Self-Defense Techniques

It took me some time before I got to a stable and convenient backup system. I think I got there now. It’s hassle-free, complete and entirely automatic. This is the setup I use now for backup and synchronisation between all my portable gizmos.

1st level

Dropbox to synchronise my essential documents between

• home PC,
• 2 VAIO laptops,
• IPhone
• IPad.

I have less than 2 GB of essential documents so the free version of Dropbox is fine. I find the synchronisation very fast and more reliable than using the Windows offline files feature or Live Sync. This acts as a first form of backup since all files are saved on the Dropbox server by default. Dropbox files are always available offline under Windows. On the IPad/IPhone versions of Dropbox you must manually tick the files to make them available offline. By essential files I mean

• technical Books
• travel documents, flight tickets, travel insurance policy, conference tickets….
• Visual Studio projects
• OneNote files

2nd level

Daily incremental backup on an external hard drive of all documents on my D drive using the backup tool that comes with Windows 7. The drive is a 1TB Western Digital. This protects absolutely everything in case my main drives fail, which is a very likely occurrence.

3rd level

Off-site backup with Mozy, just in case my flat burns or I get burgled. This is an industrial-scale backup: documents, video, raw sound files, VM files, everything gets saved. I currently have 130GB saved on Mozy. At the time I bought the subscription, the backup size was unlimited. No matter how big a video is it will save it, it’s just a matter of time. It took me about one week to finish the initial backup. After that it does very quick daily automatic incremental backups.

I’m happy about this system so far, it’s entirely automatic and very exhaustive.

Got to Treat Yourself

I bought myself a Christmas present. Next week I’ll receive this neat little thing:

It’s a VAIO X-Series.

This is a replacement for the VGN-SZ5 that I carried around every day in a rucksack for more than two years. Now the rucksack will disappear to be replaced by a tiny messenger bag.

Premium carbon finish, SSD drive, embedded 3G. Extremely thin and less than 900g. This is going to be pure pleasure.

In 2007 netbooks were not around yet and I needed something to write code on the go, not just in my lounge. I got the VGN-SZ5 and a Wenger SwissGear rucksack, both of which I’m still using today. I went everywhere with them: Hertfordshire, TechEd Barcelona, Egypt, the French Pyrenees (picture), Paris, Istanbul… In London I use the Vaio in the tube, in Starbucks, Costa, in pubs, in restaurants (which is extremely annoying to people I go out with).

Last year the rucksack felt a bit heavy on my shoulders so I started looking around for a netbook. I read reviews and benchmarks in magasines, tried out all sorts of models in the shop… Samsung, Asus Eee, Acer, Lenovo, MSI Wind… It wasn’t quite that. Either the 3G card was not embedded, or the thing was too bulky… Not sexy enough.

The first time I saw the X-Series in a Sony shop (in October last year two days before the official UK launch), I immediately thought “I want that”. I gave myself some time to think it over (it’s a bit of an investment). In its October 2009 review, PC Pro said:

But the real problem for the X-Series is its price. (…) Who, though, can lavish £1,130 exc VAT on a vanity laptop such as this?

I just ordered one.