New systems make backing up files nearly automatic
Smart computer users always back up their files. Now any idiot can do it, thanks to new backup systems that make the process almost entirely automatic.
Regular readers already know about Carbonite, a Boston firm that will back up an unlimited amount of data over the Internet for about $55 a year. Because the stuff's stored at a remote data center, the backup is safe, even if the house burns down.
But online backup has one major flaw: It's very slow. Even with a broadband Internet connection, it can take three or four days to recover all of your backed-up files. So it makes sense to have a local backup, as well, like an external hard drive that plugs into the computer's USB port. It's not as secure, but it's exactly what you need for recovering lost files fast.
Iomega Corp., a maker of external hard drives that's owned by EMC Corp. in Hopkinton, offers a shrewd compromise. EMC also owns a company called Mozy, which competes with Carbonite in the online backup market. So here's the deal: Buy an Iomega external drive for home backups, and you can get two gigabytes of online Mozy storage for free. Or pay $4.95 a month for unlimited online backup. That way, you can keep one local backup for fast disaster recovery, and a second, more secure copy up in the Internet cloud.
But instead of buying an Iomega external drive, I built one of my own. Last year, in a desperate bid to keep an old PC running, I installed a new 160-gigabyte hard drive. It didn't help. But before tossing the old one, I stripped out every component worth saving - memory modules, a DVD burner, and, of course, the new hard drive.
You should never discard an intact hard drive anyway, unless you've first run a program to wipe it of all sensitive data. Darik's Boot and Nuke, available for free from www.dban.org, is one of the best. Better yet, smash the drive to bits with a sledgehammer. Best of all, keep the drive and put it to good use.
That meant a visit to the online auction site eBay to purchase a drive enclosure. This is a box that turns a standard internal hard drive into an external one, so you can plug it into a computer's USB port. Best Buy sells them for around $60, but that's way too much - you can get a 250-gig Iomega external drive for $80, with no assembly required. On eBay, I scored a drive enclosure for $14, with free shipping. Buying from eBay is riskier, but I often take the chance when shopping for cheap computer accessories, and so far I haven't been burned. Sure enough, the enclosure arrived in a week. After a few minutes with a screwdriver, my 160-gig external drive was ready for action.
Of course, there's still the matter of backing up the data. But it's fairly easy if you use Storage Appliance Corp.'s impressive Clickfree technology. It's a line of products with built-in backup software that almost completely automates the process. Storage Appliance makes external drives with Clickfree built in. Plug the drive into a Windows PC or an Apple Macintosh computer, and it automatically loads the backup software, selects the files to be preserved, and copies them to the drive.
But for my non-Clickfree drive, there's the Clickfree Transformer, a $60 gadget for Windows computers that plugs into the USB connection between the computer and the external drive. The Transformer turns any external drive into a Clickfree device, making it simple to run regular backups by plugging in the drive and switching it on. The Transformer also works with multiple computers. If you've got three or four in the house, you can just carry the drive and the Transformer from one computer to the next, and store each backup in a separate folder. Your only limit is the size of the hard drive.
Clever as the Transformer is, Clickfree offers another slick backup idea for Windows computer users who have no external drive at all. All you need is a DVD burner and a package of Clickfree DVD Backup disks. These come five to a box for $15. You can order them online at clickfree.com, or buy them at a few brick-and-mortar stores. I found some at the OfficeMax in Braintree.
There's nothing new about blank DVD backup disks. But these aren't blank. They contain backup software that's programmed to scan your hard drive for a particular type of file. Clickfree DVDs come in three versions, for photos, music files, and office documents. Say you want to preserve 20 gigs of digital photos. You'd buy the photo backup version, which will ignore all other file types, and back up only pictures. If you're preserving your Ella Fitzgerald collection, use the music version, or buy the office edition to save your business documents.
Put the disk into the burner, and it calculates how many DVDs it will take to copy all of your photos, music, or documents. Then just keep feeding in the DVDs until the job is done. It's pretty much foolproof, unless you're the sort of fool who never does backups.
Hiawatha Bray can be reached at bray@globe.com. 