Dodd-Frank Tracker
March 28, 2013
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by Jimmy Marks
So you’ve taken our advice and decided to invest in a proper backup strategy. Cool! But have you actually backed up your computer yet? What’s keeping you?
I wanted to try and show the skeptics out there that backing up a computer isn’t that tough – in fact, you can get it going in less than 60 seconds. And what better way to show a process moving quickly than with Vine?
Here are a few less-than-six-second videos I shot of me backing up my computer.
First: the equipment.
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March 13, 2013
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by Jimmy Marks
I’ve been on the lookout for good articles to share for the World Backup Day on March 31. I’ve been trying out the tips and tricks offered by these articles and I’ve found a few of them quite useful.
This article, “The Computer Backup Rule of Three” by Scott Hanselman, is a good read. Much more than telling you what a backup is, the article tells you what a backup isn’t. Namely, a backup is not a copy of the file stored in the same storage space as the original. Backing up your photo library to another place on your computer hard drive is NOT backing up your library, for instance.
Have I committed a few of these sins? Yes. And MAN, have I been burned for it.
I backed up a copy of my old photos and moved them off my computer to organize the newer photos…and the .zip file got corrupted. Who knows where those images are now. Do I have another copy? Can I undo what’s been done? I’m honestly not sure. I wish I could go back in time and smack the younger me in the head. Alas, we can’t look back – only forward, to a future where we don’t make such foolish mistakes.
From the article mentioned above, a practical guideline for backups – how, how often, and how important:
Here’s the rule of three. It’s a long time computer-person rule of thumb that you can apply to your life now. It’s also called the Backup 3-2-1 rule.
- 3 copies of anything you care about - Two isn’t enough if it’s important.
- 2 different formats - Example: Dropbox+DVDs or Hard Drive+Memory Stick or CD+Crash Plan, or more
- 1 off-site backup - If the house burns down, how will you get your memories back?
After I read this, I went home and gave it a try. I already have external backup disks (about 1TB apiece, one for each computer in my home), but I wanted to look into the other ways to store my important stuff.
One easy way to store a few gigs worth of files? Thumb drives and DVDs. Fewer computers are coming with optical disk drives nowadays, but my computer burns DVDs which, on average, hold about 4 GB worth of data. Thumb drives, once an expensive convenience, are now cheap, cheap, cheap and come in many sizes. Moore’s law is your computer’s best friend and makes the once-hard-to-get 8 GB thumb drive a thing of beauty and thrift (they’re about $8 at your local Walmart).
Now, these aren’t built for full-computer backups. They are, however, perfect for photo libraries, documents, music, and more. Buy a few and cycle them, backing up your important files every so often on one, then the other. You probably won’t even fill that 8GB every time. DVDs come fifty to a spindle and cost roughly $20, depending on where you shop. 50 DVDs x 4GB apiece = 200 gigs, which is pretty hefty. Use these for files that aren’t going to be updated regularly.
Three copies of things you care about is an achievable goal. Multiple formats? Got that covered, too. Off-site backups? That can be tough. But not to worry, you can achieve this in two ways:
I think the takeaway for all this can be simplified to “even your backup needs a backup”. Never trust just one disk. Never trust your computer to “be in tip-top shape”. Never assume your in-laws won’t click on a virus in an email. Never, ever, ever assume.
Know for sure. Follow the rules. Back it all up!
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March 6, 2013
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by Jimmy Marks
Louis Pasteur, inventor of pasteurization and the vaccines for anthrax and rabies, once said “fortune favors the prepared”. If your computer is fried in an electrical surge, or submerged in a flood, or stolen, what would you do? Many people – nearly one-third – have never backed up their computer. Of those that have backed up, more than half haven’t backed up in a year or more. And when a computer disaster hits, whether it’s big or small, you need more than “luck” to get through it. You need a stable, reliable backup to get back on your feet.
That’s why a group of thoughtful techies created World Backup Day, a day to get folks to back up their important files and documents and to convince those that do so to back up more frequently and more reliably.
