Buddy Back Up System

[Ticker]

Great idea Fitty!  Very generous too.

[EmPers]

If Fitty runs out of invites, you can PM me too

I'm going to play devil's advocate, and warn all those people backing up onto a second computer, or a remavable drive you keep near by, that should, god forbid, you house burn down or similar, you've lost the lot. And it's something insurance can't deal with.

So the buddy system, or using the web, would be a good idea!

[Ticker]

EmPers.  Good advice.  That sort of disaster is generally something people don't think about until after the event - but it is so easy to plan for in advance using what you suggest.

[trystan]

Murphys Law comes to mind - if you really need that backup, you won't have it.

The key to any backup system is ensuring that it's done automatically, or as near to automatically as possible.

Also, when we go away, our computers at home go on little holidays too.

[Adi1962]

Murphys Law comes to mind - if you really need that backup, you won't have it.

The key to any backup system is ensuring that it's done automatically, or as near to automatically as possible.

Also, when we go away, our computers at home go on little holidays too.

Also don't forget to test your backup from time to time. Finding out its corrupted when you need it is not the time.

[RJ_Paton]

There should always be 2 copies of any backup ... one on site for obvious reasons but one held off site just in case house gets blown up/knocked down /flooded etc and backup No. 1 goes with it.

Another option that some may not know about  many if not all ISP's (Internet Service Providers) when providing your internet access also provide a small amount of web space free of charge . Loading a copy of your files onto their  servers certainly acts as as an off site safety net.

[Debbie in B.C.]

Another option that some may not know about  many if not all ISP's (Internet Service Providers) when providing your internet access also provide a small amount of web space free of charge . Loading a copy of your files onto their  servers certainly acts as as an off site safety net.

Thank you so much for pointing that out!  I just checked my ISP, and sure enough, they offer 10 megs of space free of charge.
I'm not sure how it all works, but I have emailed their help desk for instructions.  I would never have thought of it myself!  Thanks again.   

[trystan]

Just be a little careful what you send to a webspace for "backup" though - as it will be viewable by anybody that knows (or guesses) your webspace  address.

Sometimes however when you log in using FTP you may see directories like:
/httpdocs
/httpsdocs
/cgi-bin
/logs

The key is to keep more private data out of the httpdocs directory, or failing that, ask your ISP if you can have a password protected directory.

[RJ_Paton]

If simply using your web space for storage rather than hosting a web site  ........A simple trick to avoid anyone casually finding your files is to also load a blank html file named index.htm  into the directory.

if anyone then visits your web address they would be presented with the blank file .This works due to the conventions set up by the servers .

If you have a web site in place and are using the excess space for storage then simply by not referring to your information in any of your pages it should be invisible to all but a determined hacker.

also have a look at  http://www.tashian.com/htmlguide/password.html
for some simple coding which can be added to your pages