Hurray for HARO

The Ur-Guru is about to arrive for another visit, and in the interest of spending more time with him, I thought I would try to get some guest columnists for the Backup Reminder.

So I posted a query to Peter Shankman’s Help a Reporter Out list.

I’d signed up for this thrice-daily e-mail full of queries from journalists in order to discover opportunities for me and my clients to get some media coverage. Some of the queries come from major mainstream media publications, but others come from bloggers and podcasters.

When I posted my request for stories of data loss disasters and pitches for SOHO backup products, I had a dozen responses—at least—in the first day. (Note to self: next time you do this, leave yourself more time to respond to the answers you get.) Wow!

Over the next few weeks, you’ll be hearing real-life stories from people who have learned about backup the hard way. (Some of them were so traumatized that they went on to start backup companies.) In fact, there’s so much material that I’ll be posting more often than usual, though the Backup Reminder e-zine will only appear once a week.

What’s more, I already have a new client as a result of this outreach, so thanks to HARO I’m finally going to be making some money from my blog.

Technorati Tags: HARO,Peter Shankman

My Wordle! A Tag Cloud for the Backup Blog

There’s a new Web 2.0 tool out there called Wordle that creates pretty tag clouds from text or RSS feeds. Here’s the one I made for the Backup Blog. The most common words are largest.

There aren’t any real surprises in here “backup” and “drive” are the terms that appear most frequently.

Click on the thumbnail image to see a larger version.

Why It’s Worth Writing About Backup: FileSlinger™ Backup Reminder 04-11-08

Yesterday I upgraded several of my blogs/sites to WordPress 2.5. (If you're a WordPress user, I recommend that you do this also. Be sure to back up your blog first—the whole thing, not just the database.)

One thing I noticed in the course of doing this was that I really have very few posts/articles about writing. Indeed, many of the posts that started out on the Author-ized Articles blog were actually about podcasting, and I've moved them over to the Podcast Asylum site. Fifty-odd posts about writing and publishing versus more than 300 on backup is a pretty dramatic ratio. If it's as a writer and not a computer consultant that I want to establish myself, shouldn't the proportions be reversed?

The answer to that would be “absolutely,” but for a few points:

1. There are many e-zines and blogs about different aspects of writing and publishing.
2. Almost no one writes about backup.
3. I didn't actually start writing this Backup Reminder in order to make money.
4. It's useful to demonstrate that I can write about a boring technical subject in an accessible way.

I started reading Podcasting for Profit the other day. One of the first points author Leesa Barnes makes is that you need specific, measurable goals for creating a podcast. Reading that reminded me that this Backup Reminder didn't come about because of any kind of strategic planning on my part. I started without having very clear goals, which makes it kind of difficult to tell whether it's worth continuing. How do you know whether you're successful if you don't know what success looks like?

Though I heard a lot about the value of e-zines for marketing in the first few years (before I had the blog to host the archives), I didn't start the Backup Reminder as a way to market my services. My motive in writing about backup every week was to spare my clients the trauma of data loss. I was still masochistic enough to do tech support work in those days, but I ran into one too many situations where I couldn't save the client's data. It's heartbreaking when that happens. And even when you can get the data back, it's back-breaking labor. Much easier to help people set up their backup systems than to attempt data recovery.

So I suppose one way to define success would be “When all my friends and clients have (and use) working backup systems.” If I achieved that goal, then maybe I could move on to doing something else.

And, indeed, many of my past and present friends and clients do now have backup systems in place, whether or not I was involved in creating them. (I just sent out a message asking them.) But what about future friends and clients? And what about the fact that we all have more types of data to back up, and more options for doing so, than we did five years ago? I still hear tales of woe from people who thought they had backups and people who never knew they needed them.

There's always going to be a need for someone to spread the word, and no one else seems to be volunteering. Sure, there are tons of white papers about enterprise backup, storage, and data protection systems. And there are increasing numbers of products available for the small office/home office computer user, plus at least one site dedicated to reviewing backup products. But nothing quite like this.

Am I really providing a valuable enough public service to make it worth putting in so much time and effort? I usually enjoy it, but there's no question there are other things I could be writing which would bring me greater financial rewards (like a couple of post's for a client's blog, which need to be done today). I'm not arrogant enough to think that writing an e-zine with a small subscriber list and a 20% open rate is going to make the world safe from data loss.

But it might mean fewer tales of heartbreak from the people I know personally. And it does mean that if my readers lose their data, it won't be because they didn't know they were supposed to make backups.

