Back in the Saddle Again

Entry posted by Flack March 9, 2007

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After two days of reloading, restoring and reconfiguring, I'm glad to announce my return to the online world. If there were two lessons to be learned, they were "never experiment with encryption software without a good backup first," and "make sure you know what you're backing up."

I've got a pretty wide backup net cast at this point. Not too long ago I added an additional 300 gig hard drive to my server, where the data from our laptops and workstations (yes, this is at home) get backed up to nightly. After a crash like I experienced this week, I was estatic to see just how much data I was able to restore, but slightly disappointed at what I had let slip through the cracks. For example, I've been backing up my My Documents folder (which is good -- things like the books I've written are stored there), but not my Program Files directory. About two months ago I installed a program that helps you keep track of your music and programs. I spent the better part of two weeks putting all my CDs into my laptop. Unfortunately, all that information resided in my Program Files directory. And now it's gone. Bummer.

Lessons learned from this experience:

- Separate your programs and your data.

- Backup your data.

- Verify your backups.

- Don't install experimental encryption software without backing up your machine first (in retrospect, this one seems obvious).

The other thing I lost is my e-mail directory, which includes my list of e-mail addresses. If you get a chance, drop me an e-mail at robohara (at) robohara (dot) com when you get a chance so I'll have your address on file again.

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EricBall 258

Posted March 10, 2007

related wisdom:

- Don't use experimental compression software without . . .

- Make sure you back up any applications you don't have install media for. This includes patches & updates to applications you do have install media for. (This goes double for device drivers and anything you aren't continuously updating.)

- Try to back up configuration data too. This includes the Registry, the Protected Password Storage, and the Windows Product Registration files

Finally, a backup which is readable without special software is worth double one which requires you to re-install the backup software first.

(There's a rule of thumb I have had for a long while: if you don't want to type it in again, make a backup!)