Having a backup plan running and in place makes everything so nice.
Losing your important photos, documents and emails from not having a backup, not so nice.

So, how do you get a backup going and make sure your digital life doesn’t go up in smoke?

Home computers generally do not need the backup protection business computers need, and you can get away with the more simple solutions available. However, if your home computer is your business computer, like mine, you should consider business level PC backups.

There are various “one touch” backup drives on the market which seem to come with everything you need to “set it, and forget it”. I have personally not used one of these drives and cannot vouch for them, but a single backup, located in the same room as my PC… Doesn’t sound to safe to me. Am I going to remember to grab that hard drive, along with anything else I need, should a fire break out?

Many versions of Windows have built in, or add-on in the case of XP Home, software from Microsoft that will create various types of backups. I have used these in the past, and while everything appears to run fine – it doesn’t always. When I was recovering from one of my massive backups, several of the files could not be read and my backup was toast. The Windows backup software also isn’t very easy to use, especially for ‘non-technical’ computer users. Personally, I give it two thumbs down.

So what’s my current method for doing backups of my data? Backing up my PC is actually two part, and quite inexpensive!

Part 1) All of my important data files are saved on a USB MyBook 1TB Mirroring Edition.
This handy little device connects through USB, and provides 2 500 gigabyte  drives, but only a single hard drive is available on my computer, as they are mirrored. Whenever I copy data to the one 500gig drive, it is mirrored (exact copy) on to the second hard drive. I keep all of my important data on the drive – Quicken data, photos, web sites, invoices, etc. Should one of the drives fail, I simply replace it and the data is rebuilt from the other 500gig backup drive.
The problem: if a file gets corrupted, it gets mirrored, giving me two damaged copies of a file. Add to that, all my data is still in the same place.
That’s where part two comes in to play.

Part 2) If there was ever a fire, I don’t want to have to think about grabbing a drive. That’s where Bastionpoint Technology’s managed offsite backup solution comes in to play. Every night, my main hard drive (the one with Windows and all of my software) and select files from MyBook are backed up. Any changed data is securely and magically transported over the internet to two offsite servers. My whole computer and all of my drives could melt into a smoldering puddle of plastic and charred metal, and I won’t lose any of my files. I just get another computer, call up Bastionpoint, and get rolling as if nothing ever happened. And, if any of my files get corrupted, the good backed up copies can be restored.

I’m interested in hearing – how do you do backups for your business’ computers?
Leave a comment and let me know!

Well, anybody that knows me, knows I’ve been hooking up media P.C.s for a while. Now, software is improving and our options are expanding.

Looking to build your own cable-replacing media P.C.?
Want to know how’s it all done?
Well, lets get started!

1st the T.V.

I’ll be starting out with this on a Philips 55″ H.D. Wide Screen HD rear projection T.V.

2nd The P.C.

I used one of the spare P.C.s I had picked up for between $50 and $100 each. The PC is a HP dx2250 Micro Tower, running  Windows XP Pro.

From what I’ve read, some people also use Mac minis. Use what you like, but make sure it has enough horsepower.

I would look for a computer that is at least:

• Pentium 4 or AMD equivalent
  Not a celleron  or other “buget” CPU
• 2 gigs of RAM. Personally, I would go for DDR2 or better.
• If you plan on ripping DVDs, or running media off your media PC, I would go with a SATA hard drive that is 200 gigs or larger.

3rd Upgrades

The standard P.C. isn’t quite enough to do the job. The main upgrade we are going to need to get started is a graphics card capable of sending the video to the T.V. For now. I’m using a spare NVidia  card I had laying around, which has an S-Video out. We’re going to want some other upgrades but, for now, we have enough to start having fun.

4th Additional Hardware

Sound
If you do not need high end sound and your P.C. has on-board sound (you have a headphone jack on the back of the computer), you can pick up a headphone style plug to RCA cable converter.
Make sure you don’t buy the mono plug, which is one headphone looking plug on one end, and one RCA looking plug on the other. You will want the one the makes a “Y”, which will allow your media PC to support left and right sound.

Controls
On order, I picked up a Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse. These can get pretty pricey if you buy them at the store. I got mine off ebay for about $22, with free shipping.

Hardware
Thumbscrews. Not necesary, but very convenient. Pick up two thumbscrews, and replace the two screws you have to remove to get the side panel off the case with them. When upgrade time comes, you’ll be glad you did.

5th Software

This is where the real fun starts!

Boxee
I was reading an article the other day, which inspired me to do this project again, and they mentioned software called Boxee. I took a look at it, created and account, installed and tried it, and it’s pretty friggin sweet! It’s in its early stages, but so far I’m seeing very few problems.

Boxee launches a full screen browser, that easily allows you to stream content from Hulu, Comedy Central, and much, much more. They even have Linux, Windows, and Mac versions available. Best of all, it’s FREE!

Windows Media Player and K-Lite
I hate to  push Microsoft products, but I use Media Player quite often. Some videos use codecs, like DivX and others, that require add-ons to play them. The K-Lite codec pack provides everything you will need, minus the spyware, to play any (safe and virus free) videos you will come across.

Finally, the End Result

I’ve been catching up on Southpark, running in Boxee, while typing up the initial version of this post on my netbook. It’s working pretty good, but I do have some tweaks that need to be made to the system. As I perform upgrades, find better software, or anything else, I will update this post with the new info.