Am I kidding myself that using Google Drive (free) is a good idea for my off-site backup? Every once in awhile I notice its system tray icon is "faded", meaning that it isn't running, probably because I lost the wireless signal on my laptop, possibly because my router seems to require resetting every week or so.
Other than that, I've had no surprises. And did I mention the price? Googling shows failures from both Google Drive and Carbonite, so why pay?
Two weeks ago, I had to reformat my C: partition and so lost the User data that was in it, but I used Ubuntu to copy it onto an external Toshiba hard drive, so, other than the inconvenience, it turned out OK. I didn't consider trying to restore from Google Drive because I felt more comfortable dragging folders onto drive C: after reformat. (I wish I HAD used Google Drive to see how restoring ALL the data would go.)
In the process I learned that Dell Data"Safe" Backup is FAR from it. Took forever to backup, no time at all to FAIL TO RESTORE. Knowing in advance that this is common--i.e., that it is NOT SAFE AT ALL--I used Ubuntu to access the folders on drive C: and copy to external drive.
(Windows backup quit working the day I installed my Seagate external drive. So I wrote my own Java backup program, which seems to work well enough. But since it's not automatic, and since I'm like most people, the backup on it when drive C: went bye-bye wasn't exactly up-to-date. Thank whoever for Ubuntu.)
Other than that, I've had no surprises. And did I mention the price? Googling shows failures from both Google Drive and Carbonite, so why pay?
Two weeks ago, I had to reformat my C: partition and so lost the User data that was in it, but I used Ubuntu to copy it onto an external Toshiba hard drive, so, other than the inconvenience, it turned out OK. I didn't consider trying to restore from Google Drive because I felt more comfortable dragging folders onto drive C: after reformat. (I wish I HAD used Google Drive to see how restoring ALL the data would go.)
In the process I learned that Dell Data"Safe" Backup is FAR from it. Took forever to backup, no time at all to FAIL TO RESTORE. Knowing in advance that this is common--i.e., that it is NOT SAFE AT ALL--I used Ubuntu to access the folders on drive C: and copy to external drive.
(Windows backup quit working the day I installed my Seagate external drive. So I wrote my own Java backup program, which seems to work well enough. But since it's not automatic, and since I'm like most people, the backup on it when drive C: went bye-bye wasn't exactly up-to-date. Thank whoever for Ubuntu.)
My Computer
At a glance
Windows 7 SP1 64 bit Home PremiumIntel Core I5-2430 @ 2.4GHz8GB
- Computer type
- Laptop
- Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
- Dell
- OS
- Windows 7 SP1 64 bit Home Premium
- CPU
- Intel Core I5-2430 @ 2.4GHz
- Memory
- 8GB
