Must remember to backup...

[Mahone]

As someone who works in IT, I'm ashamed to admit that I have just lost everything on my iphone due to not backing it up. That is including (but not limited to) contacts, calendar information, pictures, apps and text messages. Argh. I guess that comes from my extreme dislike of itunes, and therefore refusing to install it onto my computer.

All I can do now is hope I connected it to my (itunes infested) computer at work some time recently to charge it... (doubtful).

I can now no longer give people that typical IT geek grin when they admit they didn't have a backup of the document that has taken them 5 years to write, is worth £5,000,000, and was stored on a USB flash drive that had travelled through the intestines of their dog, and is now wondering why it doesn't work. The shame...

[Dravin]

Not that one shouldn't back up valuable data on more than a thumb drive, but those things are remarkably robust.

[skippy740]

TrueCrypt - Free Open-Source On-The-Fly Disk Encryption Software for Windows 7/Vista/XP, Mac OS X and Linux

Free encryption software for all storage devices.

I don't trust flash drives. I've had too many fail on me.

I don't trust hard drives. I've had too many of THOSE fail on me too.

I have 2 external hard drives - one to CLONE my system to and one to do a regular incremental backup. Pretty difficult for 3 hard drives to fail on me all at the same time.

I also use Carbonite for an online backup system.

Don't know what you could've done for an iphone. Just regular 'syncing' should've worked to back up your data - even without itunes? (I don't have an iphone and never plan to own one.)

[Mahone]

Not that one shouldn't back up valuable data on more than a thumb drive, but those things are remarkably robust.

I would beg to differ

I get at least three people come to me a week with broken flash drives. They used to be robust when they first became popular, but nowadays people tend to buy flash drives that look more like a decoration or keyring, which is about as robust as a candyfloss umbrella. The most common problem I get is the USB connector physically breaking off from the main circuit board. If I'm feeling generous in these cases, I'll sit there with some wires and a soldering iron :)

TrueCrypt - Free Open-Source On-The-Fly Disk Encryption Software for Windows 7/Vista/XP, Mac OS X and Linux

Free encryption software for all storage devices.

I like truecrypt. But I'd only ever use it when absolutely necessary i.e. very sensitive data that could cause a lot of problems if it gets out into the open. Encrypting it is a risk for loss in itself if you don't have an unencrypted backup. Personally, I prefer the method of just simply not taking the data physically offsite via any medium. Use remote access instead :)

I have 2 external hard drives - one to CLONE my system to and one to do a regular incremental backup. Pretty difficult for 3 hard drives to fail on me all at the same time.

I also use Carbonite for an online backup system.

I have a file server where all my important data goes. This data is all synced over the internet nightly (obviously encrypted during transfer) to a file server in a family members house. If one server dies, I have the other as backup.

I would use a third party online backup system, but I have almost 2TB of data on each file server right now. Each file server has a max capacity of just under 4TB. I don't know any third party company that would allow for that kind of storage

Don't know what you could've done for an iphone. Just regular 'syncing' should've worked to back up your data - even without itunes? (I don't have an iphone and never plan to own one.)

There are many ways of backing up all the data on an iphone. I just never did, I never saw it as important enough to schedule a regular backup for. And it's not really, merely an irritation. The firmware became corrupt, I had no choice but to do a full restore to get the phone operational again. The iphone is far too locked down for conventional ways of recovering data unfortunately.

Edited October 2, 2010 by Mahone

[PrinceofLight2000]

I use an old ipod with a cracked screen to back up my entire user account on my laptop. Thanks for reminding me, I need to do that again. haha.

[Dravin]

I get at least three people come to me a week with broken flash drives. They used to be robust when they first became popular, but nowadays people tend to buy flash drives that look more like a decoration or keyring, which is about as robust as a candyfloss umbrella. The most common problem I get is the USB connector physically breaking off from the main circuit board. If I'm feeling generous in these cases, I'll sit there with some wires and a soldering iron

Considering what they are they are fairly robust. I've had them go through the wash and still come out fine, though admittedly they are older models I'm thinking of. You obviously know what they look like when the pretty case is removed, all told it's fairly remarkable what they can survive through.

That is not to say they are indestructible but I'd take a thumb drive run through the wash or left in someones pocket for months on end over a 3.5" or a 5.25" floppy subjected to the same. I suppose it all depends on your frame of reference. I also consider most cell phones to be fairly robust considering the abuse they go through, it's more than I think quite a lot of my other electronics could handle. Though that's not to say they can take anything or that certain models aren't more robust than others.

Of course maybe I just have an outdated view on the robustness of consumer electronics in general.

[miztrniceguy]

I use Lookout Mobile Security on my Crackberry.

[marshac]

Check out sugarsync! I love it!

www.sugarsync.com

[Guest xforeverxmetalx]

I don't have a whole lot to back up so I just zipped all my important files and put it on my Gmail. My music collection, however, is fairly large so I'm working on figuring out the best free online storage solution. Since I don't really trust any external drives. So far my best bet seems to be the Skydrive.