Thursday, December 1, 2011

How to keep your work safe with online storage solutions

Computer hardware failures happen when you least expect them, and if your computer is more than a few years old, they'll happen sooner or later. I've heard some real horror stories from students who've lost work in operating system crashes, hard drive failures, and accidental deletion. It happens to everyone. My processor burned up the night before a final paper was due. Fortunately, I had a backup strategy in place, periodically copying my files to another computer. I lost only the last 30 minutes of work, not 30 days worth.


I have not tried all of the sites, but I most often use and highly recommend Dropbox. I also use SugarSync, Box.net, Carbonite, SkyDrive, Google GMail and Docs, and Seagate FreeAgent drives to save my work.


Cloud storage


I use Dropbox to synchronize changes to files in a "My Dropbox" folder on my computer with a mirrored folder on another computer. Whenever I add or edit a file in "My Dropbox" on my laptop, the changes appear within second in the "My Dropbox" folder on my desktop. Dropbox also copies my files to my Dropbox account on the Web.


I also use SugarSync to synchronize files between computers and for access to files from my Android phone with a SugarSync app.


I use Box.net to securely store my files online and configured a "share" folder for sharing files with designated contacts. I've also uploaded Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files to Google Docs and Zoho, and collaborated with my grad school study group members there. Google Docs will now accept file types other than the usual .doc, .xls, and .ppt associated with the Microsoft Office suite. I've uploaded .pdf files, images (.gif, .jpg, .png, etc.), and .zip file archives of papers from my hard drive.


Google Docs now sports a Microsoft Office plugin called Google Cloud Connect. Install the plugin, configure it with your Google Docs account information, and Cloud Connect will save your document to Google Docs every time you click 'Save' in the Office application. In addition, you can view multiple versions (each time you save) of a document in Google Docs. This is handy if you've deleted something and want it back at a later time. Plus, if you share the document with others, you can work collaboratively from your Office application. This is an unbeatable tool for collaborative writing!


There are dozens more online storage sites. Most of them offer a generous amount of storage (1 to 50 GB) for free, mostly supported by advertising. If you need more space, you can sign up for a premium account (more space, no ads) for a reasonable monthly or annual fee. Some services have Firefox extensions that make uploads very easy with a few clicks by browsing and uploading or drag-and-drop.


Even Gmail is a good place to store files. With a very generous 7 GB of free storage (and growing), consider creating a 'storage account' as a safety strategy and emailing your school work there. As each draft is contained in its own email message you needn't be concerned about overwriting, and the message subjects and dates can be used as a sort of version control. Plus, you have Google's famous search engine to help locate your files.
Automated cloud storage services


My Acer netbook came with a desktop application that links to an online file backup/storage site called Carbonite. After a free trial (two weeks, I think), I signed up. A one-year subscription (at the time of this writing) may seem bit pricey at ~$55.00 US, but it saved me a major headache when I was on the road and I needed a file I'd accidentally permanently deleted. I'm assuming it's unlimited and that it backs up my entire netbook. Exploring my account online, I was a surprised to see my entire iTunes library out there in the cloud! The Carbonite client automatically backs up new and changed files while your computer is idle. There's nothing much to configure. It seems to figure out what to do automatically. All file transfers are encrypted for security. When I'd returned home, I put the notebook away until my next trip. About a week later, I received an email from Carbonite notifying me that my Acer hadn't checked in for a backup. You can turn the notifications off, but I like the reminder. Carbonite client software for Mac is available.


Mozy is another auto-backup service. Like Carbonite, you can restore files from the Web with a few clicks. However, Mozy offers 2 GB free (~$55.00 US for unlimited storage at the time of this writing) will deliver your files on DVD via FedEx if you suffer a catastrophic failure and your backups are more than a total of 20 GB. I'm using Mozy on my "school" computer. Mozy is also available for Mac.
External hard drive
FreeAgent drive image by williamli
Two years ago, I purchased a portable, external Seagate FreeAgent 500 GB hard drive that connects to my computer via USB. It comes with backup software which the drive prompts you to install when you first plug it in. It's very simple to use. I now have three FreeAgent drives, one for home backups, one for my Acer Netbook for travel, and one for my iTunes library (~5000 items and growing).
Tell it which folders you want copied, set the schedule, and it does the rest. You can unplug it and use it on another computer in just a few seconds. I now take it with me when I travel and connect it to my netbook. It's about the size of an iPhone. I bought mine at an office supply store, but I see many discount stores have them as well. As the price in storage devices continues to drop, look for some good deals in lower capacity external drives.
Seagate FreeAgent http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/external/freeagent/

USB stick
USB flash drive image by fsse8info

 Nearly everyone is familiar with the USB "thumb drive," "pen drive," or "flash drive." They're relatively inexpensive and come in all shapes, sizes, and storage capacities.
Unlike cloud backup services, however, you have to remember to save your work to them, or read and write directly on them. A USB stick is a small flash memory card inside an enclosure that you plug into a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port on your computer.
You can read/write on this drive the same way you do your fixed, internal hard drives. USB drives are highly portable, which makes them very convenient, but they're also susceptible to corruption by static electricity, accidental removal during a write process, accidental formatting, and loss.


Recovery software

There are a number of data recovery software programs on the market that can help you recover your files. I've had good success recovering photographs from the flash memory in my cell phone with the free application, PC Inspector File Recovery (unfortunately, at the time of this writing it will not run on Windows Visa and is not available for Mac). Here is a list of software applications, many of which have a trial use, either limited by time (14 days, for example), number of files (50 files, for example), or storage capacity (1 GB, for example). To get the fully-featured version, you must pay for a license, usually around $25 to $50 US. For personal home use, the trial versions of these applications are very handy in an emergency:
Conclusion


While it's common to lose a single file to data corruption, accidental deletion, or overwriting, you should never put yourself in a situation where a computer failure would cause you to lose all your work. Using a USB stick, one of the free online storage sites, a backup service, or an external hard drive with backup software can help limit your losses. Take some time to explore these options and build your own strategy.

Shared by editor at 08:15