Re: OT - computer crashed

MKR <mkross331@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Nov 29, 1:53 pm, Steve Hawkins
<stephen.hawki...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote::









On Nov 29, 2:09 am, don hindenach <d...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:56:37 -0800

Chris <chrisdun...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hard drive went <click click click> and the system went down. No
safe mode, nothing but a black screen with a white cursor. Hard
drive death.
<snip> get all my files back. Everything is now working fine on the
new
PC,

This is excellent.

Now go here: http://www.acronis.com/

Then score a backup drive and use their full backup option. Takes a
fe
w minutes a backup and can restore almost as quickly.

--
donh
donh at audiosys dot com

Better yet, sign up for an account at carbonite.com or somewhere
similar for on-line backup. That way, if your house burns down, or if
someone breaks in and steals all your electronics, or you're traveling
and someone steals your laptop, (or whatever), your data is still
safely backed up in The Cloud, and you can restore it from wherever
you need to.

I use an external HD for backup that resides in my fire-safe. I replace
it every couple of years with a new one. I use Acronis and haven't had
any problems when I've needed to restore an old or launch a new machine.

The online option interests me, but I'm not confident that it's as secure
as they'd like you to believe. Sure it's password protected and
encrypted (I hope), but that doesn't seem to mean a whole lot these days
with the level of hacking going on. I also don't like my financial,
medical, business and personal files being out of my control subject to
the whim of businesses, courts or Govt's. I think the technology is
cool, but the laws and security methods need to catch up.

Steve Hawkins

If you can trust the company when it says that the files are
encrypted, then I think you're okay. The encryption algorithms are
not going to be hackable - they are strong enough that the NSA with
all its resources probably couldn't break it. The data is encrypted
on your computer before it is sent to the server. Of course, this all
depends on you choosing a secure password. The code "password", or
"secret" or "1234" are probably not good enough.

The security issue with the data is really with the trust you place in
the company - that it IS in fact encrypting the data, and that the
software they run on your computer isn't doing something nefarious.
The government, or hackers, cannot decrypt the data unless they guess
your password (or steal your password somehow - there are various
methods). Maybe the company (carbonite.com, for example) could,
because they know the key (although you can manage your own 1024-bit
encryption key that even they don't know, but if you forget it, you're
screwed...)

But hell, I'm not a spy, and I don't have anything valuable enough on
my computer that anyone would expend all that much energy to steal. I
back up my emails, my photos, and my music. It's not so much about
security from people stealing it as it is about having an off-site
copy in case something happens to my main disk drive.

I am skeptical that your fire-safe will protect the hard drive stored
in it enough for the data to survive if there is a fire. But who
knows, until you try,,, You'd be best off storing that backup disk in
a fire safe in some other place, if you can.

Friends in Bastrop who lost their home to fire also lost everything in
their fire safe. Opened the safe and it was full of ash.

--
shut up and play your guitar * http://hankalrich.com/
http://www.youtube.com/walkinaymusic
http://www.sonicbids.com/HankandShaidri
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Safe way to list passwords on a computer
    ... The two current de facto standards for file encryption are PGP and GnuPG. ... two I have any personal experience with are Password Safe, ...
    (alt.computer.security)
  • Re: Security of the Windows XP SP2 Boot Process
    ... If a hacker steals your notebook deactivating the Windows Firewall will be ... "I know that my system is only as safe as the ... If you must protect your data then you can use something like EFS ... data since EFS in the current SP of XP uses AES 256 encryption. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin)
  • Re: Attaching conditions to RIPA ?
    ... No more than a big safe is an indication of valuables inside, ... computers that use encryption? ... How many households have computers that can ... passwords or PINs; it's a terrible breach of security. ...
    (uk.legal)
  • Re: Attaching conditions to RIPA ?
    ... How many households have a big safe? ... computers that use encryption? ... How many households have computers that can ... passwords or PINs; it's a terrible breach of security. ...
    (uk.legal)
  • Re: Rachels Place
    ... but if she does it again, i will HAVE to fire her, and that hurts so ... to be my safe little world, which RMD makes less safe, but worth it to ... but thank g-d i can write about it. ... don't know how to handle having someone who steals from me, ...
    (rec.music.dylan)