Yay! Got a new computer today. So far it rocks. Had to buy a new one, because on Oct. 30 I had my wisdom teeth out and was holding my daughter while she was having her nightly sippy. Well, she had too much milk (too much in her tummy, period) and she threw up all over our laptop. The fun thing with laptops is that if anything gets into the keyboard, it gets into the hard drive. Fantastic. Now I have 2 computers in the closet that need to be taken in to have pictures and music taken off-the pics are far more important to me, because there are pics of Kayde when she was just born and pics of the dogs and one of our camping trips to the Big Horns.

I just want to have a computer last loner than a couple years and I want to have my pics backed up on something else! Why didn't I learn after the first comp. wouldn't turn on? Good question! lol

I love my laptop. Got it last year so that I could use it anywhere in the house or out on the deck. That way I am not stuck in the den where my main computer is. I just don't spend that much time in that room. Get an axilliary drive to store all your pic & music on. This also leaves memory space on your computer. Pics take up alot of memory to store. They also cause your computer to run more slowley & boot up more slowly. Just a thought. It's what I finally did.

 Quote: Anne Jones

.... Get an axilliary drive .... It's what I finally did.

So did I. http://pcworld.about.com/magazine/1903p106id38871.htm

Until you figure out an auxillary drive you can also use photobucket to store a ton of picture for free. Thats what we are doing right now to keep the laptop from getting bogged down.

I think that pohotobucket is great...but you have no control over if they suddenly shut down. It happens. I personally would rather have the security of the control over what happens to my precious photos. JMO

I would recommend CDs and/or DVDs to store any important information long term. Flash drives work great as well but that can get really expensive really quick.

External drives are great for keeping files off your computer while still having ready access, but as long term backups they simply aren't reliable. Files get accidentally (or maliciously) deleted, mechanical components break down, they get dropped, caught in a flood/fire, etc... I've been doing IT support for sixteen years and I've seen all scenarios (and more) far too often. It always happens at the worst time and is always traumatic. Getting data off a drive that has truly crashed is never certain and is always very expensive.

Services like PhotoBucket are another great way to keep your stuff easily at hand but you don't really have control over it. The company could suffer data loss, change their policy about keeping older files or even go belly up. Personally I'm just not comfortable using that as a backup either.

I burn my pictures, digital music purchases, tax documents, business receipts and anything else I consider important to disc and put them in a fire safe along with my important papers. I also keep copies at my in-laws in case something happens to my own. They're cheap and take up very little room (the discs, not my in-laws).

I Hope this helps.

(I didn't expect my first post here to be about computers, I should have known better.)

I use photobucket, but I didn't have ALL my pics on there. And I don't want to rely on a website that, like Anne said, may shut down without explaination. We're planning on getting an external hard drive to store all the pics an music we tend to accumulate

We should have learned not to rely on the laptop (that was barfed on) in the first place. We had it for 5 months and it started acting up. Then we had to have someone out twice to try and fix it-it worked but still had issues-after I had spent hours on the phone with customer service, talked to at least 12 different techs, and spending an extra $175 for North American tech support (sorry, but I can't understand anyone that lives in India or wherever they are outsourced from). We had that computer exactly one year, then it was puked on :P

I did like the freedom of being able to be in any room on the computer with the laptop, but we figured we really didn't need it that bad and in the future, if we decide we need one, it will be a little notebook for when we are traveling or on vacations and are running a home based business with staff.

Thanks everyone for the ideas-I've thought of most of them, but never acted on them like an idiot... I guess everyone has their days.

I strongly advise that you don't rely solely on an external hard drive to keep your pictures safe. Having to tell people that all of their data is gone is the absolutely worst thing I've ever had to do professionally.

Don't get me wrong, as I said earlier they're great tools for keeping your pictures readily at hand and portable. However, eventually they will fail. It's not a matter of if, but a matter of when. To make it even worse the longer your drive lasts the older and more precious your pictures will be.

Every new computer these days comes with a DVD burner. Buy a spindle of blank dvds(19.99 for 50 at bestbuy) and spend the time to really back them up. You won't regret it.