At DigitalMailer, we’re big proponents of World Backup Day. We hope more folks take part in a proper backup strategy. And backups aren’t just for computers, they’re for tablets, smartphones, email, and so much more. We’ll be sharing important stories and strategies as we find them, on our Twitter feed and our Facebook page. Join us and let’s get “lucky”…by being prepared for anything.
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September 18, 2012
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Ron Daly, on stage with My Virtual StrongBox
We were so thrilled to be chosen as a presenter at FinovateFall 2012. This being our first year, we weren’t exactly sure what to expect. We knew we’d have to demo our product on stage in front of a huge audience of financial technology experts, but little did we know what a whirlwind we were in for…
Day 1, Tuesday – Rehearsal
We got a little stage time to rehearse our presentation and make sure we had the right set-up for our laptop/iPad combination. The Javits Convention Center is a huge building and the exhibition hall is very large…we were certainly impressed, wondering what it would look like full of people.
The answer: impressive, and a little intimidating. There were thousands of people in the hall, some watching, some prepping, all buzzing about what they were going to see over the next two days.
For those of you unfamiliar with how Finovate works, sixty-four demos are shown over two days. The demos are each 7 minutes long, and not a minute longer. If your demo runs long, you get “gonged” – they shut off your microphone, stop your demo and kick you off the stage.
It only happened once. But it was a terrifying prospect.
Day 2 – Just Watchin’
The browser version of the product
We got to meet a few partners and friends on day one and early in day two. We chatted about what we were seeing through the course of the day. Plenty of apps and services were on display that streamline point-of-sale, charitable contributions, PFM and money management. Things mostly ran smoothly with one major exception – wifi connectivity was shot. It did NOT go unremarked on Twitter, that’s for sure.
Day 3 – Presenting…
Demoing our iPad app capability
We had to be up early to check in our laptop and iPad with the tech folks then dart over and grab a little breakfast. Our presentation was set for 10:45 so we had to get focused, get prepped, and say our peace in the seven-minute window allotted.
The demo went well and we had a lot of good feedback and buzz after our session ended. There were a few folks that didnt’ see the advantage of My Virtual StrongBox, but we were happy to explain the difference between “cloud storage” and secure document storage and sorting. One is used for day-to-day file transfer; the other was built specifically to keep online copies of a user’s most important documents.
The whole gang back at home base in Herndon was watching and cheering the Twitter stream (there were no live video feeds) and they were all thrilled with how it went. We came home the next day on the train with a lot of great stories, good contacts, and a sense of pride. We were happy to share the stage with all the great companies that presented and to be considered one piece of the “what’s next for financial technology” puzzle.
The crowd outside our Finovate booth
So, what IS next?
As best we can tell? More apps, more frequently used. People are incorporating feedback loops into their health more and more each year (Fitbit, anyone? Nike+ with the iPhone compatibility?). It stands to reason that people will be using their smart phones and tablets to manage their financial health and keep track of valuable information. The companies that demoed products at FinovateFall were all looking forward to an age where a handful of apps could cover everything from personal finance to small business point-of-sale to investments. It seems so strange – a decade ago, tablets and smart phones were a dream and now they dominate our culture in so many ways.
We can’t thank the Finovate people enough for letting us participate and for our staff, our friends, our partners and especially our clients for supporting us. We had an awesome time looking into the future with you all.
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July 25, 2012
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By now, we’re sure you’re aware of our upcoming appearance at FinovateFall 2012. We’re very excited to be a presenter at finance’s biggest and best tech show. We’re even MORE excited about what we’re showing there.
My Virtual StrongBox is our new, user-friendly, online safe deposit box. It lets users store their important electronic documents safely and securely in an online file management system that accepts Word docs, PDFs, images…you name it! Best of all, users can sort and store these documents a number of different ways that they choose for themselves.
To learn more, go to myvirtualstrongbox.com. Keep checking our blog for more details about FinovateFall 2012!
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April 11, 2012
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DigitalMailer is proud to announce its new product offering, My Virtual StrongBox. My Virtual StrongBox was created to give customers and members a secure storage space for their most important documents online. Use it to store wills, insurance policies, birth certificates and so much more.
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