Do you backup your data? Most of you will say no, and so I wanted to tell you how simple and cheap it is to do so, therefore I am doing this mini review/rundown of CrashPlan+ which is the product I personally use to manage my online (and offline) backups.

CrashPlan offers what is known as a “cloud backup” solution where your data is stored offsite in secure locations around the world. After using CrashPlan’s Business product for some years (for my personal backups) I recently started using their CrashPlan+ Product which provides the home user a simple, cheap set-and-forget backup solution to cover your bum if you ever have a hard drive failure.

Being a geek I use my technology to the limit, I can safely say that I have had at least two hard drive failures in my life and I have many friends who have suffered more. I am lucky, I have always had backups, however my friends have come running to me in tears. Therefore I am putting together this article as a review of CrashPlan’s product (as I am a geek and it is happily my product of choice) and as one possible solution for those that do not back up.

Crashplan+ My Likes

• Backs up any files to “the cloud”, no restrictions on file size, number of files, or file types. – Unlike some other providers, on the unlimited plans there is no throttling, no restrictions on file types and ANY file type can be backed up.
• Two security options – for those that are security conscious like myself you can set your own encryption key, this means that not even the CrashPlan staff are able to decrypt your backups if you lose your key. For those that do not require business grade data security CrashPlan can manage the encryption scheme for you (which will be fine for 98% of the people reading this).
• Backup Sets – you can have multiple backup sets, that can allow you to have a small set of files that have the highest priority to be backed up (in my case my uni folder is in this high priority set) so I know that regardless of other changes that need to be backed up, the most critical data is backed up first.
• Backup Sets – hey they get a second mention, backup sets also allow you to have a set which you can back up locally to an external drive and then you can have a separate set backed up over the web. This is handy for people who want to have a local copy that they can restore quickly in case of a straight hard drive failure but for a catastrophe have the restore via the web available.
• Backup external drives/network drives – many online backup providers consider backing up a network drive or external USB drive as a “business” feature, however these are now becoming common devices in the home and CrashPlan supports the backing up of these devices at no extra cost (networked drives on Windows Machines require a little tweaking in Windows but they do have a how-to for it).
• File retention – the final key feature I wanted to mention was the file retention, you can set the backups to save a new copy up to every 1 minute (which in my eyes is overkill) and on the unlimited plans you can keep every single copy of every single file, so if you ever need to go back to a previous version you can. For my uni files for example I back up every 15 minutes which therefore means since I first started work on a file I can go back and get a version every 15 minutes from CrashPlan’s servers.
• File retention – once again a second mention, CrashPlan also allows you to opt to keep all deleted files, indefinitely (as long as your subscription is active) this means that if you suddenly discover six months down the track that you have deleted a file and need it back you can go and get it from the CrashPlan backups without any hassle.

CrashPlan+ My Dislikes

• The Mac Version has only just had a “Beta” version of the taskbar icon that comes in Windows by default, this seems like a huge omission but thankfully the beta is working well and should be out in the Mac OSX version in the not too distant future.
• … Yea I am struggling with this one. So far in the few months I have been using it I have no other real gripes. The service is great, customer support is great, what more could you want.

The Cost:

Prices start at $5USD a month for the unlimited plan (paid month to month) however the more you pay for up front the cheaper the deal. If you pay for 4 years up front this price comes down to $2.92USD a month.

However if you have more than one computer in your house the Family Plan is by far the best value (and is the product that I use). For $12USD a month (month to month) you can backup 10 computers in your household/family with unlimited backup for each. If you pay for 4 years up front this comes down to $6USD a month. I currently have 6 computers all backing up under this plan and could not be happier.

One area that CrashPlan also stands out from the crowd is that if you ever decide you no longer need the service, you can cancel and get a pro-rated refund which refunds any remaining months that you have paid for… IN FULL! So that is a very welcome safety barrier for those of you that might be unsure (especially paying for 4 years up front).

Summary

So that pretty much outlines what CrashPlan is, for such a minimal cost you can ensure that all your critical data is kept safe and secure in case you ever need it. A couple of things to mention are that you should make sure you have enough monthly bandwidth to cover your backups and also that the time taken to initially back up all your data may be a month or more (I have hundreds of GBs which is taking a while, this will be a lot less for the average user).

So visit http://www.CrashPlan.com and you can get a free 30 day trial to see if the product might be right for you and your family. If you have any questions fire away.

Stuart

Update: Well there is a moot point Apple has quite literally overnight just released an update to fix this –> http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1368

Like many other users of the brand new MacBook Pro 2011 model I have been experiencing issues with the GPU crashing, graphics freezing up and other stability issues since I first took delivery of my new MBP.

I have also been lucky enough to have the issue that overnight when my computer locks itself for some reason this causes the GPU to crash also therefore when I try to log on in the morning I find that I have to do a hard boot (which interestingly has caused data corruption on an external volume twice now *sigh*).

I digress, I have figured out a bit of a work around when the GPU crashes which I have only tested twice but I would love to hear feedback (please leave a comment here) on if this has worked for you as well.

