Re: Backups - a little reminder

I thought of you a couple of months ago, Andrew, when my computer died suddenly. I had been working on it, went for our evening meal, returned an hour later to a dead computer and a strong smell of burning. The CPU fan has seized and the chip burned out. As it was some 6 years old and had caused a couple of hardware problems, I decided to buy a new one. That's when the problems started. The new computer came equiped with Windows Vista. Following Andrew's experience when his hard disc died, I had installed an external hard disc with a programme which would reinstate the whole disc in the event of a crash. But with the new computer running Vista as opposed to XP on the old, to try to load the old as a whole would have been a recipe for disaster. Fortunately, a computer savvy friend removed the old hard disc (still working) and rigged it up as an external data source to the new one so I could copy files across. The one thing I couldn't reinstall was my genealogy program - TMG. I was on version 5 and they were now on version 7 (I had contemplated upgrading but hadn't bothered as V5 did all that I wanted). V5 wouldn't install on Vista. 35 years research in jeopardy! I contacted TMG and they said I would have to buy V7, make a backup of my data and install it in the new program. How can I do that, I said, if my old computer is kaput. Why can't I copy the data files across. No good - apparently to prevent illegal copying, every time they come out with a new version, they change the file structure. To be fair, they did offer to do it for me if all else failed. The irony was that I had given up making backups when I installed the external hard discs (stupid boy). There is a happy ending - my daughter had left behind her 10 years old computer running Windows 98 and I managed to reinstall TMG V5 on that, copy the data base from the old hard disc (lots of floppies - I had to buy an external floppy drive because new computers no longer have them), make a backup and reinstall on V7. You can imagine the relief when it all worked.

The moral: computer failure can come in many forms so don't just guard against one and beware the inexorable advance of technology, it will be sure to catch you out, as Don has warned us on many occasions.


Brian Austin
"Andrew Sellon" <andrew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:mailman.528.1210679268.4679.genbrit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Lesley Robertson wrote:
As I type, our School of Architecture is burning merrily. They're still bringing in specialist fire engines from Rotterdam.
Already the wails of "My backups were in my desk" have started...

Every so often, make a set of backups and take them to work, or give them to someone else to keep for you (you can do them the same favour) - especially if you have piles of old family photos and certificates.
I have a pair of external hard drives - one lives at work with my home backup on it, the other lives at home with my work backup (including all the material from the microbiology archive I care for that I've managed to get digitised). I may lose some current files (I only update every couple of months or if somehing's very important), the the bulk is safe.
Lesley Robertson

As one who who has never fully recovered from a disc / backup disaster a year or two ago I commend these wise words to all.

Yours Aye Andrew Sellon



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