bitful

I have lately adopted a very responsible attitude towards backing up the files on my main computer at home.

Every Saturday an automatic backup kicks in. I configured it to be an incremental backup of all my image files (I would be devastated if I lost any of the pictures I have been taking during the last ten years or so).

The automatic backup asks me to label and insert a disc (I use 4.7GB DVDs). And then another. And another yet. Over the weeks I have collected a fair amount of discs that need to be labelled and stored if you ever need to restore any of the files.

Trouble is, 1. it's a pain, and 2. if the flat was to be damaged (fire, flood, magnetic wipeout) so do the backup discs.

I looked around for online backup systems and I chose to use Amazon's impressive S3 system together with JungleDisk (a simple interface that lets you both see your storage as a network drive for ad-hoc manual backups, and set up regular automatic backups if you wish to do so). You only pay Amazon for the storage and data transfer you use every month, and JungleDisk is a one-off 20USD to install on how many machine you need, and comes with unlimited upgrades.

I have started backing up all my pictures - around 15GB, it is going to take some time to upload them all. Once that is done, I will probably stop backing up on DVD but am thinking of setting up a just-in-case additional backup on a local network drive.

Knock on wood, I have so far never had to face the nightmare of losing data because of failing supports. Better not to push my luck too far though.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 4:36 am and is filed under declutter, technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.