Comments on: Managing Computer File Clutter Pt. 2: External Storage

By: Tasha

Tasha — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 01:23:52 +0000

I’m currently using DropBox because I don’t need that much space. It’s free for 2G, makes backups of everything, and the biggest advantage is that it will synch between all three computers I use. The files are saved locally as well to Dropbox, so I have four copies of everything (one on each computer and one on Dropbox), so if any or all computers fail, there’s still a copy or copies out there. If I accidentally save over something, it’s easily undone at dropbox.com. I can buy more space as I need it, and backing up is as easy as saving to another directory. You can use it for free. The disadvantage I see is that you can’t backup entire programs/computers to it, only your document/graphics files. But all I want to do is backup the documents, so it’s ideal for me as a writer.

By: Helicopter Toys

Helicopter Toys — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:53:56 +0000

Thanks for your recommendations for offsite backup and storage of files. I have looked all that have been suggested but can’t work out which one is the best servie!?! I need upto 400gb. I could do with regular access to these files also? Has anyone used Mozy, XDrive, Box.net or Carbonite. I would like to go with a company that has been recommended! Any help would be much appreciated!

By: radio controlled aeroplanes

radio controlled aeroplanes — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 14:26:54 +0000

I manage several websites my computer which also harbours my personal files and folders and I agree that the only way forward is to be rigours and sometimes callous and destroy unnecessary files/data – it’s hard to set time aside but once a month I find for me it is essential to ‘spring clean’ as it were! I like suggestions about dating folders – I think this approach would suit my way of working and I reckon that is what it is all about! Find a way to work that suits you and fits into you way of working – no complicated systems or duplications – keep it simple and regularly do your filing/organising/housekeeping – because it becomes an absolute nightmare if you leave it 6 months. Excellent advice and thanks to everyone who has commented also – we all can find more efficient ways of working even when we think we have got our systems running efficiently.

By: dj

dj — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 20:22:00 +0000

Not sure when my Maxtor One Touch is “full”….as there is no indicator with it. Does anyone have experience with Maxtor?

By: Erica

Erica — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 16:07:14 +0000

What do you think about backing up a mobile phone database? There is an option of periodically going through and manually typing everything up into a word document. Which works well but as it is so time consuming, it’s generally not going to be kept up to date. Then you also lose any special text messages you may be keeping, etc. Any ideas? After losing (then thankfully finding) my mobile this weekend the fear is now in me.

By: tru

tru — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:42:06 +0000

I like the suggestions. One thing im against is online storage. I had over 500 songs online. Long story short, all the data and music is gone. That is what prompted me 2 buy my maxtor one touch. I am making sure it does not happen again.

By: Jose Rivera

Jose Rivera — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 04:13:32 +0000

I have been using Mozy for a couple of months and it is very reliable. It is not a backup if it doesn’t include an off site component.

By: Leah

Leah — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:40:46 +0000

My favorite Online Storage is GSpace from Google. 2GB FREE online Storage with EACH FREE Mail account you sign up for.

You can play your music from GSpace too. It is an add-on through Mozilla Firefox which is MUCH better than IE everyone seems to use. The add-ons Firefox has are great!

An old-time favorite for file organization without the hassle of “MOVING” the files is: Where-Is-It (whereisit-soft.com)

and last but not least for REAL, no-catch, FREE stuff check out “My Place-Where everything is FREE!” It’s NOT mine, it’s someone named “Dave” in Australia.

He’s got lots of FREE website graphics, JavaScript, Animated Gifs, Flash, Fonts, Jokes, Trivia, Quotes and things like Polls and Counters to put on your website that update every so often…there’s a name for that. (dynamic??)

By: lachlan

lachlan — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 03:44:28 +0000

i’ve almost completed a 366project of my daughter’s first year, so back up is VERY important to me (can’t replace those photos).

so i back up to an external HDD, then onto my flash drive (which goes onto my work PC) then i upload the photos to flickr.

has anyone noticed though how if you upload a 5mb photo to flickr and then download it it’s only 3-4mb? i’m not sure flickr is THAT good for photo backup

plus i back up anything else i don’t want to lose to the external HDD.

By: Alderete

Alderete — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:26:55 +0000

I’m a fan of CrashPlan, which lets you back up to your friends’ computers, in encrypted form, and also to a central service. It’s a bit more expensive than Mozy, but the user interface and functionality of the application are better. Works on Windows and Mac systems, and should actually work for any system that can run Java.

The best thing about CrashPlan is that it is install, configure, and forget. All backups happen in the background, automatically; in that sense it’s a lot like Time Machine, but your backups are remote, protected off-site.

If you’ve ever had your house burglarized, or had a house fire, you understand why that’s important…

By: Amber

Amber — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 16:58:23 +0000

I have an external hard drive, but i don’t trust it any more than my computer hard drive. My last external drive blew up for no apparent reason & lost everything. I did buy another one, but now, in addition, i store all my documents online as well.

GOOGLE DOCS is free and i LOVE it! And it has a search box so that finding them takes seconds. I’ve copied all my documents from Word on my drive into Google Docs now. I don’t even think about my hard drives any more because i now do all document writing & storing on Google Docs online.

By: Ellie

Ellie — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 11:32:01 +0000

Funny story – we bought a WD MyBook in the last few weeks to attach to our Airport Extreme Base Station to store our music for our iTunes libraries, some shared documents, and our back ups (we have a desktop computer each plus a laptop each). We set up our back ups from our desktops and laptops to the WD MyBook, transferred the music and the shared docs to the MyBook and gleefully erased music and documents from our computers to free up space.

One week later the WD MyBook went off the air – I don’t think it was a physical failure, it seemed to be related to an Airport firmware update but who knows. Of course, we hadn’t even considered backing up what was on it!

Luckily some recovery software got back what we’d lost, we reformatted the WD MyBook, have set up back ups for it and we are tentatively waiting to see if the WD MyBook is going to do it again…

I’m going to check out some of the online back up solutions mentioned here.

By: amy

amy — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:59:28 +0000

another shoult out for Jungle, lovely stuff…

Although the port it uses is the same as my (EasyPHP) Apache web server so I I cna’t have both running at once.. must sort that out

By: Melissa

Melissa — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:45:25 +0000

our hard drive “bit the dust” on easter sunday. you are right- it is not an if but a when!

how happy was i when i knew that my husband had been backing up our data all along using two external hard drives. our digital pictures, tax returns and music were not lost forever!

By: Jenny

Jenny — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 05:46:08 +0000

For all online backup, file sharing and storage related info, I recommend this website:

http://www.BackupReview.info