What would you take?

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I have a single 500GB portable hard drive sitting right next to my gaming rig. This thing gets nightly backups of all 3 of my systems + my laptop and contains all my important CD/DVD software images that I NEED as well as pictures and movies..

I can easily grab the drive, stick it in my laptop back which is right next to my rig w/ my laptop, and run.. If I have say, 45 more seconds, I can probably turn my rig off, unplug everything, and grab it by the handle and be on my way :)..

I've been thinking about this for a while now, actually. It's all very well having a great big box of DVD backups - but they're not exactly portable. I do have a backup drive, but I reckon that in an emergency (and living in South Africa, that emergency could be caused by the sudden appearance of heavily armed, murderous robbers) I wouldn't grab it. So the only option for me is to do what I do at work - have two backup drives and keep one offsite. Better get that organised...

Speaking from experience, quite frankly the last thing on my mind was pictures. I almost couldn't find my 2-year-old in my 2 story house fire. So I lost everything.

I probably would grab my ferrets since my backup pictures and everything are located on the web. If I lose my external backup that Acronis made, I still have a web backup.

Speaking of "What would you take?", I've got quit a few installation CDs for the various programs I use, and I'm thinking that in an emergency there's no way I'd have time to grab them and put them in a box or something while heading for the door. So I have an idea I'd like to get your opinion on: I have an external usb hard drive that has gobs of space on it. Do you think it'd be a viable idea to create iso image files of those installation disks and put them on my external drive? Thanks for your views on this idea.
Bob

Article 11944 "What would you take".
We were faced with this issue when Hurricane Rita was coming to visit. But we were facing rising water, or water coming in through tree holes and blown out walls, not fire. Hopefully our house would not be struck by a tornado, which would have the effect of fire.
All I have is a desktop, with Old Big 17" Monitor. So I just took the TOWER by itself, and a couple of boxes of PICTURES. Big DOG had to come, of course.
I'm not a geek, and I don't have a lot of programs or documents, maybe the normal stuff, but my love is all my family pictures. Digital cameras are a blessing and a curse when it comes to VOLUME! So I try to upload what I can to an online gallery. Buying prints or CD's of the albums would be relatively worth the huge expense.

But this question does boil down your life to what will fit in your car, does it not? Your family, some pets, photos, legal documents.

A laptop would have been so nice...

Use of a web email system also allows you to save important emails online, rather than only in your computer.

I appreciate your column and the thoughtful way you respond to questions.

My Laptop and our Dog!

I have experience with this scenario. I once lived in an apartment in Oakland, California in an area where if you heard a fire engine siren it might be your building on fire. I developed a plan to keep copies of stuff I would not want to lose off site and have my wallet and checkbook readily available to grab as I ran for the door.
I now live in San Jose, California which is a safer place, but I still keep the same thinking, now adding in my computer. I still keep copies of stuff I would not want to lose off site, including a recent copy of my computers "MyDocuments" folder where I keep all my computer stuff. If my home was destroyed by fire/earthquake/tsunami I would have to buy a replacement computer where I could just replace the "MyDocuments" folder and be recovered.

I backup regularly. I have two usb storage devices, one at home and one in my safety deposit box, which I rotate every month. So even if I were not home when the disaster occurred, I would still have the previous month's backup.
I wouldn't be able to carry my laptop because I would be too busy saving 4 boxes of scrapbooks (!!)that represent all my memories of my children growing up (pre-computers, of course..)

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While *technically* its probably a violation of copyright or the license or
some such, it seems line a good idea to me.

Leo

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I've been thinking of this lately too. I have all my data on a separate USB drive, so it should be simple enough to take all the "valuable stuff" if need arises. I also copy all those files to my laptop's external drive too. Double redundancy. :)

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