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Ok, not really paranoid, but at least concerned about the importance of the notes and outlines that I'll have, plus any other important school information.

I'm going to have what I need on my laptop, of course. However, beyond that I'm curious what other students are doing (or plan on doing) that falls short of "tin foil hats" yet is better than "why is my hard drive not working when it has my only copies of the data". The two options I see are

1 - External hard drive - This would be easy to use, just plug it in and back-up every day or few. This could also be done with a USB drive, which I would think is a pretty good bet considering there are no mechanical issues with spinning disks, although they are easier to lose. There could even be a combination of both, using once often and the other once every week or two (maybe put the secondary back-up in the closet or a desk drawer).

2 - Internet service - This would be great because secure data storage servers come in varying degrees of security (we've used them at research centers I've worked at to back-up everything). However, this is an ongoing cost, and I'm afraid of going with a non-spendy service and really knowing how legit it might be.

One could always use a combination of all 3 - an external HDD, a USB drive, and external back-up...but I feel like that's overkill.

Thoughts?

Mobile Me

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Kchuck wrote:Mobile Me

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I love MobileMe. There are similar services available (Dropbox, etc) for those who don't want to go through Apple.

I think MobileMe costs money after the first 60 days.

If you want something free, web based, and simple just create a gmail account and email all the documents to yourself. Create a folder titled ConLaw and store all of those email in that folder, etc.

I have actually had dropbox installed for a while, but never used it (never really had a need) and I kinda forgot about it.

I actually think that it may be a great first line for back-ups, then I'll get an external drive or USB drive for a local copy to sync with once a week or whenever I think about it (keeping an archive in case any changes end up getting synced).

I'll have to do more reading, but this seems pretty easy since campus and my place have wifi.

Dropbox Is definitely the best solution I've found for thus type of thing. I sync between my network and my desktop, and then there is the copy of Dropbox's servers, meaning I've got three copies of my files at any given time.

pu_golf88 wrote:I think MobileMe costs money after the first 60 days.

If you want something free, web based, and simple just create a gmail account and email all the documents to yourself. Create a folder titled ConLaw and store all of those email in that folder, etc.

+1

Google Docs, Windows Skydrive / Web Apps, and/or Dropbox

I retype all of my notes and save them to my laptop. I then print all of my notes, outlines and memoirs on the finest available parchment and place the fresh prints into separate folders, designated by class. These folders are stapled around every end to close it completely, and then glued to ensure waterproofing. I then place the sealed and waterproofed folders into a fireproofed steel combination safe located behind my dishwasher.

I do this after class every day to back up my work in case of an issue.

Considering that the data you will need will not be that big in terms of storage space, I say save everything on your laptop, and two separate USB flash drives. That way you have three copies on three different hard drives.
You could go the online rounte too, but DON'T PAY! EVER! There's no reason to pay with all the free online alternatives.

Always Credited wrote:I retype all of my notes and save them to my laptop. I then print all of my notes, outlines and memoirs on the finest available parchment and place the fresh prints into separate folders, designated by class. These folders are stapled around every end to close it completely, and then glued to ensure waterproofing. I then place the sealed and waterproofed folders into a fireproofed steel combination safe located behind my dishwasher.

I do this after class every day to back up my work in case of an issue.

This works too.

Apple Time Machine

budafied wrote:Apple Time Machine

+1. TM to my my network hard drive...automatic incremental wireless backup FTW.

I actually just restored a folder from it I accidentally deleted. Worked flawlessly and took less than a minute.

External hard drive FTW.

If your laptop dies it's you can just carry the external HD around from machine to machine.

Mozy will give you 2 GB of online backup at no cost, which should be more than enough for all your notes and outlines.

http://mozy.com/home/free

Windows Live Mesh. Like Dropbox, but with some extra features. Constantly syncs up to 5 GB of files (for free) online and across any device you include (desktop, laptop, Windows Mobile device). Also allows you to remote control your other computers, so even if you forgot to include a file in the folders that are getting synced, you can pop in, copy it to your laptop, and keep going. This has been working great for me, even with OneNote files.

I would suggest some kind of physical backup (USB, external HD, home server, etc.) in addition to a service if you're highly paranoid. A Dropbox virus would suck.

pu_golf88 wrote:I think MobileMe costs money after the first 60 days.

If you want something free, web based, and simple just create a gmail account and email all the documents to yourself. Create a folder titled ConLaw and store all of those email in that folder, etc.

+1. This is what I've been doing to back up documents since UG.

I copied my outlines to a USB drive whenever I made major updates (usually every other week), and every weekend I emailed my outlines to myself in GMail. I know there are backup programs out there that are allegedly more efficient, but this only took me a couple minutes per week, so I'm going to stick with it for next year.

Emailing yourself is certainly the cheapest way to do this, but I don't think its the easiest. Going back through all the emails you've sent to yourself is a pain in the ass. Mobile Me (or any drop box type service) is going to be the best in the sense that it is much more organized and time friendly than emailing yourself all the damn time. IMO, the price is worth the service.

I use Microsoft SyncToy to automate batch file duplication between laptop/USB/desktop:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... laylang=en

The key is to have it be automatic. A lot of the programs discussed (drop box, live mesh, etc.) do that for you. "I'll email it to myself every week!" is just begging for trouble.