Belts, Suspenders, and Duct Tape (Again)
OR, IF YOU PREFER, "DUCK TAPE"
Occasionally I’m asked what the best backup system is. The simple answer is easy: The one that you’ll use. But of course there’s more to it than that. The system I use may not be the best for you, but it works for me. Instead of keeping everything in a single backup, I have multiple overlapping backups. I’ll describe the system I use and maybe you’ll find some information that will help you plan a failure-resistant system that’s also easy to use.
First, it may help to determine what kinds of information you have on your computer, how important it is to you, and how long you could wait to get it back.
QUESTION: A friend's father made a major mistake on-line. He clicked on a pop-up saying his PC was infected with all kinds of nasty things. As we all know, that was a sad mistake and now his system crawls along with major disk thrashing. The system hasn't been backed-up so the pictures, and who knows what else, will be blown away if we have to re-install XP on it. My friend has run Spybot and Ad-ware but after fixing MANY issues it still crawls. I've suggested putting free AVG on it to see if that helps. I've also suggested running Windows Defender. I know there are on-line scanners but since that's how this whole folly started, I don't want my friend to pick the wrong site and make matters worse. Do you know of any on-line scan sites that can be trusted? Any other suggestions? TCR may end up with this thing but just thought I'd ask for your thoughts.
ANSWER: There are ways to remove the crud (I would prefer a stronger epithet) but it's probably bullet-biting time. The online scanning systems are good (as long as you go to a reputable site) but you'll probably be left with junk you don't want. And he still won't have a backup. Those pictures and other important information should be backed up, so now is the time to do that. Since the computer is running XP, it probably has a USB port. If not, they're easy to add. For less than $100, you can obtain a reasonably large (250 GB) external hard drive. Plug that in and backup the critical files. (Yes, this could take nastyware with it.) Once that's done and you're sure that you have all of the important files backed up, format the drive and reload the operating system. Once the operating system is operational again, copy the files back to the hard drive from the external unit. If you take the system to TCR and tell them that you need to be able to restore the data, they can do the work and ensure that the system is clean when they're finished. But be sure to obtain some sort of external backup device in the process.
By far the easiest backup system to install and use is Carbonite, an online backup service that offers to store all the data on your computer’s internal hard drive (or drives) for about $5 per month. That’s a remarkable value. Carbonite doesn’t backup data on external drives or from network drives and the restore process, when you need it, will take a while because your files will have to be downloaded from Carbonite’s server.
Carbonite is key to my backup plan because that’s where all of my digital photographs, websites, data files, graphics, publishing files, and such are stored. But I also store these files on an external hard drive that’s stored at the office. And, to allow recovery from the occasional oops event, I keep a local hot backup on an external drive that stays with the computer. In the event of a catastrophic system failure, I can plug that hot backup drive into a notebook computer and be back in operation within a minute. If I accidentally damage or delete a file that I’m working on, restoring the file from that external drive takes seconds.
If a hard drive crashes and I need to restore everything on the drive, I would first retrieve the external hard drive from the office and restore files from there. I would then connect to Carbonite and restore any files that had changed since the last backup (I perform these local backups weekly). This process should take little more than half a day to accomplish.
What gets backed up and what doesn’t
Not everything needs to be backed up. I keep a local backup copy of music files, but currently I have enough space on backup drive Y (which handles local drives M and N) to include all of the music. If space becomes critical, I'll remove the music files from backup; although it would be a major annoyance to reconstruct the directories from the original media, it could be done. Much of the music is on a drive that I keep at the office, so these aren’t files that are on my critical list.
As you can see from the diagram at the right (click for a larger view), drive C (operating system and programs) is backed up on drive W, drive D (data files, graphics, websites, and such) are backed up on drive X, and drives M (multimedia) and N (work) are backed up on drive Y. The most critical files from all 4 local drives are backed up to the local hot backup drive (Z) and all critical files from disks C and D are additionally backed up to Carbonite.
Carbonite performs backups in real time, which means that files are backed up soon after being added or changed. I make incremental backups to the external drives once per week. The hot backup drive should be refreshed at least daily, but sometimes it doesn't happen that frequently.
Work files, such as audio for TechByter Worldwide, are routinely backed up, but I also purge these files every few months. I’m never going to need to go back and change a recorded program, so there’s no need to keep these files. Any kind of intermediate file used for any kind of project is a candidate for elimination; depending on your needs, those files may be important.
The most important files for me are ones that I have spent time creating: Word documents, InDesign publications, logos, websites, and the like. These kinds of files will be on Carbonite’s server, on my off-site backup, and on the hot on-site backup.
At the very least …
If you don’t have an external backup (hard drive, CD, DVD) and you’re not yet using an online service, you should at least create a new directory on your hard drive and copy your most critical files there. Two serious warnings apply:
First, the default Windows operation for files that are dragged and dropped to a new location on the same disk drive is move instead of copy. To copy the file, drag with the right mouse button and then select copy from the menu. If you move the file, it will no longer be in the old location.
