My computer system has three firewalls and four spyware programs, so I was surprised when it started having glitches. The trouble began with an update from one of the spyware programs; apparently my XP wasn’t digesting the codes written for Windows. While trying to patch up the paths, my hard drive died.
Usually this would be a sad tale—the repair expenses, the down time, all the lost data. Not this time! I popped in a new hard drive and forty-five minutes later my computer was right back to normal –right down to the emails. How is that possible? I keep regular back-ups on an external hard drive.
If you don’t keep regular back-ups yet, please start. You never know when some little link or download will cause disaster. There are many ways back-up your system but the one I swear by is Acronis True Image. Acronis creates a mirror copy of my entire system. Yes, all of it! The operating system, the emails, all my programs and pictures...everything is copied and ready to
reinstall with just a few clicks. In fact, Acronis will even format your new drive. How easy is it? Just follow the prompts. If you can answer multiple choice questions you can use Acronis. How do you keep your data safe? Do you use a different back-up system? Share your favorite back-up ideas here.
Thanks for asking. I have a MacBook Pro connected to a device from the Mac Store called a Time Machine. It's a plain white box, with no doors or windows and a single green light. If it could talk it might make a great character in a science fiction story.
ReplyDeleteIt has a cable connected to an electrical outlet and another one connected to my Comcast box.
Scary how little I know about these devices that run my life.
Lynn
www.writeradvice.com
Author of You Want Me to Do WHAT? Journaling for Caregivers
Hi Lynn,
ReplyDeleteThanks for offering some information for the Apple users out there! It looks like Time Machine works similarly.
Mac Users--
Time Machine will back up all the data at regular intervals. In event of a crash simply use the install disk to guide you through the data recovery process.
Guess I'd better start being more careful than I've been in the past or I'll be in a lot of trouble! Sounds like YOU'VE got things under control though.
ReplyDelete