Best backup practices and recovering lost data.
Backup and Recovery
Did I lose my photos?
Episode 1620
Joe fromJoe is a high school computer teacher, and he had scanned a bunch of photographs that he scanned on his computer. He took that folder and moved it to another folder, but it disappeared and was replaced with a file cabinet folder. Leo says that a CAB file is a compressed folder. He searched the entire computer for the folder, and it was gone. Fortunately, he had a backup. But what happened? A virus?
Can I recover the erased data on my hard drive?
Episode 1617
Josh fromJosh's computer "went off the rails" when he did RoboCopy and wiped his hard drive. So now, he needs to talk about data recovery on his hard drive. Leo says that if there's a software issue, or if you deleted a file, the data is still there until you overwrite it. Leo recommends RECUVA. But if the data has been overwritten, you really can't get the data back, not even from Drive Savers. This is why you should always back up your hard drive, ALWAYS.
Is Bitlocker Safe?
Episode 1616
Mary fromMary recently installed an SSD into her computer, as well as Bitlocker. Now she's getting a blue screen of death. So she started over, without Bitlocker, and got a BSOD again. Sandisk told her to update her laptop BIOS, and that worked. But Sandisk also said not to put encryption on an SSD. Leo says he encrypts every SSD drive. His phone is encrypted and they are SSDs. In fact, Windows Pro has Bitlocker built-in! And some turn on Bitlocker at the factory. So Mary is fine to use it, as long as she doesn't lose her password.
Why is my cloud restoration taking so long?
Episode 1615
G. Scott fromG. Scott installed an SSD into his computer and it's booting up faster by a factor of ten. Leo says that's because of faster drives and that's what SSDs buy you. But he's been restoring up the older drive using OneDrive and it's taking a long time. Leo says that's because it's working in the background. But it's also duplicating files. Leo says that's annoying. G. Scott may want to try using the OneDrive app. It may eliminate the duplication since OneDrive identifies files using a hash. If it sees a different hash, it knows it's been changed.
Can I Buy More Cloud Storage for my Samsung Phone?
Episode 1614
Hope fromHope wanted to know if she can upgrade her cloud storage through her Galaxy Note 9. Leo is pretty sure that Samsung will sell her more cloud storage if she wants to, and it's a good idea to back up phone data. She can buy more, but it may be for select carriers. But she can also use Google Photos, which offers free unlimited high-resolution storage, and she can upload automatically with a simple check of a box.
How can I learn to run an NAS?
Episode 1609
Barry fromBarry bought a QNap NAS recently and he's a bit frustrated that there isn't a lot of documentation with it for the hardware or software. Leo says that's a common problem as they assume you're an expert if you're looking to use a NAS for a backup. Leo says that YouTube is a great place to learn how to run QNap. There's a QNapTV Channel there.
Should I Image a Hard Drive or Back it Up?
Episode 1608
Steven fromSteven wants to know if it's better to image a drive or make a backup of everything. Leo says that imaging a drive makes for a quick reinstall that he can put back onto the hard drive quickly. But it's frozen in time and goes out of date quickly. That's where an incremental file backup comes in handy. Leo uses both and recommends that.
Why Can't Time Machine Complete My Backup?
Episode 1604
Kevin fromKevin just returned from an Alaska Cruise and downloaded all the photos and videos, but his Time Machine backup will not complete it due to insufficient free space. Leo says it sounds like his hard drive has run out of room. Even with 20GB of free space, Time Machine may be taking a snapshot of the drive locally, before backing it up. Choices: Free up space on the internal drive or buy a larger one.
The chatroom says that if the external drive can't be seen, Time Machine will make the backup locally. So make sure it can see the external drive.
Do I need more than one backup?
Episode 1601
Phil fromPhil has noticed that Carbonite's backup fees keep going up, and they seem to be more focused on business plans lately. Leo says that business is where the real money is, but Carbonite is still doing consumer backup plans. But if Phil has several cloud-based hard drives, does he really need it? Leo says that's only something Phil can answer. But if Phil is a photographer, he really needs to back up his data using a 3-2-1 backup strategy. Three backups, on two different forms of media, one off-site.
How Can I Recover Data From a Malfunctioning Thumb Drive?
Episode 1598
Stan fromStan has a thumb drive where he saved all his information, but it stopped working. Leo says a thumb drive is a terrible place to keep original data or backup, but Stan can try Recuva. The program is from CCleaner, which is a pretty reputable company.
