Backup, backup, backup

Everyone is always jammering about backups. "Backups are important. You backup your data, right?" Times were when my backup solution was a hastily burned, unlabeled DVD, lost in my office under dusty piles of O'Reilly books. Real men don't backup! (But they do cry often.)

When I decided to travel, I decided my old system (a-hem) wasn't good enough. Yesterday, I put my backup system to the ultimate challenge: total system failure. How did it fair? Let's see!

But first, let's recap. For my backup solution, I went with Jungle Disk, a so-called cloud storage provider and backup service. You install Jungle Disk on your computer, and it copies your data to a server in the sky, safe from harm. Every so often, it scans your disk for changes and updates its remote copy.

So when my laptop overheated yesterday I was merely livid as opposed to homicidal. My data was safe. (There was also a fair amount of ridiculous running around in the rain looking for a PC repair shop, but let's stay on topic.) I walked into an electronics shop, plonked down my Visa and walked away with a new machine.

I installed Jungle Disk on my new laptop and pointed it at my remote data. "Fetch!" I commanded. And fetch it did ... veeeeery slowly. Turns out, in New Zealand "broadband" doesn't have quite the same meaning it does in the States. I eventually recovered my data by a combination of (a) being patient, and (b) quickly copying data off my old laptop before it would overheat again and die.

Lessons learned?

1. Remote and secure redundant backups are a Good Thing, but ...
2. Having your backup on the other end of a slow pipe is almost like not having a backup at all.

I was lucky this time because I was able to pull some bits of data off my old machine. Next time I might not be so lucky. It probably wouldn't hurt to augment my cloud storage backup with my old friend, the hastily burned DVD.

On the bright side, this new machine smokes.