Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

My Dog Ate It! Protecting Your Work

2003; Wiley; Volume: 13; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1750-4910.2003.tb00506.x

1750-4910

Suzanne Hall Johnson,

Digital Rights Management and Security

Now that the price of backup drives has dropped, selecting an effective system to protect your work depends on other factors like the drive's speed, reliability, and ease of use. This article compares different types of backup systems from a user's perspective. Twenty years ago, one of my colleagues lost all of her graduate thesis work because it was in her car, which was stolen. As a teacher, I remember a student who missed a course deadline because her brother threw out the paper (I have a brother; I believed her). Then there was the book chapter that was not submitted to me because the author's dog ate it (on her behalf, I must say, she gave me the cover page, well the half that was left anyway, which did have canine tooth marks). You might think that the threat of lost work is over because of the computer, but it isn't. Instead, there are new threats—a laptop computer can be dropped, a hard-disk drive can be formatted erasing everything, a program can freeze up and scramble bits of content, a break in electricity can dump unsaved work, or a virus can infect the computer. Maybe your dog can't eat your paper anymore, but multiple other events can. So, what measures can you take to back up and protect your work? Fortunately, there are a number of new, exciting backup drives like a writable-DVD, 750MB Zip®, flash pen, and inexpensive, large hard-disk drives. They are available to upgrade your computer or in new ones. Now is the time to re-examine your backup system to make sure it will quickly and safely protect your work. Investigate the capabilities of each backup system. There is no one best system, because it depends on your situation. Unless you are on a Local Area Network (LAN) or subscribe to an online backup service, you need some type of computer drive for your backups. Table 1 compares general characteristics of some backup drives. Evaluate all alternatives at the time you want to upgrade because new hardware, expanded storage space, and reduced prices are the trend. You can read reviews on new drives from Web sites like computerworld.com, macworld.com, pcmag.com, pcworld.com, smartcomputing.com, and others, and you can compare pricing from online suppliers from sites like pricegrabber.com and nextag.com. Finally, you can print out drive specifications from manufacturers' Web sites like iomega.com, seagate.com, sony.com, wdc.com, and others, so that you can discuss their requirements for your computer with your technician. Disk: DVD+RW …~$7 Zip Cartridge . .~$15 Disks: CD-R …~$0.30 CD-RW .~$0.60 Internal 10GB …~$150 External 10GB …~$180 As an author and editor (not a computer technician), I have a user's perspective. I have used almost all of the backup systems, including floppy-disk, tape, Zip®, CD-RW, and hard-disk drives. The following two cases demonstrate how the backup drive needs to fit the needs of the individual user. Like many authors, I'm constantly backing up data and doing my best to protect my work. Recently, I've been struggling with chronic computer problems (things I thought were fixed were not, and I had to keep loading programs, including virus protection ones). I became so nervous about the integrity of my data, including chapters for a book I am writing, that I began e-mailing my most important new files to myself at the end of the day. I have a fairly new laptop computer, but even with advice from the dealer's technicians, I have not been able to resolve the problems. I need to be confident that my files are safe. What backup systems should I consider?-Rosalinda Alfaro-LeFevre, President and Consultant, Teaching Smart/Learning Easy, Stuart, FL. This nurse author wants a reliable backup system. She knows the importance of saving files daily and using an off-site location. She was creative to use the Internet provider's computer for storing a manuscript file attached to an e-mail. However, some Internet providers delete e-mail messages and attachments after several weeks, so she needs a more reliable and secure backup. The material has great value to her as a book author and independent consultant. Considering these factors from the user's perspective, she might discuss with her computer technician several alternatives. Floppy Disk. Although a floppy-disk drive uses old technology and may be outdated soon (some new computers are being made without floppy-disk drives), this might be her most important, initial backup. The floppy-disk drive is valuable to back up some of the basic, system start-up files. Because she has computer performance problems, someday the computer's operating system may not start correctly. If she makes a floppy disk by following directions from the “help” menu for creating a start-up disk (sometimes called “system disk,” or “emergency disk”) including registry files and drivers for her drives, this disk will usually start the computer in “safe mode.” Indeed, if disaster strikes and she has no start-up disk, she will not be able to start her computer to use any of the more advanced backup drives. Flash Pen. If she wants a tiny, portable backup for her manuscript files only, she might consider the 128MB or 246MB flash pen that plugs directly and easily into the USB port. She could leave it at home while traveling with the laptop or she could take it with her and plug it into the USB port of other computers. CD-RW. The CD-RW drive reads and writes data to CD disks. Because CD-RW disks are cheap and easy to use, this nurse author could save multiple backup copies of her book's manuscript in her office, a bank safe box, and other locations. CD-RW disks are light enough to carry as she travels, can be read in a client's or publisher's computer, and are easy to mail. She should talk with a technician about picking a CD-RW drive that fits in her laptop computer drive and has software that allows her to span a large backup to multiple CD disks. External