23 November 2011

Is my computer going to the laptop cemetery? Mozy and Dropbox first!

 I have been babying this laptop for more than a year. I purchased it in August 2006 and really like this Toshiba Satellite A-105. For the last few years I have had a cooling pad underneath. This pad plugs into the computer via a USB port and the fan really does keep the overheated battery a bit cooler. I am good about backing up, clearing out cookies and other garbage, and doing defrag. Today it is making some new noises and that made me do an extra backup to Mozy and to an external hard drive. Then I double checked to make sure some vital files were backed up in Dropbox. All of this is so easy.

All this ensures that my personal files, research client files, genealogy databases, articles in progress, and other projects won't be lost in case the computer dies. Of course, the restoration of the programs and files to a new computer isn't a quick process, but at least I have the files from which to do just that! Backup your files today!

Dropbox is also great for sharing files with others. A lot of my volunteer work and some client work are shared via Dropbox. Check out Dropbox at http://db.tt/1XkTiSA and see how easy it is. I own no stock in the company but I could get some extra storage space if you sign up for Dropbox through this link.

1 comment:

leslielawson said...

Another thing I do when I know a computer is dying is to take a screen shot of my programs in my computer. You know all those wonderful icons we have? That way when I get the new computer, I can quickly scan my photo for most wanted, to don't bother to load the software again options! Hope you find a good deal on a new one!