We’re Number 205

I got a message yesterday saying that the Backup Blog ranks #205 on Wikio's list of top business blogs. (That means if you go to their top blog list, you won't see it, because that only shows the first 100.)

Even to rank 205th among business blogs is pretty good when your topic is something as un-sexy as backup, so I figured I'd go ahead and add the code for the Wikio vote button to the blog template. It's always nice to get some recognition. (Of course, they didn't say what the total number of blogs is, so it could be that this one is number 205 out of 206.)

The message explained the Wikio ranking system as follows:

“The position of blogs in their Wikio ranking depends on the number and value of links that other blogs point toward them. The value of these links depends on the ranking of the blog publishing them. So in our algorithm, the value of a link published on a highly ranked blog is more important than a posted link on a blog with a lower ranking. This way, we hope to produce a ranking more representative of blogs' influence.”

That would suggest that there are at least a few influential blogs that link to this site. Blogger doesn't provide a nice list of those the way WordPress does (one reason I'm considering switching platforms), so I'm not sure which ones (apart from TechDispenser and TechTarget, anyway). Personally, I'm happy to get links from anyone who thinks the site is useful.

Technorati Tags: Wikio,TechTarget,TechDispenser

The Backup Blog Gets a Compliment

Nic Darling from ION Backup, who just started writing a new backup blog in the persona of Howie Hard Drive, gave the FileSlinger™ Backup Blog a nice compliment a few days ago:

Unfortunately the topic of backup is a somewhat dry one, and it takes a talented writer to hold the attention of any reader, even those of us with a vested interest. Fortunately, my first fellow backup blogger to be recognized, is just such a writer.

According to her archives, Sallie Goetsch has been writing the FileSlinger Backup Blog since 2003. Throughout she has dedicated the blog to a weekly “backup reminder” intended to encourage readers to attend to their backups at least once a week. In this reminder Sallie gives us insights on software, hardware, maintenance, recovery and much more.

I have been reading her blog for almost a year now and have been impressed, entertained and educated. Though I myself work for a backup software company, I am constantly gaining new insights and finding new information to explore through reading her weekly posts.

Thanks, Nic!

Technorati Tags: ION backup,Howie the Hard Drive

We Wish You a Merry Backup: FileSlinger™ Backup Reminder 12-21-07

Whatever you celebrate at this time of year, I'd like to wish you a very merry backup. As I did last year at about this time, I want to urge you to give your friends, family, co-workers, employees, clients (check all that apply), and most of all yourself the gift of backups.

Free Online Backup

If you're strapped for cash, try sitting down with your loved ones and setting up accounts for them on Mozy. Of course, the ones who just got new digital video cameras for Christmas are going to need more than the 2GB of storage that comes with a free account, but for many people, it's plenty. And it has the advantage that once you've set it up, it runs automatically and you don't have to think about it again unless you use up your storage quota or need to retrieve a file. (There are other online backup services, and I'll mention some of them next week, but Mozy is the one I have the most experience with.)

Bear in mind that the first backup with any online service will take several hours, and it's definitely not suitable for people with dial-up connections.

Free Backup Software

I remain a fan of Karen's Replicator for file backups, and also use SyncBack Free, which can be set to copy data from one drive to another whenever the computer is idle. I just recommended DriveImage XML to a client to replace his outmoded version of the now-extinct Drive Image 7. If you've got a little bit of technical know-how, you can download one of these and set it up for someone as a present.

USB Flash Drives

USB sticks (also known as key drives or thumb drives) are ubiquitous and cheap. They don't make good long-term storage, but they're still better than having no second copy of your data at all, and you can easily store them in a safe deposit box away from your office. You can also get them branded with your company logo. Your employees and customers are sure to find them more useful than pens or key chains.

External Hard Drives

Capacities are going up and prices are coming down. Large-capacity external drives make good gifts for people who take thousands of digital photos, have massive music collections, and make videos of every event in their children's lives. (For these people you might even want something that acts as a media server.) All those things can take up a lot of space.

If the intended recipient travels a lot, one of the smaller external drives like the Western Digital Passport, Maxtor OneTouch Mini, or Seagate FreeAgent Go is probably a better choice. The Ur-guru has a good half-dozen of the Passports, all in shiny (fingerprint-attracting) black. I've got one each of the Seagate and Maxtor drives. All of them come with backup software pre-installed.

