I have always thought I was being careful about backing things up on my computer. I had a flash drive that I used primarily for my Teachers Pay Teachers items that I created, and for items that I have purchased. I also had most of these items saved on my computer. It became easy for me to save on the flash drive and then print some things at school. Well, I got a little lazy about saving twice- once on my flash and once on the computer.
When I went on vacation recently, I had a long drive ahead of me, so I thought, "Hey, I'll work on some of my TpT stuff in the car!" Well, I did, and forgot to save to the computer, I was just saving to the flash drive. About 4 hours into the drive on the way home, I put the computer down by my feet. you can probably guess what happened... Yep, I completely bent the flash drive, and lost ALL of my data. Hours upon hours of work gone! You can also probably guess what my reaction was. Complete freak out! I realized how many of my items I did not back up on the computer. My device that I originally bought as a backup had become my primary place to save! BIG MISTAKE!!!!
I immediately got on the phone to the computer repair store near my house and asked if it is possible to recover data on a broken flash. They told me it could be, but they would have to see it first. My husband dropped it off for me this morning, and we got a call that they were able to save my data! Of course, for a pretty hefty fee. This was a pretty expensive lesson for me.
I am now looking into a new backup system, and need some advice. I am thinking of using an online backup like Carbonite, but don't really know anyone who has used it. Should I look into an external hard drive? Do you have to keep that plugged in? What do you use to back up your laptop? Any comments are appreciated!
Thanks for listening!
Jen
Ohh. I love dropbox. And you can share pictures and folders with friends too.
ReplyDeleteThat is a good idea. Do you have to save each item yourself, or can you do an automatic backup with dropbox?
DeleteOh that is my worst nightmare! I am so glad you could save your stuff! I use dropbox for everything. You do have to save each item (it's just another folder on your computer) but then you can access from it from your computer, the internet, and they have apps so you can have it on your phone & ipad. You can also share files really easily via links. I did a post on it on my blog recently if you want to read about how I use it :)
ReplyDeleteJenn
Crazy Speech World
Thanks, Jenn. I will definitely check out your post- I had forgotten that you talked about that! I wasn't too sure about dropbox, because my school district does not support us using it. They said that it was not secure enough, and basically told us we were blocked from using it on our school devices.
DeleteI have an external hard drive (Western Digital) and love it! You don't need to keep it plugged in all the time, which I don't. I have the 500 one and don't even have 1/4 of it filled. Definitely worth my money. I think dropbox is good, but I'm not sure of the cost.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jen. I am going to start looking into external hard drives.
DeleteI've used Dropbox and Carbonite and I like both. I also have an external hard drive. I prefer one of the online programs merely for convenience, but you do have to pay a monthly fee, whereas you only have to pay for a hard drive once.
ReplyDeleteAersta
thespeechclinic.wordpress.com
Thanks Aersta. I have started using Dropbox and still thinking of getting an external hard drive too. Ironically, my husband learned a lesson this week too, because the hard drive on his computer completely crashed. Not a great technology week at our house!
DeleteI had the same thing happen. I had 11 years of teaching materials that were lost! Gone. I cried for weeks.
ReplyDeleteI am now using Dropbox. It automatically backs up all my materials and it even keeps items after they've been deleted. I highly recommend this! You can share documents and pictures with anyone else on dropbox.
So sorry, good luck.
Wow- how devastating! I think I would still be crying! I have started using Dropbox now. I realized that I already had an account that I set up and never really used. So, now I am figuring out how to make that work.
Delete