Backing up your cloud/web based data

I'm a big believer and user of cloud / web based apps and data storage. I use Google Docs, Google Reader, Google Sites, Blogger, Evernote, Engrade, iGoogle, Aviary and more. Web based computing allows me to have access to my data and files anywhere that I can get internet access, including on my smart phone. It also allows me to share data and information with others. I also like web based apps and data because it is platform independent - Windows, Linux, Mac - it doesn't matter. The web based apps also, in my experience, seem to run better on older, slower computers than native applications.

I'm also a believer in being prepared and having backups of my data. The services I use have great data centers and backup, but sometimes their servers go down, and sometimes I may not be able to get internet access.

I backup all of my work and data in multiple places so that I always have access to it, even without an internet connection. Here's what and how I do:

1. Google Docs - I use GDocBackup to backup my Google Docs. I also have Google Gears installed so my files are synced with my computer that way too. You can also export your Google Docs to your hard drive.

2. Evernote - I have Evernote's desktop application at home so all of my notes are backed up on my home computer. I also export the data once a week to an html and txt file for backup.

3. Engrade - this is an online grade book. I export my files once a week to Excel for backup.

4. Google Products - I also export my Blogger blogs, iGoogle Settings, Google Reader subscriptions, Calendar, email, tasks, and bookmarks once a week as a back up. For each of them, go to settings and look for the export command. Here's more information on how to export data from Google's services.

(I use Google Chrome so my bookmarks are synced between my two computers.)

5. Google Sites - I use HTTrack Website Copier to make a backup of my website.

All of the backup files are in a directory that is automatically backed up to SugarSync and then kept in sync on both my school and home computers. Sugarsync does this automatically, so it is no effort for me. I also have really, really important data (financial, digitized paper records, etc) on a flash drive in my fireproof safe. Just in case.

I also sync my Palm Centro smart phone with my Google Calendar and Google Contacts using Goosync. I then backup everything on my Centro by Hotsyncing it to my home computer. I also have a microSD card in the Centro that has a back up of my important files so that I can access them via my Centro, even if there is no signal to get an internet connection. I can use Sugarsync to access all of my other files via the internet on my Centro also.

My home computer's disk drive is also backed up to an external hard drive every day.

Some may say this is overkill, but all of it takes me about 10 min each week and gives me great piece of mind.

How do you backup your files and data?

Related Posts:

Operating Systems and Web Based Applications

Cloud File Storage and Sync

Readability - clean up web displays for better reading

Readability is a nice piece of free technology. It installs on your web browser as a bookmarklet and then will take a web page and get rid of all of the flashing ads and other distractions and just leave the text behind to make it easier to read. You set up a free account and you can select how you want it to display the text. It is very easy to use. It is not 100% perfect, but if it there are errors on the screen, just reload the original web page.

Below is an image of an article on my local newspaper's web site and then below it is the article after Readability was used.

(Thanks to my Twitter PLN for telling me about David Pogue's article in the NY Times about Readability).

What do you think? I think it makes reading things online much easier on the eyes and may prevent some people from printing things out to read them.

Operating Systems and Web Based Apps

(cross posted at http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/21132)

Operating systems - this is the part of the computer that allows you to run software. Microsoft Windows and Apple OS are the two major operating systems out there. There is also Linux, which is an open source project with many varieties.

Most schools use Windows or Apple, and sometimes have both depending on the use. Apple was always thought of as the operating system to use for music and art, but it has gotten used more widely over the years. The iPhone has helped push Apple's OS out to more people.

Google has also release it's own operating system, Android, for use on smart phones and netbooks. Netbooks are small laptops that are mainly used by travelers to do email and web browsing.

Palm has just released it's new operating system, WebOS, on it's new smart phone, the Palm Pre. Palm has announced that this new operarting system will be used on many more devices and the industry rumors are pointing to a WebOS powered netbook in the near future.

I have just listed 5 different operating systems that currently run, or will soon run, on computers. This means that schools have to worry about compatability and interoperability among school computers and home computers used by faculty and students.

There are many ways to make this less painful. There has been a big push in the computer industry to standardize certain software formats, such as word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations, so that anyone can open a file, no matter what operating system they have. Apple also has versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint that can read and edit the Windows versions, and Linux has OpenOffice, which can also read Windows and Apple file formats, and Apple has it's own iWorks.

Another push in the computer industry looks to eliminate the operating system as an issue. Cloud computing has been a major topic for years, but more and more companies are pushing it as a way to avoid operating system issues. Cloud computing is simply having all of your files and software hosted on a network somewhere. This means that all you need to acces the files and programs is a web browser. These systems work with any web browser. The system does not care what operating system you are using. You can use Windows, or Apple, or Linux. If you can get to the internet, you can get to your files and applications. Most people have already used a cloud system when they check their email with a web mail system. Cable, Verizon, AOL, Gmail, and Yahoo are all web based email systems that you can accces from any computer with a web browser.

The most popular cloud system is Google Apps. With Google Apps, you can create, edit, save, store, and share documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. You could work on the file on an Apple computer at work, and then continue working on it on a Windows computer at home. There are other cloud systems out there, such as Zoho and Evernote. Many more companies are developing web apps so that they can have users from any operating system.

Schools should look into more cloud or web based applications in the future to eliminate the issues of compatibility between operating systems. Most web based applications offer offline applications that can run even without an internet connection as well as a way to save your files to your own computer. The other benefit is that most of these systems are low cost or even free.

As the operating system wars heat up with Windows 7, Apple Snow Leopard and Ubuntu Linux, schools need to make sure that no matter what OS their faculty and students use at home, they can access files and applications at school and home. It also helps avoid the issue of "I forgot my assignment file at home," or "my printer ran out of ink." By using the web apps, students could just log into their account at school and print it out. Teachers would also always have their files available to them no matter where they are. In many cases, these new web applications will also save on licensing fees since they are free.

Web based applications and files can also be accessed from smart phones like the iPhone, Palm Pre, Blackberry, and G1. This means that you would have access to your files and applications at any time.

There is a lot of information out there on cloud computing and web applications. Take a look at a couple of these:

http://www.google.com/educators/tools.html

http://www.zoho.com/

http://moodle.org/

http://www.labnol.org/internet/most-useful-web-applications/6278/

http://www.smashingapps.com/2008/07/11/21-online-free-web-based-applications-that-you-probably-would-love-to-use-every-day.html

http://nedwolf.com/Web-Applications.htm

http://www.techlearning.com/article/7902

http://www.techlearning.com/Blogs/18764

http://www.techlearning.com/Blogs/18598

http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/20444

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_application

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing