Are you backed up?

Memories are the most precious gift of all.

You have all your photos, StoryBooks, digital content, and more stored on your computer.  What would happen if tomorrow when you turned your computer on it did not boot up?  There was no sound, nothing.  Would you be able to get all of these precious memories back?  What would happen if you had your computer stolen?  Is everything gone forever?

Backups are no fun to do. They take time and we are all short on time.  We always plan on doing a backup - after I finish this book, when the kids are done with school, after I finish this big project at work, etc. etc. etc.  But losing your data does not take into account your busy schedule.  We all need a system that is automatic - or at least as automatic as possible.

Like backups this post will not be the most interesting to read but hopefully you will glean some information that will protect you and your precious memories. 

You NEED to have an external hard drive.  This is the fastest way to create a back up and to retrieve the backup information if needed.  If you are using Memory Manager you need to set up an automatic shadow copy.  Then you need to plug in your external hard drive when working in Memory Manager.  The automatic shadow copy will do exactly as it says - it will automatically create another copy of your Memory Manager on the external hard drive when you close out of Memory Manager.  This way you will have a copy on your computer hard drive and an extra shadow copy on the external hard drive. 

StoryBooks do not back up automatically.  You must take the time to back these up yourself.  There are a few ways to do this.  You can manually navigate to the drive and folder your StoryBook is saved in and then copy this file to your external hard drive. 

The other option is when you are in StoryBook Creator 4.0 do the following:

1. Open your project
2. On the File Tab, Choose Save As, then Save Project As..
3. Choose a NEW NAME for the project such as Freye Family 2011 Backup
4. Choose a new location to save the project - your external hard drive
5. Click Save As

You have now created a copy of the StoryBook project that can be opened up in StoryBook and worked on if you lose your original copy.  You need to repeat these steps for every project. Be sure when you open the project next that you open the original project and not the backup.  That is why I suggest you add backup to the name of the backup file. 

Be aware that these copies are of your StoryBook on the day you created the backup.  Any changes you make to the original will not be made to the backup unless you manually save the file again.

Once a StoryBook has been uploaded to the Creative Memories digital center your book will be saved there as long as your account is active.  This way you could always order another copy of a completed book if the worst happened.  But you cannot download the book and make any changes to the book.  That is why a backup of the book should also be kept on an external hard drive. 

Some people like to be extra safe and also burn their projects to a DVD.  If you are doing this you should be sure to buy an archival CD/DVD.  The ones you buy in bulk at the store are not designed for long-term storage. 

Another option is to save each page in a project as a .pdf file and back that up.  Dr. Mark Mizen covers the step by step directions on how to do that here on his blog.  The advantage to this method is that a .pdf file is universally recognized.  He is thinking very long-term and hopefully you will be able to read a .pdf file in the distant future.  The backups I talked about above are ones that you could open in StoryBook Creator Plus but not in another program.

You should also backup any content you have, especially the freebies you may be saving.  You would do this by navigating to where they are stored on your computer and copying the folders to your external hard drive.  If you don't know where they are stored go to Content Manager in StoryBook Creator 4.0 and when you hover over a package it will show you the location of the package.

You need to keep your e-mail records for any digital purchases you make from Creative Memories.  This way you have the information to download and activate the content in the future.  Anything you have purchased since September 1, 2011 is stored in your account at Creative Memories.  But anything before that you are responsible for keeping track of.  As your consultant I do not receive the activation codes and download links - only you as the purchaser receive these. 

Print out a backup up of your activation codes. To do this in StoryBook Creator 4.0 do the following:

1. Open StoryBook Creator 4.0
2. From the Welcome Page click on Manage Content
3. Click on Activation Codes
4. Click make a backup copy of my codes
5. Print this file

In addition to the external hard drive and/or CD/DVD backups there is another option called on-line backups.  There are a number of companies that provide this service.  Just Google on-line backups and you will find several.  Some of the most popular are Carbonite, Mozy, BackBlaze, iCloud.  You will need to research the different pros and cons to each of them to see which one fits your needs the best.  These services back up everything on your computer to an on-line storage facility.  This is key if you have a house fire, or a robbery and everything is gone, including your external hard drives. 

I have been using BackBlaze for some time now.  The reason I chose it was that it allowed me to back up more than one drive and I have two hard drives on my computer.  At the time I purchased it the other major options only allowed you to back up your C drive.  I believe that has now changed. 

These sites are good because they backup everything on your computer - not just the Memory Manage and StoryBook Creator Plus I have been talking about.  The one thing to be aware of with on-line backups is that they are backing up what is active on your computer.  It you delete something from your computer it will delete it from the on-line backup.  They are not a way to free up room on your computer.  There may be options available for this purpose but most on-line backups are a mirror image of what is currently on your hard drive(s).

Some people like to have more than one external hard drive.  They store one off-site at a bank vault or a relatives house. 

We have so much information on our computers that would cause major heartache is we lost it all.  Take some time to think about what works for you but please do some types of back up.

If you have read this far, thank you.  If I can help you process any of this information please let me know.  I am not an expert but can share with you what experience I do have.