Best backup practices and recovering lost data.
Backup and Recovery
Is The Latest Windows Update Reliable?
Episode 1721
Jeff fromJeff recently updated to the Windows 2004 Feature Pack and now all his data has disappeared. He's also nearly out of space now. Leo says that's normal, as Windows saves the old version under windows.old. He can delete it or roll back to the previous version with it. But that doesn't solve his lost data issue. Fortunately, the data was backed up on an external drive, and Leo says that most problems like this have happened with people with external drives attached. Leo also adds that updating Windows is like changing an engine while an airplane is flying.
What's the Best Way to Back Up Photos From a Camera Phone?
Episode 1721
Alan fromAlan wants to back up his phone photos. What's the best option? Leo says that for phone pictures, The Google Photos app is the best option because he can get unlimited HiRes photo backups directly from the phone. And it can be done automatically. Once users have them online, if he wants them back, he can use Google Takeout to download them, plus anything else he's done using Google services.
If an Amazon Prime user, back up photos for free in the same way, only they can be full resolution copies.
Then there's an off-site backup option like iDrive.
How Should I Back Up My Images?
Episode 1721
Carl fromCarl is a photographer who is worried about getting his data should he have to "bug-out" during a disaster like the fires that have hit California. Leo says that it's a good idea to use a third party backup like iDrive to back up data, and use a NAS like Synology as well. Follow the 3-2-1 backup strategy (three backups, two different formats, one off-site) to protect the files. Especially as a professional. He can also have an external drive to save them on a 1 TB SSD or spinning drive would work.
How can I backup multiple tablets?
Episode 1718
Frugal Ed fromEd switched to Mint Mobile (a sponsor of the TWiT Network) recently and he pays 25% of what his wife does. But he can't use his tablets with it. Leo says you can backup your tablets using Google One, then restore them. It's really easy.
How can I back up an old iPod Nano?
Episode 1718
Van (Edmunton Oiler Guy) fromVan has an old iPod Nano and wants to back up the media from it. iTunes doesn't work because while it sees the Nano, it's grayed out. So you can't really do anything with it. Leo recommends iMazing. It will work with any "i device." They have a free trial before you buy it. Another option is the Wondershare Doctor Phone. It specifically says it supports the iPod Nano.
Is Amazon Photos Good for Storing Images in the Cloud?
Episode 1717
Al fromAl and his wife have decided to move everything up to the cloud and use a smaller Mac Air instead of his huge 27" iMac. He's uploaded everything up to Amazon. Will that be safe? Leo says it will, but it's a smart idea to have more than one backup option. Make a local backup copy and a second service in the cloud. Leo recommends Google Photos because it's free. If Al has iCloud, then he can turn on Cloud syncing and then sync them all. He can then optimize storage in Apple Photos and it'll eliminate the high res versions until he needs them, but he can still see them in Photos.
How Can I Organize All My Pics & Then Back Them Up?
Episode 1715
Chrissy fromChrissy has years of photos and thousands of digital photos on her phone. She has all her photos on different hard drives. How can she easily merge them into one huge central spot and then create a backup? Leo says he just did a similar project with all his photos and here's what he did:
Is my network safe from ransomware?
Episode 1714
Steve fromSteve's data center got attacked by ransomware. Fortunately, they had two locations and was able to shut one down, clean it, and then reinstall with only 3 hours of downtime. Leo says that's fantastic. But a hot backup can let the ransomware spread to your backup. So the key is to keep the second network only connected every three hours. That will give time to take down the infected network before the next sync connection time.
Why isn't my iDrive backing up all my files?
Episode 1712
Micah fromMicah is getting an error message every night after backing up with iDrive (a sponsor of The Tech Guy radio show) that says that five files have failed. What gives? Leo says to look in the View Logs option by ctrl-clicking on the icon. It could be a permissions issue for that file, or a file you don't want to be backed up anyway. So look to see what files are failing in the View Logs. Odds are, it's a permissions issue.
Why can't I reformat my backup drives?
Episode 1712
Kyle fromKyle has a home theater PC loaded with media and backups on ten different hard drives that he swaps out. Leo calls that a JBOD (just a bunch of discs). But Kyle is having an issue with the drives getting errors while erasing and starting a new backup. Leo says that the flaw could also be in the backups themselves. It also changed to MBR (master boot record) and cut the drive storage in half. He also can't reformat it with GUID using Windows 10. Is there a special utility he can use? Leo says there is an MBR to GUID command in Windows.