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| Image: Joseph Robertson |
As my planned sabbatical to reinvestigate my priorities draws near, there are more than a few logistical issues to consider. A big one, since we are living in a material world, is STUFF. In fact, one major perk of a hiatus like this is the chance to weed out clutter, reallocate, and secure that which is valuable. My most valuable material possession? MY DATA! This post is about keeping it safe, whether I am at home or on the road.
Conversion
Having been semi-nomadic for all my adult life, the matter of what to do with stuff has been fortuitously addressed by technology. More than a few of my favourite things have been converted to digital format: music, images, books and the mass of materials I have created in every imaginable medium over the years. Though converting matter into data can be time-consuming, it saves precious space and weight when traveling. Even non-nomads will agree that digital copies can save precious originals from the elements, or even disaster. So, the first stage of protecting my valuable data is to convert everything possible - music, photos, books, even my art and souvenirs - to digital format. For me this has included scanning hundreds of pages of my handwritten journals, artwork, letters and yes, even gifts, and saving them digitally on my computer.
Getting Backup
Once the digital format exists, data can be backed up securely. The first great measure is a portable hard drive, which can be updated every month (depending on how much new data there is). This should be kept separately from the original data versions, just in case the unthinkable should happen and both are in jeopardy for some reason.
Thankfully there is another alternative, where no physical danger can befall precious data. In addition to a physical backup on a portable hard drive, data can be stored in the cloud. Yes, the wonderful world wide web has a remarkable track record of keeping safe from most physical dangers. What is more, many online services use backup servers themselves to ensure their data... and they are ready to share this with users. Services like Carbonite back up absolutely everything, while Dropbox backs up documents with automatic syncing in its full version. As a Google fan I was thrilled to find that Google Docs now allows uploading of complete folders, as well as the option to upgrade to up to a terrabyte of data storage at very reasonable prices. (Google Docs is also handy for those using ultraportable devices with limited software, since it offers a decent document creation suite for online work.
Going Nomadic
Since I will be traveling in at least five countries over the next six months, and don't even know where I'm headed after that, I am thrilled to travel light... but I do want access to my data. I will be traveling with my charming Acer One Happy and a 16GB flash drive for data needs. Online I will have access to all my documents through Google Docs (I paid USD 20 for 80 GB and uploaded every document I have). While traveling, new data will be backed up to Google Docs regularly. For extra backup, which includes my program setup files, I will be mailing a portable hard drive home.
Neurotic, moi? It beats losing data.
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