Rebit

If you have technophobes with new laptops on your list, it could be worth investing in a Rebit. They're pricier than ordinary external hard drives, but they're very simple and they run continuously in the background without noticeably hindering performance. And they're cute. Like the online services, though, Rebit takes a long time to create the initial backup.

Network Drives

If you have multiple computers in one home or office, a network drive may be the way to go. I've written extensively about my Maxtor Shared Storage II (also pictured above--it's the one that looks like a cinder block). Other options include the Buffalo Linkstation and Western Digital's My Book World Edition. The My Book has a little problem with multimedia files, though: it doesn't want you to upload them to the Internet, even if you made them yourself and own the copyright.

Network drives tend to be on the expensive side, not to mention being a bit large to fit in stockings, but they can be very useful.

Merry Backup to all, and to all a good night.

Technorati Tags: Maxtor,Rebit,Western Digital,Seagate,Buffalo Linkstation,Karen's Replicator,SyncBack,DriveImage XML

A New Backup Blog on the Block

This morning's Google Alert brought me the press release about AmeriVault's new Backup Blog. (Note that it only displays correctly in Internet Explorer.)

I'm not at all opposed to having other people blog about backups. The more people raise awareness about the need for regular, reliable, tested backups, the better. Besides, most of what I write about is backups for small and home office users; enterprise software is something else again, and not an area I even aspire to expertise in.

It appears from the first (and so far only) blog post that AmeriVault has hired a company called DCIG, Inc to write its blog. Nothing wrong with that; I write blog posts for other companies, myself. (I just can't tell you who they are.) And DCIG's home page, which aggregates blog posts they've done for several clients, suggests that they've got some employees who understand the informal tone appropriate to a blog.

But the first post for AmeriVault (entitled "It's Time to Wakeup [sic] to Online Backup") is a doozy:

In this first blog entry for AmeriVault, DCIG Inc wishes to thank AmeriVault for agreeing to be a beta client for DCIG Inc's new blogging service. As part of this beta, DCIG Inc will provide AmeriVault with three blog entries a month written by a DCIG Inc analyst. In these blog entries, DCIG Inc will discuss and examine topics germane to AmeriVault's business model - online backup - and is directed to customers who already use it or are considering its adoption. So without further ado, welcome and read on!

Apart from the grammatical errors and the fact that "wake up" is two words, this is corporatespeak at its worst. That may be the way AmeriVault wants it. As any self-employed person knows, the client may not always be right, but the client is still the client. But I hope for the sake of everyone involved that the blog becomes more readable over time, or the only thing AmeriVault will accomplish is reinforcing the perception that backups are boring.

Technorati Tags: AmeriVault, DCIG, backup blog

Get a Backup Blidget

I’ve just discovered a new tool from Widgetbox: blog widgets, or “blidgets.” You can take any RSS feed and turn it into a widget that other people can include in their blogs or on any other web page. I created one for this blog, so you can have the latest news in data backup on your own website.

Hop on over to the Backup Blidget page to copy and paste the Java or Flash version into your HTML, or automatically install it in TypePad, PageFlakes, Facebook—or Blogger, for that matter.

TechDispenser Wants You

...to answer a short survey from them. They’re curious about who’s reading my blog. (Why do they care? Well, they invited me to join their network a couple of months ago, presumably because there’s no one else writing about this subject, and I imagine the’re looking for advertisees.)


If you're willing to take the survey, just click the big green button. Who knows? They might even tell me who’s reading my blog.

How to Back Up Your Data for Free (Podcast)

A couple of weeks ago, George Smyth had me on the One-Minute How To podcast to talk about backing up your computer. You can hear my sixty-second outline of backing up online with Mozy in Episode 142.

Backup Blog on TechDispenser

The FileSlinger™ Backup Blog is now part of TechDispenser, the Computerworld Blog Network. As far as I understand this, that means that content from this blog will sometimes appear on the TechDispenser home page (as I write this, two of my posts are up there), and likewise short excerpts from other TechDispenser blogs appear in a box in the sidebar on this blog.

The “About” page at TechDispenser describes the network this way:

Computerworld’s human powered technology blog network and news aggregator. Tech Dispenser is different from the bot-run landscape of news aggregators because every site in our network is hand selected by real human beings and every piece of content that appears on techdispenser.com is categorized and prioritized by Computerworld’s editors.

It certainly beats having my content scraped by a bot hands down. I'm hoping it will bring some more traffic this way. Backup is not the sexiest of topics, and I'm not in any danger of becoming an A-list blogger whose popularity generates massive bandwidth bills. But I do want to get the word out to people before they lose their data.