bruceb news

It can be devastating to lose all the information stored in Outlook. You can back up all that data in just a few steps. Here’s some simple instructions.

As more people get CD recorders, it makes sense to use them for backups. There’s a number of ways to do that, but many of you should consider investing in a backup program that works with CDRs. I’m going to get Veritas Backup Exec Desktop Pro. It backs up across a peer-to-peer network onto CDRs and includes disaster recovery features and a lot of flexibility. There’s a lot of competitors, but Veritas is a big company that’s likely to survive – I’ve had two backup companies go out of business on me, and it’s no fun to realize your tapes are obsolete and unsupported. […] continued

Pardon me if I’m a bit distracted today. I just lost the hard drive with the operating system on my main office system. When this happened a couple of weeks ago, it was my fault. This time, it’s just a hard drive failure, nothing more. No data’s been lost, I’ll be back up and running in a few hours – but jeez, I’m bored with reinstalling programs. As for you – have you done a backup lately? Hard drives go bad, and if your data is lost, you won’t describe yourself as “bored.”

Symantec circulated a very nice list of basic ways to protect your computer and preserve your data. This is highly recommended reading. Common sense, plain English descriptions about backups, creating Windows startup disks, updating virus definitions, preventing hackers, disabling the Windows Scripting Host, and more. Check it out!

OnStream made tape backup systems. I loved them. Unparalleled reliability. A unique tape format, but I never had a problem with one of their cartridges. When I think of the hours I’ve lost wrestling with conventional Travan tape drives . . . well, OnStream was like a breath of fresh air. It’s depressing to find out that they filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings today and have apparently closed their doors for good. Here’s the details.