Backup Against the Wall
I just spent the better part of this afternoon backing up data. Lately this has become more routine than ritual for me as I can hear the ominous clicking of platters from an antique hard drive deep in the belly of my oldest Mac.
I use the same backup method as I did back in my Windows 3.11 days: drag file to disk, copy file, eject disk, repeat until your mind screams for death. Despite quantum leaps in storage capacity I find myself still sitting at the keyboard, copying to and ejecting media as though I were feeding a WWII gun turret. This is where today's aggravation lies.
Let's clear the air here. I knew what I was getting into when I joined the Apple party. I know there's no easy warez for me. I know that third party development on a Mac typically revolves around new icons and iTunes hacks. I also know not to fall prey to the occasional bit of shareware that floats down the channel. The shareware agreement is a prison-bitch handshake. Once you agree they never let you go. As much as I know there is an easy download third-party bundle that will do exactly what I need, I equally don't want to be pounded in the ass each week by a kindly reminder to donate to the guy who hacked the Cocoa Code.
That's why I know out there, somewhere, is a program that will perfectly backup any of my crucial data with one-button ease. It will likely also save my data across a neatly timed array of disks I won't need to babysit all afternoon. But, I also know that same program will archive the precious data into a format proprietary to not only that software, but that very specific version number. If I update: FILES LOST! If I don't donate: CORRUPT DATA!
That's why I'm here copying a regular number of files across 7 (yes, seven!) DVDs. I'm sure one of the disks is nothing but a BMP and several hundred megs of those miscellaneous _DS files Macs love to create. Sure the DVD is rated for 4.7GB. But only 2 of those are usable data.
I keep my passport in a drawer next to old mix-tapes. The deed to my house is somewhere in behind my snow-boots in a closet. My insurance papers sit underneath the cable modem.
But I keep my data backed up onto DVDS, locked deep inside an iron safe in my basement.
And each one is lovingly watched and copied by hand, just like I did back in 1995.
That's progress!
I use the same backup method as I did back in my Windows 3.11 days: drag file to disk, copy file, eject disk, repeat until your mind screams for death. Despite quantum leaps in storage capacity I find myself still sitting at the keyboard, copying to and ejecting media as though I were feeding a WWII gun turret. This is where today's aggravation lies.
Let's clear the air here. I knew what I was getting into when I joined the Apple party. I know there's no easy warez for me. I know that third party development on a Mac typically revolves around new icons and iTunes hacks. I also know not to fall prey to the occasional bit of shareware that floats down the channel. The shareware agreement is a prison-bitch handshake. Once you agree they never let you go. As much as I know there is an easy download third-party bundle that will do exactly what I need, I equally don't want to be pounded in the ass each week by a kindly reminder to donate to the guy who hacked the Cocoa Code.
That's why I know out there, somewhere, is a program that will perfectly backup any of my crucial data with one-button ease. It will likely also save my data across a neatly timed array of disks I won't need to babysit all afternoon. But, I also know that same program will archive the precious data into a format proprietary to not only that software, but that very specific version number. If I update: FILES LOST! If I don't donate: CORRUPT DATA!
That's why I'm here copying a regular number of files across 7 (yes, seven!) DVDs. I'm sure one of the disks is nothing but a BMP and several hundred megs of those miscellaneous _DS files Macs love to create. Sure the DVD is rated for 4.7GB. But only 2 of those are usable data.
I keep my passport in a drawer next to old mix-tapes. The deed to my house is somewhere in behind my snow-boots in a closet. My insurance papers sit underneath the cable modem.
But I keep my data backed up onto DVDS, locked deep inside an iron safe in my basement.
And each one is lovingly watched and copied by hand, just like I did back in 1995.
That's progress!
1 Comments:
Hey Mike,
I enjoyed the bowling page. I found the link off steve's page and recognized the limited brain damage name from years ago when you had the stuff about picking up ladies on it. I think years ago, gary might have shown me the link because it was funny.
You seem to have developed a really entertaining writing style.
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