I hate reading posts from guys who loose their computers and loose everything -- some times years of collected information. Well, my computer died last Sunday. I put it to sleep Saturday night, and Sunday morning it would not wake up. Diagnosis: fried motherboard. Stuff happens.
So, I lost ---- nothing. I have everything of importance backed up on another computer. Reloading some of the software was a pain, but it got done. Today I am back up as if nothing had happened except I have a five year newer computer and Windows 8 to contend with.
I hope someone who has important stuff on their computer is listening. I have a program on my computer that automatically backs up the important data via WiFi to another computer every two hours. I don't back up programs. They are reproducible from disk or download. I back up the Documents directory and AppData. AppData contains all of the data associated with such things as you email and browser favorites.
Get to work, guys!
Bob
So, I lost ---- nothing. I have everything of importance backed up on another computer. Reloading some of the software was a pain, but it got done. Today I am back up as if nothing had happened except I have a five year newer computer and Windows 8 to contend with.
I hope someone who has important stuff on their computer is listening. I have a program on my computer that automatically backs up the important data via WiFi to another computer every two hours. I don't back up programs. They are reproducible from disk or download. I back up the Documents directory and AppData. AppData contains all of the data associated with such things as you email and browser favorites.
Get to work, guys!
Bob
when my mother board refused to work on old desktop, I simply removed the hard disk and use it as external hard disk with another computer...you can buy set for this, including the power supply...no need to reinstal anything
Good point, but what do you do when your HDD fails?
It happend to me so now I backup documents and some SW to my NAS which has a RAID (5) config, the NAS is backed up on a couple of USB HDD's. I spend a lot of time ripping my DVD's, CD's, Blu-rays, .. so I can use them with my media player, don't want to do that all again 😉
It happend to me so now I backup documents and some SW to my NAS which has a RAID (5) config, the NAS is backed up on a couple of USB HDD's. I spend a lot of time ripping my DVD's, CD's, Blu-rays, .. so I can use them with my media player, don't want to do that all again 😉
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You were saying 😛
Acronis (back up program) is the single most important program I own. I make daily incrementals with a new sequence started each week, full monthly images are archived, and I backup docs/pics/music to flash drive as well.
I have a clean install image which is just Windows7 and updates (and nothing else) which makes for an easy fast clean install when you need it. Cookie files are saved so its a seconds job to reinstate all passwords/login data/site preferences after running a full browser clean.
Oh yes... never (and I mean never 😀)) use registry cleaners and "optimiser" programs.
Acronis (back up program) is the single most important program I own. I make daily incrementals with a new sequence started each week, full monthly images are archived, and I backup docs/pics/music to flash drive as well.
I have a clean install image which is just Windows7 and updates (and nothing else) which makes for an easy fast clean install when you need it. Cookie files are saved so its a seconds job to reinstate all passwords/login data/site preferences after running a full browser clean.
Oh yes... never (and I mean never 😀)) use registry cleaners and "optimiser" programs.
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Really? I think you can do something, but that should be obvious 😉 just eliminate the single point of failure..
we had hard disk crashed at work, with important data, was sent out to special repair to harvest some recoverable files, cost a lots of money, you get unorganized junk back, sure you can do something about crashed hard disk, I normaly trash it...you?
After suffering 3 consecutive HDD failures in 2 months back in 1996, I back up my data directory at least once a week incrementally. I still use the old fashioned .bat scripts with the xcopy command. I do full backups every few months. All this is automated with a auto scheduler to do it late at night. My one issue is that I use a laptop and do it all via wireless to a network hard drive but laptop is not always on. The full backups are via USB desktop hard drive. I switched HD brands after those incidents and have not had a problem since.
Yupz, you are right of course, I was just saying that the point is saving data not HW, that makes life a lot easier, just make sure you have a backup..
One of the cruelest jokes played by MS is their backup facility in their home versions. It makes a copy on the same HDD! As for swapping the HDD when the motherboard quits, this is fine with a desktop, but there are a lot of issues swapping in a laptop. Can be done, but not exactly right when upgrading the OS.
In this case, I connected my new laptop to the backup desktop with an Ethernet cable a copied away.
Bob
In this case, I connected my new laptop to the backup desktop with an Ethernet cable a copied away.
Bob
If data is valuable and critical, use a redundant drive array like RAID 5. It allows no loss of data or time as you can pop in spare and it rebuild on the fly and you are back to having redundant system. If even more critical, have remotely located drive in another location in case of fire/theft, etc that is backed up automatically. It's not expensive anymore to do all this as drives are cheap compared to the value of your time.
