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Finally, a backup strategy that makes sense!  If you are reading this article, then you have a requirement to back up your important files for safety.  Yes, we know, you have some backed up on a USB removable drive or keychain like thing that you carry around.  That's a start, but you may still be vulnerable.  What if your devices fail?  What if you forget to take them on a trip with you?

Backing up should be done both on and off site and it should be done all the time.   You should do incremental backups and full backups on a regular basis.

We have tried all sorts of gimmick backups.  You can use your normal PC or other device and copy a folder to an external drive and that's what most people do. 

You can use software like NovaBACKUP that has peppered the Internet with good reviews. One begins to suspect that more than a few of these reviews are self generated. We've used Nova and it has a terrible user interface, is complicated and makes no sense.  It also fails sometimes.

We asked a friend what he used and he directed us to Dropbox and miracle of miracles it seems to work so far.  We'll do more testing. 

How does it work?  The first thing you need to know is that the first 2 Gigabytes are free.  If you want 50 Gigabytes, then that is $9.99 per month and 100 Gigabytes is $19.99 per month.

So what's so good about Dropbox?

Here is a list of things:

•  They give you a short understandable video to show what they are all about.  If you want to download the free version, then it's just a click and follow the directions, which are easy.

• Once Dropbox is installed there is a little ICON on your taskbar that shows a little box.

• If you want to upload a folder or file to Dropbox, just drag and drop it into the Dropbox folder.

• You register the computer you are using by name.  For example, Myhomelaptop.  You can use a email address and password and register other computers such as WorkPC, etc.

• Once you upload a folder to Dropxox all your other computers are synchronized to the same folders and files just as you would expect.  The sync'd folders are on the Dropbox servers.

• Share a Folder Invite your friends, family and teammates to a folder in your Dropbox. It’ll be as if you saved that folder straight to their computers.
• View Previous Versions View a record of changes made to a file. You can choose to go back to an earlier version of a file if you’d like
• Browse on Dropbox Website... View a file on the Dropbox website.  This is neat as it acts just like it was on your machine.  There is a little green arrow showing that the file is up to date and synched.
• Copy Public Link Generate a link to any file in your Public Folder. You can then send this link to anyone you’d like to view that file.

Go to www.dropbox.com  for a peak.

To let us know contact saugeentimes@hotmail.com or kincardinetimes@hotmail.com

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Saturday, November 26, 2011