Today’s mystery is a universal mystery for most people including most all genealogy people.
WHY DON’T WE REGULARLY AND PROPERLY BACK UP OUR PROGRAMS AND FILES AND DOCUMENTS AND AND AND AND………………………….. WHY DO WE NOT?????
Do you do regular computer backups? WHY? What motivates YOU to complete this vital research step??
I really would like to hear from all of you with your good reasons, bad reasons and whinnings.
Okay. We know we should back up our everything but we don’t for perhaps one or more of these reasons:
- It won’t happen to me. (Yah, sure.)
- I don’t know how. (You can/should learn how.)
- I think it happens automatically. (If you’ve set it up that way, yes.)
- There are so many choices and methods that I’m overwhelmed. (Start at the beginning and learn.)
- There is nothing that important on my computer. (Your genealogy files aren’t important??)
- These backup plans cost too much. (How much is your genealogy worth to you?)
- Just didn’t realize I should. (You been living under a rock?)
I just asked Grandma Google (who knows and happily tells all) for this phrase: “how to backup your computer.” There were 807,000 hits in 0.63 seconds. Would surely be the same when you talk to Grandma Google. Do you think that amidst those 807,000 hits that there are some tutorials for you? Answers for you?
I agree, 807,000 hits to explore is way too overwhelming. I do have a life and so do you. So skip through those 807,000 listings and pick a few that look the best to you……perhaps by companies or speakers or bloggers that you trust.
If all else fails, ask these two questions at your next genealogy gathering: (1) What back up plan do you use on your computer? (2) Will you teach me?
It’s “only” your life’s work, right?
Or maybe share with me how this sharp poke in the tail motivated you to action. Great.
You’re preaching to the choir, Donna. I mention this at least once a month at Genealogy ReFocus! Three backups in Three places. NOT next to your computer! First day of every months is BACKUP day!
I do a daily backup to iDrive cloud, weekly financial files to a flash drive kept in my safe, and monthly to an external drive also kept in my safe. In addition, one extra external drive is done every other month and stored in my storage unit.
Overkill? I don’t think so, especially when my windows operating system crashed!
I can’t count the number of times I’ve “preached” this. I subscribe to Eastman’s Online Genealogy blog. On the first of each month, his first post is “It’s the first of the month, back up your files!”
I use a flash drive (goes in Safe Deposit box), an external drive (on desk) and the cloud. All pretty simple. And am I glad, cuz my lap tops have crashed more than once. AAAAAAGH!
Back in the old days when I worked at law offices, it was way beyond useful to backup whatever was done – for many reasons. Thus, for reasons stated above (I, too, have had my operating system crash, among other things), it is worth the cost to have an automatic backup if you don’t want to do it yourself. I use Carbonite ($99 for two computers yearly)and it has been WONDERFUL for the twice I have needed it! They all speak perfect English and they all are like super-geeks…they can rattle off anything you need, guide you, and help you at a moment’s notice! I also have ALL my thousands of photos backed up and, as you can imagine, that is priceless!