Don’t forget to floss

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November 29, 2008

By Greg Bott / guest columnist The Meridian Star Sat Nov 29, 2008, 11:38 PM CST

I love Plackers™. Plackers are oversized plastic toothpick-like sticks for flossing your teeth. They have a little piece of floss suspended between two plastic arms and they make it easy and convenient to floss. I was never very consistent with traditional floss, but now I floss just about everywhere--in my car, at the park, at my desk. It’s terribly uncouth, I’m sure, but my dentist is happy and I have clean teeth. That’s the point, right?

Flossing is one of those things we all know we should do, but few of us do it consistently. Backing up your computer’s data is much the same. You know you need to do it, but it just never makes it high enough on the priority list of life. What you need is a floss stick for backing up. Enter online backup services.

There are a number of approaches to backing up your data. You can backup to a tape drive, use an external hard drive, use a secondary computer, keep a perpetual backup copy on a drive that’s mirrored, or use an online service, to mention a few.

So what approach is best? If you are a home user and want simplicity, use an online service. The chief advantage is you won’t lose your data because you forgot to start the backup or because the backup failed. The chief disadvantage is that the service that manages that for you charges a few bucks a month.

Dozens of online services are available, many of which are very good, but if you want hassle-free, reliable, set-and-forget-about-it backup, subscribe to Carbonite (www.carbonite.com). It’ll cost you between $45-50 per year depending on length of your subscription term and works with Windows XP and Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit versions of both). It does not work on any older operating systems nor is it recommended for enterprise business use. A version for Apple Macintosh is expected in the first quarter of 2009 and is currently in beta. Other good online options include Data Deposit Box, IDrive, and MemoPal.

After you’ve installed the small application provided by Carbonite (which takes only a few minutes), you’ll never have to wonder whether your system is backed up again. Nor do you have to learn a new program because Carbonite integrates seamlessly with Windows Explorer, which you already use. Nor do you have to remember to check the backup, change the tape, or make sure the drive is properly connected. The entire process happens in the background.

To let you know what’s backed up, Carbonite places dots on folders and files: green means backed up, yellow means pending backup, and no dot means no backup. If that’s not simple enough, maybe a computer isn’t for you.

How secure is your data? Files are encrypted twice before being transferred from your PC to Carbonite’s data center. To restore a file, simply double-click on the Carbonite Backup Drive on your desktop, find the file and drag it to your desktop or right-click a folder or file for more restore options.

So if you’re not flossing, get Plackers. If you’re not backing up your irreplaceable photos and years of Quicken/MS Money data, you’re in real trouble.

Technically yours.

Greg Bott is a father, an author, programmer, and a technical consultant who resides in Meridian. He has operated his own

consulting firm, Bott Technology Solutions since 1997. He is

currently writing two white papers for Microsoft Corporation about their recently released Essential Business Server.

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