Second, this is not a real backup. Copying a file to a new location on the directory will protect against accidental erasures and other similar problems. It will not protect against hardware failures, weather, or malicious code that gets loaded to your computer.
This simple step, as inadequate as it is, will still solve a lot of problems. Have you ever opened a file to use as a starting point for something, made a bunch of changes, and then forget to save the file with a new name or in a new location? If you had a copy of the original file handy, you could get it back.
The most valuable part of your computer is the data stored on the computer. Twenty years ago, “backup” meant making a copy of the floppy disk with your Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet on it. How things have changed!
Beware All Predictions, Including This One
As I've mentioned a time or two, I don't watch much television—at least not "live". Since the arrival of my Netflix gift certificate, I've watched recent movies, old movies, and sometime entire series of old TV programs. An interview on NPR's Fresh Air with Victor Garber, the actor who plays Jack Bristow in Alias, convinced me to watch that series on DVD. I mention that because the central theme of the program is Milo Rambaldi, an inventor-prophet based on conflating Leonardo da Vinci and Nostradamus. Prophecies can be dangerous things, as those in the series learned. That thought occurred to me on New Year's Eve.
That's when I happened to find myself knee deep in a Technology Corner program from June 1998. New Year's Eve is always an exciting time around the house. In lieu of dusting the cat, I'd decided to rearrange some of the older Web files for programs to get rid of clutter in the webroot. These words stopped me:
Now a good flat-panel screen is as good as a standard screen. In some ways, better. "Flicker" isn’t an issue. Power consumption is a lot lower. A flat panel screen won’t take up half of your desk. There’s no warm-up time. And they don’t emit heat, radiation, or nasty magnetic fields. The new panels also have a wider viewing radius, meaning you can see what’s on the screen if you’re not exactly in front of it. Given all those advantages, why don’t we all have flat-panel screens? Cost. A top-of-the-line 17-inch standard monitor will cost you $800 to $1200. A good 17-inch flat-panel screen will cost you $2400 to $3000."
Today you can find a 17" flat panel screen for less than $200. What else was news in 1998?
Think about it — almost everything else has changed. Floppy disks went from 8-inch disks that held 160KB of data to 3.5-inch disks that hold 1.4MB (or more — sometimes a lot more). Hard disks went from 10MB drives the size of a shoe box to 8GB drives the size of a sandwich. Processors that once ran at 4.77Mhz now have hit 400MHz. CD ROMs have arrived. Modems have become faster and may soon be replaced by cable devices.
So now it's hard to find a computer with a floppy drive on it, we have bootable CDs and DVDs and bootable USB drives, you can hardly find a desktop system with a drive smaller than 250GB, processors are well above 3GHz dual-core, and modem users are in a shrinking minority. By 2018, today's specs will seem hopelessly outmoded. Also big news in 1998:
Network Solutions dropped domain registration fees from $50 per year to $35 per year.
Today you'll find that most domain names go for $10 per year or less. Even in 1998, I recommended that the best way to ensure that your e-mail address remains constant is to buy your own domain name:
On the air, I tell you to send e-mail to me at WTVN (bblinn@610wtvn.com), but that address will no longer be good if the station should decide that it no longer wants my services.*
*Which they did about 5 years later.
That's why I purchased blinn.com and, later, techbyter.com.
Going Further Back to View the Future
About the same time, I ran across an article by John Elfreth Watkins, Jr., in the December 1900 edition of The Ladies' Home Journal. Watkins had posed questions about what the world would be like in 2001 to "the most learned and conservative minds in America" (all happened to be men, of course). Along with the few correct prophecies, these great thinkers predicted laughable conditions they thought would have come to be by 2001.
A few hits or near hits
- There will probably be from 350,000,000 to 500,000,000 people in America and its possessions. (Close, but no cigar. Population is around 300,000,000.)
- There will be no street cars in our large cities. (Correct, as far as it goes, but the rest of the prediction is laughable: "All hurry traffic will be below or high above ground when brought within city limits. In most cities it will be confined to broad subways or tunnels, well lighted and well ventilated, or to high trestles with 'moving-sidewalk' stairways leading to the top. These underground or overhead streets will teem with capacious automobile passenger coaches and freight with cushioned wheels. Subways or trestles will be reserved for express trains. Cities, therefore, will be free from all noises.")
- Man will see around the world ... [by] cameras connected electrically with screens at opposite ends of circuits, thousands of miles at a span.... The instrument bringing these distant scenes to the very doors of people will be connected with a giant telephone apparatus.... (This may be the most accurate prophecy by "the most learned and conservative minds in America".)
- Trains will run two miles a minute, normally; express trains one hundred and fifty miles an hour. (I list this as correct only because it's being done in Europe and Asia.)
Some of the misses
- There will be no C, X or Q in our every-day alphabet. (The prediction was that we would spell by sound.)
