Journal Entry for Sunday, Feb 26th

FYI - Making Photo Backups As most people I know, over the years I have struggled with a variety of backup programs, from OS backup programs to those that have come free with external hard drives.  One that came with my last external hard drive that I started using kept eating up all of my available memory every time it started working in the background. Over time I have tried all of the various backup schemes, full, differential, incremental, rotation, etc. With all of them, I have always be been somewhat leery about using the restore function, and in one case, had it fail when needed. Problem solved! After a two-week trial period, I decided to use Carbonite, an Internet Cloud storage solution that takes the worry out of backing up by securely and automatically backing up all of my selected files to a state-of-the-art data center on highly reliable disk arrays. Once you install Carbonite, you'll never have to remember to back up again. The automatic backup runs continually in the background, backing up new and changed files whenever your computer is connected to the internet. Carbonite is designed to go to sleep when you’re using your computer so that it doesn’t slow you down. After your initial backup, you shouldn’t notice any impact on the performance of your computer or internet speed. The majority of my backup needs are centered around my photos; creating folders for new folders, editing and changing images, reorganizing, creating slide-shows, etc. Now, no matter what I do, create new files or modify existing ones, Carbonite automatically sends encrypted copies of those files over my high-speed Internet connection to the Carbonite’s data center. The best part, I get as much space as I need – there is no limitation of storage space. With a current database of greater than 350 GB of stored negatives and modified photos, that continues to grow each month, this feature alone makes it worth the price, but that’s not all. I can access any of my backed up files directly from my cell phone and from any computer connected to the Internet. This means I can access any one of my thousands of photos directly from my phone, open it, view it, or attach it to an email and pass it along to anyone I want. Finally, the restore process is the simplest I‘ve ever seen. Your backup files are arranged exactly as they appear on your computer. Simply right-click the folder or file and select “Restore”. Done. All of this, and peace of mind, for $59/year. Such a deal. Check it out here ... Carbonite Online Backup. NOTE: I will admit that if you have several hundred GB’s of files, the initial upload will take days and seem quite slow, however once completed, daily updates are nearly instantaneous. ADDED NOTE: I used to make yearly CD backups of my photos (and other data files). Now I have a 500 GB external drive upon which I make a one-time, year-end copy of the same files that I have backed up to Carbonite, just in case shit happens.