5 Best Ways to Backup Data

This morning I just lost all the my pictures in my camera. It was all the pictures I took for the entire week. They weren't just any pictures, they were awesome picture of my kids, my wife and me. Part of it was my fault. It was a new camera and I haven't had time to get used to it yet. I accidentally erased all those wonderful pictures. It was a feeling of absolute loss. All my precious captured moments were now gone. Poof! Just like that. I felt so stupid because on that same day I was just thinking of uploading them to my personal blogs and to my facebook account. Now there's nothing I could do. I wanted to throw my stupid camera away (Good thing I didn't). My point is, if I felt that so badly about losing pictures in my camera, I bet you'll feel even worse if you lost all you important files, document, pictures, or music that are stored in your computer. That's happened to me once or twice before but I'd like to help you to avoid all that. What you can do to avoid this. You can try out some or all of them.

External Hard drive
This is one of the most recommended types on backup. One that I'd recommend to anyone myself.. Having an external hard drive is cheap. $75 for a 250GB USB external drive. You can carry it anywhere and use it with any computer. It can store so much information. Some actually have an automatic backup software that allows you to schedule backup on regular basis ensuring that you are always up to date. The down side to external hard drives is that a lot of people think it's a bit pricey. There are other options though.

USB Flash Drive
Also known as a thumb drive, this small device is a whole lot cheaper and easier to carry around than an external Hard Drive. Many people find it stylish to use it as keychains or pendants. It's even become a necessity for a lot of students because of its portability. The USB flash drive is the best option if your looking for a smaller cheaper storage device. 16GB is the biggest you can get for a device like this. This should be enough for a few pictures and music.

Optical drive
I've been saving my files to CD's and DVD's since the turn of the century and for most people they find it more convenient to save files on a disc. The problem with writing to discs though is that CD's and DVD's are so fragile and have so little space for backup. Burning information also takes a while. A standard CD has a diameter of 120 mm and can hold up to 80 minutes of uncompressed audio (700 MB of data). A DVD-R typically has a storage capacity of 4.71 GB.

Online Backup
I actually wrote about this before. An online data backup like Dell Datasafe is for people who don't want to spend to much and don't want to carry around a bulky hard drive, a tiny Flash Drive, or don't want the clutter of discs. Online backup is perfect for a purely electronic way of backing up data. This is actually the last thing I'd recommend to anyone because you would have no access to your files if you don't have internet connection.

Separate Partition
It's a bit advanced, but creating a separate partition in your internal hard drive for backup has been a technique done by my ancestors even before I knew what a computer was. But creating a separate partition is easy once you learn it. This allows you to have a backup inside your own computer. When the time comes that there's a need for a re-format or a Windows Re-installation, all your files will be safe in your other partition.

So the next time you get in front of your computer, ask your self if you already have backup for your files. You never know when you'll need it.

Computers Packed in Bamboo

Dell is going green with it's packaging. Back in November Dell announced it's shipping its Dell Inspiron Mini 10 and 10v netbooks in packaging made from bamboo, a highly renewable material that serves as a great alternative to molded paper pulp, foams and corrugate often used in packaging. Dell is First in the PC Industry to Introduce Packaging Made from Bamboo; Bamboo is Sustainable Alternative to Paper, Foams and Corrugate Packaging. LINK

What's good about Bamboo Packaging?

"It's an exciting, sustainable alternative. It grows super fast (up to two feet a day), promotes healthy soil and has a tensile strength greater than steel (!), making it great for protecting our cute little Inspiron Mini 10s in transit." - Michelle m.

1.) So it Grows fast..
2.) It's Strong..
3.) And Easy on the environment.
Dell plans to increase this type of packaging not only for the inspirons systems but for the other laptop lines as well.

What do you think of Bamboo packaging?

Studio XPS 16 Throttling

I've been following this issue with STUDIO XPS 16's since it was posted in forum.notebookreview.com a few months back and I'm happy to announce that Dell already has a solution for it. Mr. Todd S. from the http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/direct2dell/archive/2010/02/24/throttling-update-for-studio-xps-1645-customers.aspx">Direct2Dell blogs has posted the solutions.

The Symptoms
Symptoms usually occur during gaming or other stressful applications. Can be in the form of extremely large stuttering under certain conditions. Even if these slow downs do not occur it is very likely you could see a performance boost by allowing the laptop to run properly, given a modern game. A quick test is to run on battery, giving the system a few min's to settle, and see if performance is improved.(as per atlstang)

The Cause
This Studio XPS 1645 throttling issue is a limitation related to the 90-watt adapter. (as per DELL-Todd S)

The Solution
The resolution is to update the system BIOS, and for some, replacing the 90-watt adapter with a 130-watt adapter.
We released BIOS update A07 for the Studio XPS 1645 system and began shipping 130-watt replacement adapters to affected customers on February 12.(as per DELL-Todd S)

So if you're having some problems playing games or running applications with your STUDIO XPS 16 when your AC adapter is plugged in, you might just be experiencing this same issue.

Michael Dell's Mini 5