Another dumb question

Framar

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Joined
Jul 24, 2001
Posts
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Buffalo, New York, USA/Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada
I keep reading all of this forum, hoping that some of this techie stuff will sink into my illogical brain. And since I have long ago come to the conclusion that a lot of people have dumb questions but not everyone has the guts to ask them - I will ask my dumb question.

To preface this, I realize that anyone reading this is at least technologically advanced enough to use if not own a computer. My computer is for my home use, for art and fun and research. I have no computer at all at my frame shop, heck, I just organized my file cabinet with hanging files, I have a Rolodex. I am organized!!!

My question is this: what the heck are all you people so frantically backing up all the time?? Are you talking customer records, mailing lists, price lists? I must admit that I have never backed up anything, or felt the need to (see above). My computer stashes stuff that I don't even want it to stash.

Better submit this in a hurry before my computer crashes and I lose everything.....
 
Framar, even for my limited computer abilities, I need to back up stuff simply because I don't want to have to type it in again! Do you know how slowly I type and how horribly I spell???

I have Quickbooks, but I have done it by hand before, and I can do it by hand again. What I really don't want to lose is all the writing I've done. Before I got a computer, I had folders, and files, and envelopes stuffed with poetry, articles, and notes of everything I've ever written. And the great part now is it's legiable!

My right brain and left brain fight for control, and the computer just helps referee the battle!

Betty :cool:
 
Framer,
I learned the hard way. I've been involved with computers on my job for years. Alot of time and money has been spent doing back ups. But I figured my home computer didn't need it. Until my first virus. I lost important documents and things I wanted to save. After many hours over a couple days of reformating my hard drive, reloading the operating system and programs the computer worked fine again. But, all that data was lost. I then added a Zip drive. All important documents and my web site files are stored on that. Part of the Norton backup is using a Zip floppy and a regular floppy to back up my system. I had a hard drive crash. Within a little over an hour I was back on line. With no data lost.

Do you keep copies of your paper files and records outside your shop? Heaven forbid you suffer extensive damage to your shop and your files are lost. Same thing with a computer. Back 'em up.

Denny

P.S. My skydiving instructor had a sign on the wall: "Better to ask a dumb question than to make a stupid mistake"
 
We learned the hard way- TWICE! We had two computers crash in less than a year. One I had all my price lists, mailing pieces, financial data, etc. on. Luckily, Quickbooks was backed up. Unluckily, most of my other stuff was not up to date, the newest backup for it was two years old. It took at least a month to retype everything from the latest version in print, now I backup to zip everytime I make a change and take it home.

Then a few weeks ago the hard drive on Gary's computer went down (it was cracked) and despite our earlier crash, he didn't have anything recent backed up to a disk and lost weeks worth of work on customers images. He had to go back to the original source and redo them. We are still getting caught up.
 
Mar,

Here's a sample of what I have on my backup Zip Disks and CDs:
</font>
  • Seven years of state and federal tax returns </font>
  • Payroll records for 26 former employees </font>
  • Thousands of digital photos and movies, mostly of my kids and dog </font>
  • Scanned copies of every important-looking piece of paper that's ever crossed my desk (filed in Paperport, so I can actually find them) </font>
  • 25 years of sales and inventory records </font>
  • E-mail addresses for lots of important people, including you </font>
I could go on, but you get the idea.
 
I'm getting to where I really like this CD burner.

As I understand it, there's 2 types of computer users out there: Those who have experienced a hard drive crash and those who are about to.

I suspect it's the same thing with UPS as well, but I'm still plugged into dirty power with the cheapo multi-outlet.
 
Hmmm, thanks for the thoughtful answers, folks. Make me more paranoid!!

Next question, I presume UPS does not mean United Parcel Service? What is "dirty power"? and please explain "cheapo multi-outlet." My stuff is plugged into a $30 surge-protector bought from the same guy who sold me the computer. Is this a cheapo???

I REALLY appreciate y'all putting up with these probably obvious questions of mine. THANKS!
 
UPS = Uninterruptible Power Supply (or something like that.) It's basically a battery back-up that charges when it's plugged into the AC. You plug in your monitor and computer - maybe your modem, if it's external. Usually there's surge protection built-in. The cheaper ones give you a few minutes of time to exit gracefully if there's a power outage. The pricier ones gives you more time, will handle large power needs and may have software features to save files and close programs unattended.

At our house, and at the shop, full power outages are rare, but we get frequent, very brief outages. Normally, you wouldn't even notice them, but the computer does. If you're in the middle of writing the Great American Novel - and you haven't hit the 'save' buttom lately - you loose your work.

At the shop, I have the computer and monitor, the cash register and the credit card terminal plugged into a large UPS. Since these brief outages occur without warning and not just during elctrical storms, this has saved my butt several times.
 
Ahhhhh Ron-Hopper,

UPS also conditions the power that is going to your 'puter. Keeps it on steady stream and frequency at all times. In cases where Servers are running maxed out even a slight glitch can reek havoc with the system. (Rocky getting fried in the wires down the street)
Framar,
You have an L cheapo surge suppressor, however it is good for one thing, to protect against lightining strikes. The surge suppressor will blow it's Capacitors before your computer will blow all of its delicate IC's
 
You computer guys are so smart!
One day, Charles-hopper will own a UPS.

Why doesn't anyone ever ask and Fone questions?
 
Originally posted by Charles Lowry:

Why doesn't anyone ever ask and Fone questions?[/QB]
Probably for the same reason that no one ever wants to know about the ablative absolute case or how to set a zipper into velvet.

Kit

My black racoon coat isn't silly at all. As a matter of fact, it's quite fancy.
 
Originally posted by jvandy57:
UPS also conditions the power that is going to your 'puter. Keeps it on steady stream and frequency at all times.
Actually, there are two basic types of UPSs.

Originally there were only on-line ones, that work as you describe. That is, the output is always using battery power that has been converted back to AC at a steady frequency and voltage. They are quite expensive, so someone came up with the idea of using a switch that cuts from line power (AC from your wall) to battery when it detects the drop or lack of AC power. This switch-over can take several milliseconds, which is not normally a problem for most systems. These type of systems are called "line interactive" or "standby power systems" and are what most home and small-office users are using, because you can get one for around $100-200 and are usually very effective. However, they don't condition the power, though some of them do have options to cut over to battery power if line voltage drops above or below pre-set amounts.

A true on-line system starts at around $400 or 500, and as you mentioned, is usually only used on servers and other critical use equipment.
 
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