Aura I AM PEVEED! Maybe some one can help me..... - Page 4

meeera · 03-19-2017, 09:11 AM

Books, music, photos, movies, pictures of my kid's art, sheet music, receipts, tax and insurance records, recipes, crafting logs, calendars, contacts, passwords, email records, rss feeds/subscriptions, to-do lists, wishlists, medical records, manuals of appliances and tech, family oral history.... Very little of this is readily replaceable.

pdurrant · 03-19-2017, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poppaea

Now I am sitting here wondering whatever happened to good old brains and memory?

I never made a backup in my entire life and still had no problems when my computers died on me, which they happen to do every two years or so. WTF do you guys have on your computers to make you go through all this trouble/work????

The most obvious thing would be content created on the computer, rather than downloaded from elsewhere, or stored in the cloud.

If you only use a computer for (say) browsing the internet, you probably have no need of backups.

latepaul · 03-19-2017, 10:43 AM

I was thinking something similar this morning: if you can survive a PC crash without a backup with a shrug then you probably be better off with a Chromebook or a tablet.

My reasons for backing up are similar to others mentioned:

not wanting to re-rip my CD and DVD collections
not wanting to re-download and re-de-DRM my ebooks (with Amazon's current activities this is especially true)
wanting to keep my photos (most of which aren't on Facebook etc)
wanting to keep my writing. Haven't written anything for a few years but it's nice to keep the old stories.
I have other things I keep e.g/ an archive of a now-defunct website that I used to use a lot. Various other things that the internet at large may not care enough about to keep.
just having lost data before makes you want to back up

Also, backups are not just for crashes. Sometimes you accidentally delete a file and want it back. Sometimes you delete or change a file and then need to see a previous version.

Final word on backups. A couple of maxims I've learned from my day job as a software developer:

Quote:

Recovery needs drive backup policy

Quote:

If you haven't tested restoring from your backup, you haven't got a backup

HarryT · 03-19-2017, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by latepaul

I was thinking something similar this morning: if you can survive a PC crash without a backup with a shrug then you probably be better off with a Chromebook or a tablet.

Exactly. My iPad is my content-consumption device. My laptop is my content-creation device. I'm a keen photographer and my Adobe Lightroom library of 50,000+ photographs represents years of work, which I'd be somewhat annoyed to lose. Hence it has three independent backups in three separate physical locations.

Likewise my Calibre and iTunes libraries.

DNSB · 03-19-2017, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by latepaul

Quote:
If you haven't tested restoring from your backup, you haven't got a backup

Final word on backups. A couple of maxims I've learned from my day job as a software developer:

If you haven't tested restoring from your backup, you haven't got a backup.

That comment brought back horrible memories. At my employer several years agon, when the backup system was switched to an LTO tape library with a new backup software package, the software company rep came in and set it up. All looked fine for about 6 months until we needed to recover a file. At that time, we discovered that the software was set to test mode so it went through all the steps of the backup until it came to actually writing to tape. We added doing a test file recovery to the steps before the tape set was couriered offsite. Though they are no longer using that system, the testing is still done.

On the missing file, we got lucky -- one of the devs had made a local copy to work on over the weekend (very contrary to corporate policy but in this case, they were willing to overlook the infraction).

Poppaea · 03-19-2017, 04:26 PM

Ok, guys and dolls. I see. You go through a lot of trouble and time to preserve the things dear or valuable to you and those you perceive as valuable. Looks like I don't value things

(Which is so not true! I love beautiful things! I just don't like stuff.)

I don't take photographs as I try to be aware enough of my surroundings to remember them. I also find whereever I travel a professional photographer already took pictures of the sights far better than I ever could.

Although I have some on my computer, I see no need to keep music "in the house" because I can stream it. Same applies to movies. So if I'd loose them, I really wouldn't care.

Books are on the reader. I have to admit it would be a hassle to get them back again, but I wouldn't have to re-download all the books I ever bought back, only those I haven't read yet.

