As poet Robert Burns famously put it, the best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley, that is, they often go awry. Im thinking of those lines as I struggle to clean up a backup and subsequent hard drive replacement that went seriously wrong.
Gmail is hard at work restoring service to about 40,000 Gmail users after a software bug deleted their e-mail messages, folders, labels and filters. So, while things are looking good for those users affected by the bug, this episode proves, once again, that while Web-based services may be robust, you still have to take responsibility for your own data.
Ata Amiri asked if using two separate backup program will interfere with incremental backups.
As with buying insurance or taking vitamins, committing to data backup is a hard sell. Everyone knows that storing records safely in more than one place protects the health of a business, but many companies fail to establish backup systems that will keep them running if disaster strikes.
Hoping to service the growing market for cloud computing systems, Oracle has packaged two file management software programs into a single integrated offering, called the Oracle Cloud File System, the company announced Monday.
Microsoft's flagship backup and archiving software, Data Protection Manager, has come a long way since we first tested it in 2005.
As Android phones become more powerful and more useful, they also store more of your important personal data. Losing that data can be more than a minor inconvenience, and given the fragility of electronic devices, it's something that's likely to happen at some point. MyBackup Pro is an app that will give you peace of mind if your phone gets destroyed in a mishap such as an impromptu dip in the toilet or a shattering drop to the pavement. You can schedule automatic backups and restore your apps, data, and settings to a new phone (or to the same phone if the data was accidentally erased) in just minutes. Considering how much time it would take to manually enter such data, this app is a worthwhile purchase at the current price of $5.
Have you ever noticed that insurance seems to operate on the Murphy's Law principle? If you have it, you never need it, but as soon as the insurance is gone a catastrophe strikes. That is pretty much how backing up data often works.
Laptops can be stolen. Neoflyer asked the PCWorld.com Answer Line forum for tips on protecting them.
Reader Tom is dealing with this major hassle:
For Web site developers and administrators, cloud storage is an increasingly popular alternative to dedicated servers. In most cases, cloud storage is both cheaper and more reliable. Amazon offers the leading solution with their Simple Storage Service (S3). S3 has a robust set of features, but Amazon only offers a Web interface, which can be quite clunky. This is where CloudBerry Explorer (free) comes in: it replicates and improves on the functionality of Amazon's Web interface in a slick standalone program.
NetApp and Syncsort are bringing storage and data protection together in a single product, NetApp Syncsort Integrated Backup, to offer quick backup and restoration of an enterprise's data.
Managed data backup firm, LiveBackup, has launched an automated, online data backup service for Australian businesses.
Backup vendor Quantum has announced a new enterprise tape library to help IT managers deal with tape consolidation in tiered storage environments as data growth skyrockets.
Google recently extended what it describes as highly advanced and sophisticated data backup and recovery to all components of its Apps communication and collaboration suite.