it and backed up my 120GB data drive onto it. Goodbye original content (my current system was a descendant of that data, and I figured it had been sitting around long enough). It had previously been used in a data recovery operation, and I think I was holding on to it until I determined that the files on my current system were really intact. Well, now I know I'll never know for sure, so I decided it had sat around long enough, so not it contains a copy of my current data drive as of today.

So there.

I also had another spare drive that I picked up during a swap session at the robotics club that I never get to anymore - the last time I went was December 2005, I think, as that is when I got this drive. So I used it to back up my system drive.

So, now I have a complete image backup of my system drive and my data drive - if either drive craps out in my computer, all I have to do is drop one of these backup drives in its place and fire it up again (then immediately back up THAT drive).

MAN, it feels good to have a backup! I'm thinking of running a backup every week from now on. I used a great little piece of (FREE!) software, called Drive SelfImage, to make my drive image copies. I recommend it to anyone who is not afraid to open up their computers and add a second hard drive to save their files onto (or for anyone who simply needs to make an image copy of a drive). It is very simple and fast (well, as fast as your drives and buses are).

And, now that I have a new power supply in my media/backup computer, and a working fan in the Linux box, it is time to perform some backups of the other computers in my little network. An ounce of prevention, you know!