Documents... I guess I don't have many. Even if I would loose them, they most probably would be some kind of contract and that would also be in the possession of the one I made it with. Letters/emails likewise. Same applies to the oral history someone mentioned, this is what my dentist has in their files, why should I store a duplicate? Calender, telephone numbers and adresses are in my memory.

The thing is, I gave away all my physical books every time they became too many for my limited apartment space. I once lost all my vinyl records, which seemed to be a devastating loss at the time. Turned out it wasn't, as the CDs were just taking over and they were new and exciting at the time, so I bought a lot of it again and some new ones too. And I learned over time, I don't need to have it in my possesion. I didn't miss the books I gave away and I didn't miss my records or later the CDs when I got rid of those. We can access all these things all the time now that there is internet.

I try not to hoard/collect anything as I already have far too many possesions without collecting stuff on purpose on top of it. You'd be surprised by how little of our stuff we really need. Its like with the clothes in your closet, only a fraction of what is in there gets worn, the rest is "just-in-case" stuff.

So, what this boils down to for me is: I understand those of you who create something or other (write/photograph/compose etc) wanting to preserve their output.

As for the tablet suggestions made to me, well, I always do have a tablet around to surf with, but only use it for reading websites. I really prefer a bigger screen to watch a movie every now and then because I don't have a tv and a keyboard to type on, so I got both. And of course my Calibre collection has to "live" somewhere ;-)

Funny how different we all are, isn't it?

Poppaea · 03-19-2017, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

The most obvious thing would be content created on the computer, rather than downloaded from elsewhere, or stored in the cloud.

This is true. You are right, I didn't think of it right away as the things I create aren't made on a computer. Thank you for pointing this out to me!

Poppaea · 03-19-2017, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Where have you been?

Ripplinger · 03-19-2017, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poppaea

(Which is so not true! I love beautiful things! I just don't like stuff.)

That's the point though for all of us. We don't like "stuff" that clutters and takes up space either, and that's why we've gone digital. Any important document, including tax returns, contracts, insurance, medical records, etc., I scan so I can dump the paper clutter.

I'd much rather have a few hard drives, USB drives, and/or cloud storage that keep all the above safe and organized rather than rooms and rooms of clutter and endless drawers of files that need to be dusted, sorted, dusted, organized, dusted more, etc.

meeera · 03-19-2017, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poppaea

Same applies to the oral history someone mentioned, this is what my dentist has in their files, why should I store a duplicate?

That's not what oral history means.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poppaea

Calender, telephone numbers and adresses are in my memory.

*boggles*

I can't begin to imagine that. I can't even remember the phone numbers and addresses of all of my family members, let alone friends etc.

anacreon · 03-20-2017, 04:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poppaea

Ok, guys and dolls. I see. You go through a lot of trouble and time to preserve the things dear or valuable to you and those you perceive as valuable. Looks like I don't value things

(Which is so not true! I love beautiful things! I just don't like stuff.)

I don't take photographs as I try to be aware enough of my surroundings to remember them. I also find whereever I travel a professional photographer already took pictures of the sights far better than I ever could.

Don't you have family photographs? They are important in building self, added to oral and written history - which was all there was before photography, at least for those who couldn't afford portrait painters (and there were wandering painters who did provide fairly cheap stuff). And using them when taking care of people with Alzheimer is very useful.

My father's side of the family were photograph buffs and we have photographs starting in 1860 (nothing much on my mother's side - they were bombed in 1944). A photographer brother put a big selection of everything on file and catalogued, which makes it accessible to everybody - who had to contribute photos and information. It is wonderful.

My best friend was born in Romania, which they managed to leave when family paid gold from abroad to the communist regime (as Jews, the children weren't allowed to study above high school level). The regime didn't allow them to take anything with them, not even family photographs.

