Do Good Design

If you’ve been putting off backing up your computer, procrastinate no longer. Do you really want to find out what happens when your computer crashes and you don’t have everything saved to somewhere else?

I didn’t. Well, now that I’ve had my iMac for almost a year. And I’ve knocked my computer off my desk and crashed it into the bookshelf. Twice. [Note: yet another reason to buy a Mac — they ‘re bombproof. My computer actually took a chunk out of our bookcase and kept on running.]

I spent hours combing through CNet and other geeky computer website reviews to find the best way to back up my computer, and thought I might as well share in case you’re in the same boat.

Hard drives are like big storage boxes. You can make a perfect copy of everything — files, applications, emails, everything — which you can reinstall on a new or repaired computer.

I also looked into software that automates your backups, meaning you don’t have to think about it. I chose SuperDuper (Mac) because it looked the least technical and easiest to use. You can get a free version, but have to pay $27.95 to get the version that only copies the latest files and not your entire hard drive every day. It took about 3 hours to copy over my hard drive the first time I installed the software, so you don’t want to do that every single day when all you’ve changed are a few files.

My favourite: the Iomega eGo

The Iomega EGo 250GB hard drive.

I love the design. It has a Drop Guard feature — protection in case you drop your hard drive which I clearly need.

It’s portable and smaller than my hand.

There’s no power cable, which is good because that’s one less cable sitting on my desk. Now that I own one, I’ve discovered it’s also bad because it’s turned on as long as it’s plugged into my awake computer. I get around that by just unplugging the USB cable from my computer.

I installed SuperDuper, and now I’ve got a complete copy of my computer saved. It also automatically adds any new files or files I’ve changed since the last backup, which means a backup takes a minute or two and I’m done.

I don’t even notice it because it does it automatically.

If you don’t like the look (or price) of the eGo, here are 3 other choices:

Features I looked for:

• Mac-compatible (they will work on any PC)
• at least 160GB
• design I’d enjoy looking at every single day
• no power cable or on/off that I’d have to remember to turn off every night
• small, to minimize desktop clutter
• easy to use
• reasonably priced

Other hard drive options

WD Passport 160GB
Comes in several colours, but not enough memory for me.

Look for a hard drive that has more capacity than your computer’s.

(Mac users: click Apple button + i to get information on what your computer’s capacity is — mine is 233GB).

Iomega Minimax 500GB
Comes with a power cable, which I didn’t want for the clutter and hassle, but you might.

Plenty of storage space.

Also has Firewire cable (not USB) to connect to your computer. Firewire generally transfers data faster than USB, but unless you’re creating new files every day that are massive, you don’t need this.

WD My Book 500GB
Comes with power cable again.

It also comes with Google software to search files on the hard drive (PC only).

If you’ve been putting off backing up your computer because it’s too much hassle, delay no more.