Hot Chocolate via Pinterest
So I had my first official accident with a computer of mine. I split an entire cup of hot cocoa on my laptop. Back in the day, I would have been devastated.
Granted I wasn’t happy (love my Mac air) but it wasn’t the end of the world. In fact, I just grabbed another laptop and I was up and running (and working) like not much had happened.
Back in the day, I would have lost a ton of work and been down for several days trying to rebuild everything I had lost. But today, with working in the cloud and keeping a backup at home, it was a blip in an otherwise bumpy week.
How do I do this?
First, I don’t use email with only outlook. I have my email connected to gmail which is all web-based. Yes, I pay five bucks a year for storage but I haven’t had to delete an important email since 2006. I know that’s a lot of email but the search is awesome and I don’t have to worry about deleting out old files (which you have to with outlook when you reach your limit). That reminds me, I need to purge again.
Second, I use dropbox and notredame.box.com to store important documents. This way I can get to them anytime. Anything I have to share I use with Google Drive and Docs.
Third, my programs like Coda and Photoshop are based in the App Store and through the University’s shared program. I just downloaded them again and I’m up and running.
Fourth, we use several web-based project management systems. Again, once I’m logged in. It’s all there.
Fifth, for my photos – I use flickr. For my music, I use Pandora and Spotify. My downloaded music is all backed up at home on my time machine so again, nothing is lost.
It’s a very different world since the days when a killed computer could ruin your life. BTW, it’ll be probably a few weeks before I get my computer back – but I’ll be ok. Would you?
I usually use my amazon S3 for most everything important.
I use dropbox and notredame.box.com to store important documents. This way I can get to them anytime. Anything I have to share I use with Google Drive and Docs.
How do you think about new MS web-based product: Online Word, Online excel, … And Skydrive have bigger storage than Google Drive and Dropbox.
BTW, wich web-based collaboration tool you are using?
I assume Google drive is the same as Microsoft’s Sky Drive. I use skydrive and it is pretty good. Have you used Sky Drive, and if so, what do you feel is better?
gonna search for amazon S3 now
Thanks
-Ron
Cloud based systems are the best way to keep your data safe, that’s sure. I’m also using Gmail instead of Outlook, my phone which is an iPhone is on the cloud, I use GitHub for my developments and for my local files which are not on the cloud, I have a RAID mirroring to decrease chances of data losing.
I use dropbox to keep all my data in one place. However, if you do have more software programs than just Photoshop, you might need to spend more time fixing your computer
Today, I did not save documents and photos on personal computer. once my hd stopped working and I lost thousands of photos of family, from that day only use online tools storage, but I use only the free.
Hi Don
I do use Amazon S3 as well as a complete external system of hard drives to secure my data now. I have not had the opportunity to check out some of these other services you have mentioned but it sounds like something I am going to add to my to do list for sure.
My external backup system has never failed me when crashing computers or losing hard drives I also run a raid system so that I have a complete mirror of my operating system and files.
Nowadays, Cloud computing is all we need. We can store all of our work and favourates there, and access anytime. In no time we can share them with our colleagues and friends.
There are a lot of online tools available online.
“Back in the day, I would have been devastated.” – Well, I guess you wouldn’t as my old laptops all survived various cups of tea, orange juice etc.
Yeah, I do love my MacBook too, but I wouldn’t try that on him
I now live in a small town and get my internet in Texas from a great provider. I fried one of my laptops in the past while enjoying a liquid refreshment to get my creative juices flowing. Now I have everything on the cloud.