Data back up

Posted by: Anonymous

Data back up - 12/24/03 05:09 PM

Here at work our little lab all got jumpdrives as our christmas stocking stuffer. They are 256mb usb data storage devices the size of a zippo lighter and can hang on your key chain.

From a survival or preparedness stand point they may seem useless, but I realized I have a lot of data I would like backed up on this thing. It wouldn't help me survive in the ocean but it would help me survive in a post disaster situation where everyone else is trying to recover data or mouring the loss of a server or tape drive in a fire. You can get them in one GB size. As long as you aren't saving movies or tons of pics you could get a ton of stuff on there. I have already copied my genealogy files to my Jumpdrive and will shortly move over some important emails and docs I want to save.

The uses are many! Excellent little stocking stuffer also!
Posted by: Comanche7

Re: Data back up - 12/24/03 10:40 PM

nueronboy,

Great idea, as you aptly noted, it is not a cure all for everything, but a 256 meg chip is MUCH SMALLER than the same storage space in 3.5" floppies. Not as much data space or as water proof as a CDROM or DVD though, on the other hand, the CD or DVD may be easier or potentially more likely to break.

Like many of our other kit components, this becomes a personal and subjective choice. I just acquired a 512M chip after having borrowed a 256M chip for several weeks. What a neat way of moving files. Just put it into the USB port of most PC's and it is autodetected and drivers are automatically located (some operating systems i.e. W98 will likely require a quick software download from the device manufacturer though).

IRRC there were other threads that discussed what type of files were best to carry. I think that the consensus (if it could be called that) was to have your critical files saved in several formats, i.e. Word file, Excel File and then the same file saved in Adobe *.pdf format.

Another key point that was also raised was regarding file security / encryption and access by whomever may wind up with the data files on whatever format they are stored in/on. This can be a bit of a headscratcher for sure.

Nonetheless, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Happy Holidays,
Comanche7
Posted by: pvr4

Re: Data back up - 12/25/03 04:43 PM

These USB key drives are more waterproof than you might think. I carry one all the time for my work. It has been through the wash a couple of times and still works like a charm.
Posted by: Comanche7

Re: Data back up - 12/27/03 06:25 AM

pvr4,

Glad to hear that there is some real world experience regarding them getting wet. What brand do you have? I have the SanDisk 256M Mini Cruzer. After seeing your post, I went back and checked on the minimal information that it came with and could find nothing that referenced exposure to the elements. I'll go back and look at their website to see if there is more info there. Not that I would intentionally dunk it though, more along the line of peace of mind in case it catches a few raindrops.

Comanche7
Posted by: Anonymous

Re: Data back up - 12/27/03 11:57 PM

I suspect that there are two dangers to be concerned with VS getting solid state electronics wet. First is corrosion of exposed wiring. Second would be shorting out the circuits. Given that the majority of the circuitry is within the chip and therefore not too exposed It is rather simple to just dry out the gadget before applying any current. As long as the gadget is dry when the current is applied then all will be well even if it got wet prior. OTOH, if there is any water present when the current is applied I would expect fatal damage to result. If your gadget has no on-board battery it will be fairly impervious to damage by dunking. there are no moving parts so you can knock it around a fair bit as well. but if you get it wet then it is imperative that you also get it dry. So if it goes in the laundry make sure it goes in the dryer as well.
Posted by: AyersTG

Re: Data back up - 12/28/03 01:25 AM

I think your idea is fine. One may also use compact flash cards - I occasionally tote data to and from work using a CF card from my digital camera - I have multiple card readers at work and at home. Similarly, either directly or indirectly, one may use SD/MMC cards (my Palm Pilot uses them and I also have a couple of readers for that format card)

As for water - fret not about fresh water. If it gets immersed, dry it out and use it. Salt water, OTOH... if there is power to the device, that would be bad. If your jump drive gets dunked in salt water, flush it out VERY well with fresh water (tap is OK) and dry it out before use. If you're really paranoid, follow a tap water flush with a final rinse of distilled water. I have NEVER had a solid-state disaster from freshwater dunks and in fact regularly use fresh water flushes on electronics that need cleaning up. I've even had the interesting experience a few times of seeing electronics gear accidentally immersed and continuing to run under water - fresh water, mind you!

If you're anticipating being around the ocean, I'd look for a water-proof container like a tiny Nalgene accessory bottle or something like that.

Bottom line is that I would be a more concerned about accidental zapping from static electricity (and that does not worry me) than I would be about inadvertent wetting or immersion. Water's just not that big of a deal.

