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Category Archives: iDrive

Software: Online Backup for your WordPress site data (Free)

WordPress-Introduction-icon_big-en  One of the most import things to have when dealing with any kind of computer data is a GOOD BACKUP!  Doesn’t matter if we are talking about your tablet, Windows PC, Mac, Linux pc. In addition, for those of us who run and manage online blog sites, backing up the site is also a necessary step to protect our work. A website can go down by many reasons from hardware/software issues at your host, to hackers trying to cause issues. Here is a solution to backup your site if you are a WordPress user, offered for Free by iDrive.

The best backup is the one that takes the least amount of work to complete, because the more you have to do, the more likely you are to skip doing it. Tech Geek and More has been using (LINK) iDrive (http://www NULL.idrive NULL.com) for a number of years now.  In addition, iDrive (http://www NULL.idrive NULL.com/?p=techgeekandmore) is a (paid) partner for Tech Geek and More for the past year.

iDrive has now released a free plugin (and who doesn’t like FREE) for WordPress that will on a nightly basis, back up your WordPress account into an iDrive account with 5 GB’s of space.

 

From the (LINK) iDrive (http://www NULL.idrive NULL.com/wordpress NULL.htm) site

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“IDrive Plug-in for WordPress is an easy to use backup utility, designed specifically to backup WordPress blog data into your IDrive online backup account. It provides scheduled as well as immediate backup of WordPress blog data including files and MySQL database dump”

Features

  • Immediate backup of WordPress blog data, both files as well as MySQL data dump, into your IDrive online backup account
  • Scheduled backups occur after 12 midnight every day
  • Immediate restore of backed up data from your IDrive online backup account
  • Smart backup – Only the first backup transfers entire WordPress content, subsequent backups are incremental where only the modified data is backed up
  • Automatic notification via email on backup / restore status
  • Secure transfer of data to IDrive server using SSL. Non SSL transfer option is also available for non SSL servers
  • Detailed logging of backup / restore operations

     To install this plug-in just find it from your plug-in section in the dashboard section of your WP install and select install.

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Once installed, you will need to sign up for a new iDrive account (did I mention this one is free).  *If you already have an account with iDrive for your pc backup, that account will not work for the plug in.

Once the plug-in is installed and activated, just go to the plug-in and click where it says “Click here” (as shown below) to set up your account.

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Once your account is set up, you have a choice of doing an initial backup at that moment or just waiting for the regular scheduled backup.

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I ran the backup initially just after install, and I did not find any down time for Tech Geek and More, while the backup was running.

One of the biggest advantages of using iDrive is the snapshot feature.  This is a feature that they also include in the regular PC/Mac version of iDrive.

What are snapshots? (From the iDrive (http://www NULL.idrive NULL.com/online_faq_wordpress NULL.htm#q10) site)

Your IDrive for WordPress online account retains copies of your WordPress data for the last 10* days using the snapshots technology. A snapshot is an image of the backup data taken at a particular point of time, once everyday.

What this means is that you will have the last 10* days of your WordPress data in your account in the form of snapshots. Each snapshot will have data from the last backup performed for that particular day. This is useful if your WordPress blog data is corrupted by any means (hacks, bugs etc.).

You can restore any file, database dump, or even the entire blog from any previous snapshot and start your blog again.

Snapshots show up as folders having names like ‘BackUp_nightly.0_*’, ‘BackUp_nightly.9_*’ etc. ‘BackUp_nightly.0_*’ represents yesterday’s snapshot. ‘BackUp_nightly.9_*’ represents the snapshot taken 10 days back.

The additional storage requirements for Snapshots have no impact on your account quota usage.

* The number of days for which Snapshots are stored may change without notice.

