…I would back up my files starting with day 1. I didn’t understand the importance of back-ups until I was WAY into digi-scrapping. In fact, I’d been designing for 18 months. I had TONS of files. Every time I heard a horror story of someone’s EHD failing, I would shudder and hide my head. It took forever to do my initial online backup. Two months, I think. (Not as long as it predicted, but still a LONG time.) And yes, it was difficult to use the computer during that time. I got to the point where I would shut the back-up rate down to next to nothing while I was working, then turn it up whenever I left the laptop. Some days when I was designing, it felt like I was going backwards…I was creating new files faster than it could back them up.
But eventually it finished. And now it backs up continuously. I don’t even notice it. I have been to the website & checked to see if new stuff is there (it is)…checked to see if my EHD is there (it is).
I have had a couple of EHDs fail on me. One of them DD15 accidentally knocked off the counter within a few days of my filling it up. OUCH! And one just got too old? I lost half of 2007 & all of 2008. Fortunately my favorite photos are printed in photo books, but I can’t use them again…unless I pay $1500 for a restoration company to TRY to get data off the disk. If backing up sounds expensive, the cost of restoration will put it in perspective.
For the record, I use BackBlaze. It was the best option available when I started an online backup, mostly because it recognized EHDs as long as they were plugged in at least once every 2 weeks. Perfect for my laptop.
The Daily Digi did a post about Backing Up. Steph recommends CrashPlan. And if I had to do it again today, I’d use crashplan and I’d pay the extra $100 or so for seeding. That means they’ll send you a 1T EHD. You put your stuff on it and send it back. That is your initial backup…the one that took my computer 2 months running non-stop.
Whatever you decide to do, DO SOMETHING. Before you are the one in the photo.
Hi! I'm Chelle: a 40 something mom of 7. My husband & I live in a rural community in the rocky mountains with our 4 children still at home. In the winters we enjoy sledding & snuggling by the fire. I the cool fall evenings we love relaxing around the campfire & meeting friends at the county fair. Admiring the stars 
I have Crash Plan and did the seed drive thing too. Otherwise it would have taken over a year to backup. I do have some peace of mind now that it is backed up, especially the old family photos.