Regards,

Tom
Posted by: pvr4

Re: Data back up - 12/28/03 03:39 AM

Mine are 256 MB lexmarks. They go through both the washer and the drier, so I think they are pretty dry when I use them again.
Posted by: Anonymous

how about this - 12/28/03 08:58 AM

What about a CD ROM the size of a credit card? Actual size 2.5'' x 3.5''. http://www.crmac.us/id135.html

Posted by: M_a_x

Re: how about this - 12/28/03 11:50 AM

CDs that are not round tend to have unbalances. This is not exactly good for the drive. There are round disks in about the same size. They hold up to 210 MB of data. IŽd prefer those.
The advatage of the USB device or CF card is that you can update parts of the data without needing new media. These media are much more robust than CDs.
Posted by: Eugene

Re: Data back up - 12/29/03 12:02 AM

I have a 128M Lexar one. I backup data to cd-r and mini-cdr as well, but the 128m flash drive is good for things that change more often. I keep a copy of my calendar and address book on mine. Wrote a quick hotplug script to copy them over each time I plug it in. The software I use keep the calendar and address book in simple ical and vcard format so I can, as worst case, read them with a simple text editor if I I can't find a system with anything that can import. Starting to make spreadsheets of important and expensive things such as my electronics/computers and tools/gear with model numbers, serial numbers, dates purchased, warranty expiration date, etc. I keep the spreadsheet with links to scans of the receipts and manuals and burn that off on a cd every so often, but I am going to keep the spreadsheet on the usb drive for a quick reference.
Posted by: aardwolfe

Re: Data back up - 12/29/03 01:50 AM

At work, in order to do some testing, two of our engineers ordered a half-dozen 128-MB USB "memory sticks". When the testing was complete, everyone in the department "inherited" one - at least, until the next round of testing.

I was planning to buy one of my own, but over Xmas an alternative occurred to me. My niece got a portable MP3 player, which has 64 Mb of built-in storage, doubles as a voice recorder and FM receiver, and takes additional memory cards up to 512 Mb. As near as I can tell (she didn't get the extra memory card) the computer simply recognizes this as two removable drives. You can store about a dozen tunes to the built-in memory, and then you should be able to use the memory card as an extra drive to store as much personal data as you have room for. (The SD cards themselves are tiny, as others have pointed out, and can also be used with other devices apparently.)

Downsides
- it's larger than a USB stick, but not by much.
- the memory card can't be used without the player (or other ancillary device)
- it needs a battery to operate (I assume)
- probably more expensive
- your kids will want to borrow it unless you get them (each) one of their own (see point # 4 above) <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Upsides
- in keeping with our usual board philosophy, it does more than one thing
- can purchase multiple replacement storage devices to hold more stuff in less space (a second SD drive takes up less space than a second USB stick)
Posted by: Eugene

Re: Data back up - 12/29/03 03:03 AM

Be careful with your terms here, "Memory stick" is a Sony propritary flash technology and is not USB compatible, so there is no such thing as a "USB memory stick" . I see that name used a lot in group's and it seems to confuse those who have not seen memory sticks or USB flash drive. A couple of threads in groups people were thinking they were talking about USB flash card readers capable of reading Memory sticks when the USB flash drives were being talked about.
I bought my wife a Creative Nomad MuVo which is a 128M USB drive with built in mp3 player similar to what you describe except it does not have any exapnsion capability. There are several types of flash memory cards in use now, CF, SD, MMC, SmartMedia, Memory Stick, and a newer XD as well as the USB ones. You can get very small USB flash card readers which can read or write do one or more of the different flash memory types also. If your into electronic devices you can try to standardize, for example since you have an mp3player that uses SD, when you buy a digital cameraor PDA look for one that uses SD as well. I have a digicam that uses CF and I use it in a small computer system as an IDE drive so I have a few of those cards. I have an adapter that lets me read those in a PCMCIA slot as well.
Posted by: aardwolfe

Re: Data back up - 12/29/03 03:37 AM

Eugene: Thanks for the clarification. The engineers at work have been referring to our USB drives as "memory sticks" so I assumed that it was a generic term for USB drives.