Model, Second Hard Disk. A second hard-disk drive can make accurate, reliable copies of files. As a consultant who is paid directly for her services, this nurse author does not want to spend her time reloading programs, which can be avoided if the backup drive is large enough to save system and program files, as well as her manuscript ones. A second hard drive can save and restore files using her usual operating system, so she can use normal “copy” or “drag and drop” without having to learn a new software program. She can talk with the technician to select an external one that connects to the laptop computer by a USB cable or one that fits in her card drive, so she can remove it and leave it in the office when she travels. There it would be safe from the vibrations and security checks that a laptop computer endures. In my roles as author, manuscript reviewer, doctoral student, and nursing association leader, I write journal articles, book chapters, school papers, research reports, committee reports, and reviewer's recommendation reports. I will soon begin writing research grant proposals and a dissertation. I am wondering if the backup system I have is sufficient for my expanding roles. Every day, I back up about 130 MB of computer files and it is important for me to access my backup disk at various locations. I own a Pentium 4, full-size personal computer with a CD-RW drive. I use a CD-RW disk for daily backups of my Word, Excel, PowerPoint, EndNote, and statistics files. Last week a colleague told me that she lost many files because her computer malfunctioned. Just this morning I received an e-mail from a friend who is writing a book chapter. Lightning struck her house last week and “fried” her computer. She lost all her work, which was not backed up. I don't want the same problem, so I maintain “off-site” backups. For example, on Monday evening I back up my files on a CD-RW disk and Tuesday morning I take that CD to work or school and store it there. On Tuesday evening I back up my files on another CD and the next morning, I exchange that second one at work or school for the one I brought the previous day. Because I use CD-RW, I can erase old files and reuse the CD. Sometimes, I also put a copy in a locked, fireproof safe box. If for some reason I do not go to work or school for a couple of days, I put a copy in the family car that is not in the garage (that car is less likely to burn than the car in the garage). I am willing to pay more money for a backup system that saves time. Yet, it is most important that the system reliably and accurately completes a backup of the files.–Marla J. De Jong, RN, MS, CCRN, CCNS, CEN, Major, U. S. Air Force, Doctoral Student, University of Kentucky.* Yes, this colleague's backup system is complete and safe; but I can see why she might like to spend less time making backups and swapping CDs. She might talk with a technician about several possibilities. CD-R Disk. For several reasons, this colleague might switch to using CD-R disks, which can be written to once, rather than CD-RW disks, which can be rewritten to multiple times. First, drives write faster to CD-R disks than CD-RW disks. For example, a CD-RW drive with specification of “40×12×48×” writes at a speed of 40×, but only rewrites at a speed of 12×, and reads at 48×. Also, Howard (3) recommends CD-R disks because they can be read faster. If she routinely saves changed files each day, she could keep adding new or revised files to a CD-R disk every day for several weeks. Second, because the CD-R disks are permanent, the author can keep an historical record of consecutive drafts, which will be very helpful when she writes, revises, and re-revises her thesis. And, archived backups are especially helpful to editors who may need to see the changes in a manuscript from submission to printing. Finally, she can intermittently pass along the previous CD-R disks to places that are safer than her car and she does not have to spend time retrieving them every day. She can send them to her mother, place them in a bank vault, and trade with a colleague she trusts. Writable-DVD. This colleague might consider a writable-DVD drive for future computers, because the disk saves up to 4.7 gigabytes (GB) of data. However, there is still a lack of standardization of formats (Dvorak, 1) and she would have difficulty reading the disk on different computers at work and school. She might re-consider this type of drive later when they are more common, cheaper, and faster (they write slower than CD-RW drives). Internal Model, Second Hard Disk. Saving to a second, internal hard-disk drive is extremely fast. For example, it takes me only 1.6 minutes to save my complete manuscript folder of 260 MBs to my second hard disk, while it takes me about 4 minutes to save it to an internal CD-R disk and about 8 minutes to save it to a previously used CD-RW one. The second hard drive is not only fast to save to, but also fast to restore from, if the primary hard disk fails. This nurse author could save the duplicate of a new or revised manuscript to the second hard drive in only a few seconds, while remaining in her wordprocessor. Hard disks are so large now that she would not have to change disks to back up both data and system files. In addition, some computer stores offer free installation, when the disk is purchased from them. Once you have identified the general characteristics of various backup systems, consult a computer technician to further discuss your needs; identify interface, system requirements, and drive specifications; make a final selection; and have her or him install the drive. There are so many good drive options today, how you use the backup system may be as important as which system you select. Table 2 provides guidelines for an effective backup routine. Selecting a fast and reliable drive and developing a backup routine will help protect your work. Suzanne Hall Johnson, MN, RN,C, CNS, is the Editor of Nurse Author & Editor, Lakewood, CO (NurseAuthorMail@aol.com). Nurse Author & Editor is indexed in CINAHL® and MEDLINE®. See our Web page at: http://members.aol.com/suzannehi/hello.htm