- A university education will be free to every man and woman. ... Poor students will be given free board, free clothing and free books if ambitious and actually unable to meet their school and college expenses. Medical inspectors regularly visiting the public schools will furnish poor children free eyeglasses, free dentistry and free medical attention of every kind. The very poor will, when necessary, get free rides to and from school and free lunches between sessions. In vacation time poor children will be taken on trips to various parts of the world. Etiquette and housekeeping will be important studies in the public schools. (The age of enlightenment still eludes us.)
- Everybody will walk ten miles. Gymnastics will begin in the nursery.... All cities will have public gymnasiums. A man or woman unable to walk ten miles at a stretch will be regarded as a weakling. (Big-time miss. How many Americans wouldn't be able to walk even 10 blocks!)
- There will be no wild animals except in menageries. ... Cattle and sheep ... will be unable to run faster than the fattened hog of today. ... Food animals will be bred to expend practically all of their life energy in producing meat, milk, wool and other by-products. Horns, bones, muscles and lungs will have been neglected. (Sadly, far too much of this is true; Animals used for food are often mistreated and it's not only PETA that finds these practices inhumane.)
See the full article here.
Is Windows 7 for You?
There's been no small amount of chatter recently about Windows 7 (that would be the version that follows Vista) because of rumors that it will be released in 2009. Microsoft typically gets things right on the 3rd iteration of a project and this would be the second iteration of Vista. Currently, a lot of us are just waiting and hoping that SP1 for Vista will solve some of the worst problems.
I've had a lot to say about Vista, good and bad, hot and cold, yes and no. I like it and I don't. Vista has a lot of good features, but it has a lot of sharp edges. Sales of Vista have been far lower than Microsoft had hoped for and that may be pushing the company to aim for 2009 instead of 2010 for Vitsa II. (Hint: It won't be called that.)
A leaked roadmap for Windows 7 suggests an accelerated development schedule with 3 “milestone” builds this year. The first has already shipped to key partners for code validation. The next milestone release will probably be out mid year and the third in the third quarter. Milestone releases are still alpha code, so beta testers and end users won't see the code. Windows 7 is expected to be the final 32-bit operating system from Microsoft.
It wasn't that many years ago that 8-bit operating systems were standard, 16-bit operating systems were for advanced users, 32-bit systems were projected for the future, and 64-bit systems were little more than a pipe dream. Assuming Windows 7 is released in the second half of 2009, it will be 3 years between the release and Vista's release to manufacturing.
This could be Microsoft's last chance to get it right. The transition to Vista has been slow and many corporate users are still stuck on Windows 2000, a 7-year-old operating system. More XP users than Microsoft would like to admit have upgraded to Vista and then downgraded to XP. The next couple of years should be interesting with Apple's dual-platform-capable systems and various Linux distributions that bring low-cost systems and applications to the masses.
Nerdly News
Microhoo Anyone?
Recently, Bill Gates talked about Google as being its "most interesting" competitor, not that the two giants compete in a lot of the same market areas. But Gates talked about Microsoft's getting better at search and about surprising Google. Well, surprise! Microsoft, after talks with Google broke off, has now announced plans for a hostile takeover and is willing to pay a hefty premium for Yahoo stock to get it.
Is Yahoo worth $44.6 billion dollars? That's a 62% premium over the stock's recent selling price. Microsoft apparently thinks it's a good deal.
Steve Balmer said that he decided to take the hostile takeover route because talks between the two companies would quickly become public. Microsoft says the combination would create efficiencies that would save approximately $1 billion annually, so Microsoft would earn back its investment in just 44 years. There might be something else in play here. Microsoft says it already has an integration plan and plans to offer incentives to retain Yahoo employees.
Microsoft's announcement noted that the acquisition could receive the regulatory approvals required fast enough to close during the second half of 2008.
The RIAA Legal System
It's probably a good thing that the Recording Industry Association of America doesn't yet write all of the nation's laws. If it did, the penalty for jaywalking would probably be amputation of a foot on first offense, amputation of a leg on second offense, and death for a third infraction. Does that seem a bit extreme to you? How about proposing a fine of $1.5 million for copying a CD with 10 songs on it? That's $150,000 per selection.
The RIAA has already managed to convince legislators to approve laws that set fines for copying a selection you could buy for 99 cents from the Itunes Music Store at more than $9,000. As astoundingly high as that is, can you imagine $150,000? Fines for some serious felonies are far lower. What makes the RIAA believe that copying a single track of a CD should be worthy of a $150,000 fine?
This nonsense is actually being considered by the US Congress. It's in the PRO-IP Act (read the act itself here) that is currently up for consideration in Congress. Google's primary copyright lawyer, William Patry, calls the bill the most "outrageously gluttonous IP bill ever introduced in the US."
In case you're wondering, PRO-IP is another of those cutesy little Congressional acronyms (why does every damn piece of legislation have to come with a Madison-Avenue name!) that's short for "Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2007."
Instead of charging a per CD fine, the RIAA wants those who copy CDs to pay for each selection independently. One wonders how they would treat CDs with 30 or 40 tracks of short selections versus symphonic CDs which might have only 3 or 4. Does anyone else think that these guys should be taken to the woodshed and be introduced to a little reality check?
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