Quote:

Documents... I guess I don't have many. Even if I would loose them, they most probably would be some kind of contract and that would also be in the possession of the one I made it with. Letters/emails likewise. Same applies to the oral history someone mentioned, this is what my dentist has in their files, why should I store a duplicate? Calender, telephone numbers and adresses are in my memory.

My oh my! If you can, read "Memory in the Real World" curated by Gillian Cohen and Martin Conway, to see how everybody builds, modifies and loses memories.

ZodWallop · 03-20-2017, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poppaea

Books are on the reader. I have to admit it would be a hassle to get them back again, but I wouldn't have to re-download all the books I ever bought back, only those I haven't read yet.

I admire your minimalist esthetic and would like to go that way myself.

But with books at least, I do have the problem of buying the bulk of them from Amazon though I don't have a Kindle. Amazon's recent shenanigans mean it is at least a possibility that even though I'll have access to my books, they won't be in a format that is usable to me. So I would be a fool to not make back-ups of the de-DRMed books I've purchased.

Of course, I've created my own problem by buying books from a store I don't have a reader for. But then that's why I make my own back-ups.

03-19-2017, 04:26 PM	#51
Poppaea Lucifer's Bat Posts: 2,536 Karma: 19491715 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Earth/Berlin Device: Kobo Libra 2	Ok, guys and dolls. I see. You go through a lot of trouble and time to preserve the things dear or valuable to you and those you perceive as valuable. Looks like I don't value things (Which is so not true! I love beautiful things! I just don't like stuff.) I don't take photographs as I try to be aware enough of my surroundings to remember them. I also find whereever I travel a professional photographer already took pictures of the sights far better than I ever could. Although I have some on my computer, I see no need to keep music "in the house" because I can stream it. Same applies to movies. So if I'd loose them, I really wouldn't care. Books are on the reader. I have to admit it would be a hassle to get them back again, but I wouldn't have to re-download all the books I ever bought back, only those I haven't read yet. Documents... I guess I don't have many. Even if I would loose them, they most probably would be some kind of contract and that would also be in the possession of the one I made it with. Letters/emails likewise. Same applies to the oral history someone mentioned, this is what my dentist has in their files, why should I store a duplicate? Calender, telephone numbers and adresses are in my memory. The thing is, I gave away all my physical books every time they became too many for my limited apartment space. I once lost all my vinyl records, which seemed to be a devastating loss at the time. Turned out it wasn't, as the CDs were just taking over and they were new and exciting at the time, so I bought a lot of it again and some new ones too. And I learned over time, I don't need to have it in my possesion. I didn't miss the books I gave away and I didn't miss my records or later the CDs when I got rid of those. We can access all these things all the time now that there is internet. I try not to hoard/collect anything as I already have far too many possesions without collecting stuff on purpose on top of it. You'd be surprised by how little of our stuff we really need. Its like with the clothes in your closet, only a fraction of what is in there gets worn, the rest is "just-in-case" stuff. So, what this boils down to for me is: I understand those of you who create something or other (write/photograph/compose etc) wanting to preserve their output. As for the tablet suggestions made to me, well, I always do have a tablet around to surf with, but only use it for reading websites. I really prefer a bigger screen to watch a movie every now and then because I don't have a tv and a keyboard to type on, so I got both. And of course my Calibre collection has to "live" somewhere ;-) Funny how different we all are, isn't it? Last edited by Poppaea; 03-19-2017 at 04:31 PM.

03-19-2017, 09:11 AM	#46
meeera Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,659 Karma: 66420972 Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Libra 2, iPadMini4, iPad4, MBP; support other Kobo/Kindles	Books, music, photos, movies, pictures of my kid's art, sheet music, receipts, tax and insurance records, recipes, crafting logs, calendars, contacts, passwords, email records, rss feeds/subscriptions, to-do lists, wishlists, medical records, manuals of appliances and tech, family oral history.... Very little of this is readily replaceable.