2 types of HDD "fail".
1- "click of death" (sudden)= controller failure. Find a similar model , replace the controller board. You might get the remaining MTBF hours out of the unit.
2-Un-correctable sector/errors , will "trip" S.M.A.R.T. (below - my oldest HDD ,1888 days). Best to remove any data you can , as failure of (more) magnetic data will soon follow.
(professional recovery can be the last resort).
Seagate is the BEST ! Many failures of Samsung/hitachi. SOME WD Hdd's can last 70-100K hours , others not so long (depends on model).
I had a 7 year old Intel dual core motherboard die recently. All the HDD's survived .So did the processor, video card and memory. The 12V supply failed in the main PC power supply - the capacitor leaked. This allowed ripple to the 3 phase motherboard regulator , which made those caps leak as well.
The 5V and 12V auxiliary supplies are less likely to be stressed , so HDD's and other devices (CD/DVD) are less likely to fail. Newer PC's needing extra 12V supplies for power hungry processors will most likely have DUAL 12V supplies.
I keep my data redundant on my network (an E-waste PC w/ 2 200gig HDD's).
Also back up on DVD. Some (2 out of 500) of my 9 year old DVD's have failed , but I have a 5 year backup schedule.
Soon , the heck with magnetic for archived files ....
Millenniata, Ritek Produce New 25GB Blu-ray - HomeMediaMagazine The M-DISC?
or -
A Blu-ray Disc That Lasts 1,000 Years Guarantees Caddyshack Lives On
Blue-ray written in "stone". 1-2 years this will be the standard. 😎
OS
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hmmm a disc that lasts 1000 years, yeah right. I remember when CD-R came out and the claim was that it would last 100 years. Bzzzt.
Another important thing to remember is off site storage. Backups are great for dealing with hardware failures, but if they are in your house, and your house burns down then you are out of luck.
I've been considering this lately (I run raid on my computers and have multiple copies of important stuff across different computers, and some DVD backups as well ) but I'm not protected if someone was to steal ALL of my computers, or my house was to burn down.
Some of the online backup solutions look to be an attractive way of dealing with this issue.
Tony.
Another important thing to remember is off site storage. Backups are great for dealing with hardware failures, but if they are in your house, and your house burns down then you are out of luck.
I've been considering this lately (I run raid on my computers and have multiple copies of important stuff across different computers, and some DVD backups as well ) but I'm not protected if someone was to steal ALL of my computers, or my house was to burn down.
Some of the online backup solutions look to be an attractive way of dealing with this issue.
Tony.
With a 5 minute Google search I can give you dozens of forum posts claiming the exact opposite. The simple truth is that unless you run a fairly big datacenter with thousands of drives, any 'from my experience manufacturer X makes reliable drives' is completely anecdotal and irrelevant.
Time Machine. App built in, just buy an external drive and Bob's your uncle. 😉
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Machine_(Mac_OS)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Machine_(Mac_OS)
Yeah, my PS3 died on me. YLOD. I hardly used it lately, but I've pre-ordered the PS4.
Anyways, I think the next PC I get will be an android tablet or chromebook. Re-installing software is a PITA.
Anyways, I think the next PC I get will be an android tablet or chromebook. Re-installing software is a PITA.
I had your problem a few years back and it's a HORRIBLE feeling. In my case the HDD did not mechanically fail but got corrupted in track zero. "GetDataBack" available for FAT or NTFS was about $80 and found the files and copied them to a new HDD. It was not 100% but it was close enough. The files that were lost were a few small .DOC files. No .JPG, .FLAC, .MPG, .WAV files were lost or damaged.
The machines are using the spinning drives for data only and each has a 120gB SSD for OS and apps. If you keep images up to date, it takes about an hour to plug in a new SSD and restore the image. I have 4 machines and 5 SSDs.
G²
bingo - actually the Time Capsules have built in HDD and pretty good router as well , but not all folks wanna run a Mac, and it never hurts to have multiples - they're not redundant when you need them
and re the "quote" post in now closed thread - not always 😀
I've found over the years that having a power supply that provides plenty of power to all the hardware along with ample ventilation and CPU cooling helps prolong the life of all the hardware in addition to the HDD's.
The last PC I built I decided to avoid going with cheap stuff and my PC runs so much better.
Sure...even the best stuff dies eventually...and that is where redundancy helps.
The last PC I built I decided to avoid going with cheap stuff and my PC runs so much better.
Sure...even the best stuff dies eventually...and that is where redundancy helps.
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