 

And lastly important information for those considering using iDrive

System Requirements
  • WordPress 2.8.5 or higher hosted on a Linux / Unix system. WordPress blog hosted on a Windows system is not supported
  • JavaScript enabled web browser – IE, Safari, Firefox, Chrome
  • Admin access to WordPress dashboard to activate the Plug-in
  • PHP 5.1 or higher

PC: Protecting your files–Online Backup w/iDrive

computer_cartoon   There is only 1 guarantee with computers, eventually it will crash. In the past it wasn’t that big a deal, as long as you kept a backup copy of the important documents on floppy disks (rememba them?) or on CD / external hard drive in case something happened. Now most people have their entire lives on the pc, from financial documents, to family pictures, to downloads (since a majority of software and music is now a download and not physical media).  We have gig’s and gig’s of things that people would consider critical that would be expensive or impossible to replace (I currently have just over 100 gigs in my existing backup, between documents, pictures, and music alone).

Do you realize that all media providers put the responsibility on you (the end user) to do your own back up’s and if something happens to your hard drive that all you may get is “Sorry but you have to pay for them AGAIN!”. Some providers may allow a no cost recovery download to get your files back but you should never count on it.

(From the iTunes Site as an example – In Bold)

Additional Information

1 Automatic Downloads and downloading previous purchases are not compatible with iPhone 4 (CDMA Model). Automatic Downloads and downloading past purchased music is supported only in the US and is not compatible with iPhone 4 (CDMA Model). Previous purchases may be unavailable if they are no longer on the iTunes Store

This week alone I took 2 different calls of clients that had pc crashes.  One pc was a couple of years old, the other one was less than 3 months old (so don’t think, That wont happen to me because I have a new pc).  In both cases the clients had an online back up setup using iDrive (http://www NULL.idrive NULL.com/?p=techgeekandmore). All that happened was that they got their replacement pc’s, we connected to iDrive and they downloaded all their important files.  No lost files, only minimal downtime.  Last week, I took a call from another client that lost her pc through theft and in her case, the burglar also took all her disks, including her only back up’s.  She is now trying to recover from scratch and has years of pictures that she may never get back.

I have been using iDrive for years now, and have always recommended it to friends and family as a way to protect what is important to them.  Since the beginning of Tech Geek and More, TGM has been a referral partner for iDrive because I know it works.

The recommended back up strategy is a multi part approach.

  • Have a backup locally. Be it to Disks (CD most likely) or to an External Hard Drive.
  • Have a backup remotely.  This should be in a secure encrypted manor.
    • Two of the biggest reasons for the remote backup are FIRE and THEFT (as shown above). A backup doesn’t work if you cant get to it.

     There really REALLY REALLY is no reason why you shouldn’t have a backup solution.  If you have just a small number of documents that you need to protect, iDrive offers 5 gigs of service for free (that amount can grow if you refer others to iDrive). If you have more than 5 gigs, the costs are as little as $4.95 a month. 

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There is even a plan that lets you backup as many as 5 pc’s under 1 account (for a total of 500 gig’s of space), for just $14.95 a month and those 5 pc’s don’t have to be in the same home.  In addition iDrive has a discount for education

Sign up with your .edu or k12.state.us domain based email address to avail 50% off on IDrive Pro Personal and Pro Family plans.

iDrive is pc and Mac compatible, and has apps for both Android and iPhone that allow you to have access to your backup files from your smart phone (LINK) http://www.idrive.com/idrive-for-iphone.htm (http://www NULL.idrive NULL.com/idrive-for-iphone NULL.htm)

To view a demo of iDrive (LINK) http://www.idrive.com/online-backup-demo.htm (http://www NULL.idrive NULL.com/online-backup-demo NULL.htm)

To sign up for iDrive service follow this (LINK) http://www.idrive.com/?p=techgeekandmore (http://www NULL.idrive NULL.com/?p=techgeekandmore) or just click on the iDrive banner on the right side of Tech Geek and More.

(Disclaimer – Tech Geek and More does get a small referral fee for those signing up with a paid iDrive account. However, this recommendation would be exactly the same even if Tech Geek and More was not getting anything).

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