After looking at my niece's MP3 player, I've decided to get one for myself. I looked at the MUVO but I would prefer one with the memory expansion capability, as I've found data, like a gas, tends to expand to fill the space available. <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I'm leaning toward the RIO Sport or the RIO Cali at present. (My niece got one called the Rush, but I can't find any information on it on the web, other than it appears to be made by Philips; but it's not mentioned on the Philips web site. Strange.)
Posted by: MartinFocazio

Re: how about this - 12/29/03 04:32 AM

If you're looking for a smaller CD for a personal kit - and as much as I like USB keychain drives, CD-ROM's are waterproof and can be read on any system without needing drivers or access to the back of the computer, as is the case with Windows 98 for the former and many systems I encounter day-to-day for the latter.

Round Mini CD-R on Quill.com:
http://tinyurl.com/yukuf


Posted by: Trusbx

Re: Data back up - 12/29/03 12:32 PM

Actually, SONY does have a USB flash drive which can read MEMORY STICKs.



SONY Microvault 128MB with Memory Stick Reader/Writer

Posted by: ki4buc

Re: Data back up - 12/29/03 01:54 PM

I have a MUVO 64MB. The only thing I'd watch out for/test for with this USB memory modules is dropping them. I dropped my MUVO accidently from a height of about 2 feet. It apparently jumbled some of the electrons, and resulted in skipped playback. Once I "reformatted" the memory, and placed the songs back on, the problem went away.

With that in mind, definately go with the multiple formats. Make sure to include a plain-text version readable by any operating system. Do the same for graphics and store them in a somewhat universal format of some kinda (maybe jpeg or bitmap). For really important information (say... telephone numbers, or account numbers) you should make multiple copies. Just change the filenames.. (i.e. telnums1.txt, telnums2.txt) In the event something gets damaged, you might be still be able to put the pieces together.

FYI, Linux and Unix systems have more utilities in the "standard" distributions than do Windows as far as I know (AFAIK). (i.e. strings utility)

It would be a shame to have important documents in pdf completely unreadable because of a few byte errors. I would highly recommend the redunancy of multiple formats, at the very least, a text (.txt) file of the information, or in the case of graphics, a bitmap (.bmp) or jpeg(.jpg or .jpeg) file.
Posted by: aardwolfe

Re: Data back up - 12/29/03 02:30 PM

For those with a Mac, you might want to try using multiple SONY Memory Sticks in a RAID array <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

http://ohlssonvox.8k.com/fdd_raid.htm
Posted by: aardwolfe

Re: how about this - 12/29/03 02:34 PM

And of course, to bring this back to a "survival" related topic - you can put two CD-ROMs back to back to form a signalling mirror <img src="images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />
Posted by: Eugene

Re: Data back up - 12/29/03 09:28 PM

Yea yea smartie <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
Its still not a USB memory stick though, its a usb flash drive with memory stick reader/writer.
Sorry calling computer parts the correct name has become a pet peeve of mine thanks to all the people whom I've had to try to guess what they were talking about when they called their monitor a computer and called their computer a hard drive, cpu or modem, then there are the people that call 3.5" floppies "hard disks". It was always such a pain years ago when I was in the computer shop. Someone would bring in their pc telling me their hard disk wouldn't read. We would boot it up and it worked fine. Then we put in the 3.5" bootable floppy to do a virus scan and it wouldn't read the floppy so we then figured out they were one of those <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Posted by: aardwolfe

Re: Data back up - 12/30/03 03:20 PM

>>My niece got a portable MP3 player, .... As near as I can tell ... the computer simply recognizes this as two removable drives.

I thought this was such a good idea I took my own advice and went out and bought one. After doing some research, I decided on the RIO Cali Sport (128 MB internal memory) plus a 256 MB SC memory card (the kind that's also used in digital cameras, it appears).

Much to my chagrin, the computer does NOT recognize this device the same as it recognizes a USB drive. I can (and did) copy wma files to it (using Windows Media Player), and can play them without a problem, but it does not show up in Explorer as an additional drive, meaning I can't read and write to it as I would a USB drive.

I'm pretty sure I wasn't imagining it - my niece's MP3 player did show up as a separate drive in Windows Explorer (actually 2 drives, d: and e:) but it appears this is not the case for all MP3 players; and, since using it as a removable storage drive is a non-standard use for it, there's no way to tell by reading the specs if it can be used this way or not.

Fwiw, the MP3 player my niece got had the brand name "Rush" and is apparently made by Philips. I can't find the particular model on the Philips web-site (or anywhere else) and, knowing my brother, I suspect they may have picked up a discontinued (or soon-to-be- ) model at a close-out sale.

So it's not as good an idea as I thought, but it's still a really cool MP3 player <img src="images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />