There are right and wrong ways to do this:

Right: Backup to an external hard drive, an online backup service, and DVDs or Blu-ray disks.

Wrong: Backup to an external hard drive, and two sets of DVDs. That’s three, right?

No, that’s two backups, and none off-site. The flood that you’re tempting fate for will arrive momentarily; move to higher ground. It’s two backups, because the two DVD sets are from the same package of DVD-R blank disks, and when DVD rot makes one useless, the other set will be, too–DVD defects show up by the stack, not just on single disks.

Right: Backup to an external hard drive, a USB flash drive stored in a bank’s safe-deposit box, and a DVD set stashed in a locked garage that’s not attached to your office.

Wrong: Backup to an external hard drive kept in the car, a DVD set kept in the notebook case and ready to head out the door in an emergency, and on a flash drive in the attic.

Nope, that’s no backups at all. The car is no place for hard drives with moving parts, and the attic is far too hot and far too cold for storing computer media of any kind. And that DVD set stored with or near any computer will accompany your computer when the burglar swipes your PC.

Jerry Stern is webmaster at PC410.com and Startupware.com, runs Science Translations, and is online at www.sciencetranslations.com.

I’ve started providing cloud backup services for my local customers. I chose a software and storage provider that can handle more than the typical television-commercial bundle. Just backup is easy; backup that’s practical to restore from is not. A backup that takes days to restore isn’t useful, and that’s what’s being sold on TV.

Cloud backup from Science Translations includes:

• Automatic backup of data to an internet server, or cloud, in real-time.
• Automatic backup by the same software to an attached external drive, which can be a USB external hard drive, a NAS (network-attached storage) drive, or a network drive
• Automatic de-duplication of stored data
• Configurable choices for keeping multiple copies of files. For example, ‘keep up to 3 versions of each file, up to 3 months old
• Encryption is done before sending data to the internet, using AES-256 encryption. The service provider does not have a key.
• In case the worst happens, and your office is unusable, a new PC can be prepared with your restored files in-place while you’re rebuilding your office.

Workstation backup pricing varies with volume of backup, and number of PCs. Server backup pricing varies with installed services and databases, in order to collect data from open files and databases in-use. Call for pricing, 410-871-2877.

First, the good news. Here in Westminster MD, I have hard drives in-stock for PC repairs and new systems. Not in central Maryland? Well, drives are scarce.

Floods in Thailand have caused extensive damage to factories that create at least a quarter of the world’s production of hard drives, and additionally create parts for hard drives made elsewhere. Hard drive prices have fluctuated, and inventories have disappeared from stores and online sellers. A basic hard drive that sold for $50 a month ago can be bought online as of today for $140, but only if you’re not picky about what brand, model, or speed of drive you buy. In my wholesale price lists, a distributor that usually stocks several hundred models of drives is showing 145 models as current, but only 5 as in-stock today, 13 drives ready-to-ship TOTAL, and every one of them is a specialty drive for a server, and priced to match. Even the old ‘IDE’ or ‘ATAPI’ hard drives are scarce, and they’re mostly used for system repairs now. There are ZERO in-stocks on the list today.

It’s going to be an interesting holiday season. Notebook computers for upcoming holiday sales are still available, but the selection may be uneven; most pre-built systems for the season are already built. Don’t expect Black Friday bargains on storage this year.

Projections I’m hearing from Western Digital put ‘significant disruptions’ as far out as mid-2012. They’re the worst-hit by floods, but all drive builders have problems in either flood areas or parts availability.

Back here in Westminster, I have enough drives to take care of my local customers; I’m still building custom PCs. Just don’t ask me to sell a bare drive without a computer attached.