Re: COMP: Record keeping databases
From: Glenn Simmons <poppies@worldspy.net>
mtirisgirl@web-you.com wrote:
> From: mtirisgirl@web-you.com
>
> Betty,
> If you rely on floppies, you're gonna get let down again ... always make 2
> and don't re-use them more than a few times. (But they make great coasters)
>
> Shan & Janet
> in Billings (Spring Storm) MT
>
> >From: "Betty Coyle" <irislady@northcoast.com>
>
> >and
> >everytime I finish for the day or any part of a day, I back up the data to
> >a floppy which I store in a separate place.
>
Betty, the comment about floppies is correct. Floppies have a tendency to go
bad if left sitting for extended periods of time. If you have all your data
backed up on floppies then need to restore and those floppies have been sitting
there for a long time you may not be able to use them.
A Read/Write CD ROM Drive would be a better choice plus the cd would sure hold a
lot more data.
A friend of mine owns a computer store and what he recommended to me at first
sounded a little strange but after some thought it made sense. His
recommendation was to buy and use another Hard Drive as a back-up and only to
use it for that purpose. You can buy a "carriage" that holds a hard drive and
allows you to "plug" the hard drive in when you need it and to unplug and remove
it when you don't need it. This would take one of the 5 1/4 inch bays in your
computer and most likely will cost you less money than the R/W CD ROM Drive and
it will be considerably faster than the CD R/W Drive.
When my friend told me about doing this I first thought he was crazy. I
couldn't imagine buying a large hard drive and leaving it sitting on a shelf
unused 99% of the time. Because the price of hard drives has come down so much
it actually makes this kind of a back-up feasible. Also, remember, if you use a
CD drive as a back up you are actually handling the cd's with your hands and
every time you pick one of them up you are taking a chance of damaging the cd
and if you accidentally scratch the cd you may not be able to get the data back
off from it.
After giving it quite a bit of thought I think the hard drive idea is a very
good idea. I do not do back-ups at this time even though I know better! I am
taking a very big gamble that nothing is going to go wrong but if it does I am
up the creek. I am going to use the hard drive back-up method. I have already
bought myself another hard drive now I just need to buy the removable
"carriage." The cost of this carriage is about $25.00, so you can see it is not
expensive.
Any way, here is something you can think about.
Glenn
--
Glenn, Linda & Matthew Simmons
Springfield, Southwest Missouri, USDA Climate Zone 6, USA
p*@worldspy.net (Primary)
G*@juno.com (Secondary)
G*@netscape.net (Last!)
SETI At Home Host: (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence at Home)
SETI needs more home volunteers so if interested check web site below
www.setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/index.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GET A NEXTCARD VISA, in 30 seconds! Get rates
as low as 0.0% Intro APR and no hidden fees.
Apply NOW!
http://click.egroups.com/1/975/0/_/486170/_/952761036/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