1. When the GPU Crashes, ensure you can still turn your caps lock on and off (this will confirm it is a GPU crash and not a full system crash)
2. If you can turn the caps lock on and off, press the power button once on your Mac Book Pro (do not hold it down, just press it once).
3. Wait for the system to hibernate/sleep etc
4. Once the system has powered off, press the power button again
5. Wait for the system to start back up again
6. Disconnect an external display if you have one now, or reconnect it if you do not, then the graphics should come back on

Why does this work???? NFI I am new to the Mac Platform so will not even try to explain it. I have only used this to reset the GPU after a crash overnight but I am guessing it will work if you have a GPU crash during normal work as well.

Let us all just hope that Apple Fixes this ASAP.

Stuart

Recently I purchased 1Password for Mac as I now have my shiny new Apple MacBook Pro laptop. I have been an avid user of 1Password for quite some time now on my iPhone, iPad and windows PC so therefore it was a natural step to purchase it for the Mac.

Less than a week after purchasing 1Password a mate pointed me to an online deal where I could get a package of apps including 1Password that were all bundled together, however I was at a loss as I had just purchased the app a few days prior.

However after contacting Agile Support and speaking to Mike they were more than happy to issue me a refund for the original purchase so that I could purchase the app (indirectly mind you, from another company) at a discount. I can also happily say that Mike said “You made my day with your kind comment. ” as to the thank you email that I sent, so I can happily say that I made his day as he did mine.

I have to say… bloody exceptional support, they could have said no (and in fact were quite within their right to, I only contacted them on the offchance) however I can happily say they did me a wonderful favour and can not only regard 1Password as a great tool but also that they have wonderful support.

Stuart

What do you get when you cross a Dell laptop, overheating issues and Dell customer support…  If you can spare 5 minutes for a quick read I can answer that. In short you get a lemon, a load of stress and a long time with an inoperable machine. For any of you that own a laptop, Dell or otherwise, I write this article to outline my case and publicly tell the tale of what I have gone through. I not only welcome your thoughts as comments but also your stories of issues you have faced with Dell or even another manufacturer.

To set the scene in mid 2009 I purchased a shiny new Dell M4400 Precision Mobile Workstation, at $7500 AUD it really was the top of the range and bleeding edge system which I believe was the first Dell business laptop to contain a quad core CPU (the Intel Q9300). After moving houses I began to notice thermal issues with the laptop (about mid 2010), in my previous house I was always in a very warm room so during the summer months had an air conditioner running right next to the laptop) therefore it was not till I moved to a new house that these issues became apparent.

Any time the laptop was used in a room with an ambient temperature above ~23-24 degrees Celsius the laptop throttled the CPU by 87.5% (rendering it unusable) and while it was in a usable state would output heat that would burn your hand if you left it in front of the vent for more than a couple of seconds. In October 2010 after doing my own diagnosis and deciding there was a genuine hardware issue I logged a call with Dell under my 4 Hour warranty (which I paid a large premium for which entitles me to a technician and parts on site within 4 working hours). After breeching the service level agreement (SLA) due to part availability and having to get parts from interstate the tech replaced the heatsink and fan in the laptop in the hope that this would resolve the thermal issues. Over the coming months this proved to be an ongoing issue and therefore I logged a new call to Dell.

This brings us to the fun part:

• Dell on site to replace CPU, new part is a dud and tech has to come the following day with a new part as Sydney only had a single unit in stock
• New CPU does not resolve issues, on site tech admits there is something seriously wrong.
• On site tech boots the laptop the moment the computer booted up the CPU was idling at 65 degrees Celsius, the rated maximum for the Intel Q9300 is 70 degrees Celsius. The tech from dell on this occasion looked at me and said the guys back in the office have no idea how you have worked for this long on the laptop… he agreed it was obviously a fatal design flaw and the Dell M4400 model was never designed to handle the thermal dissipation required to cool the quad core CPU.
• Dell takes my M4400 offsite for two days for internal testing. They attempted various CPUs to try to rectify the thermal overheating. Alas they were not able to and in turn were able to conclude that I had a wonderful $7500 Lemon.

After all this I was tossing up between a refund or a replacement system and as Dell informed me that the refund would only be ~30% of the purchase price I opted for the replacement. I was informed this would be about 10 working days (or at least that was my understanding, the account manager said today that she stated 10-14 working days, YAY for he said/she said). Regardless of this fact after the order FINALLY being placed today I was informed that the laptop would in fact be 14 – 21 working days… Now… a little maths for you. I pay through the *nose* to get a 4 hour warranty, I am then told it doesn’t cover a replacement laptop and that requires additional time… something that I never believe it stating it was restricted to. However even if we say take 10 working days at 8 hours a day, a 10 day delay is over 20 times the 4 hour warranty I signed up for.

The puzzle that Dell does not seem to appreciate is that when I purchased this Laptop, I paid a massive premium to, according to my understanding, resolve any issues within 4 working hours. If there has to be a slightly longer duration to cover lemon replacements… OK I can accept that however I fail to see how 28-42 times the duration that I deemed to be appropriate repair and resolution (i.e. 14-21 working days x 2 possible repair windows every 8 hours for a working day) is deemed to be a FAIR time for replacement.

After speaking once again to the account manager today I was told to blatantly and rudely to “deal with it” and if I wanted to I could “take it further”. So I have, called up customer care and requested a call from the complaints manager, and I have logged a call to fair trading. So as I have had to deal with these consistent issues, constant warranty (SLA) breaches, constant unavailability of parts and the fact that Dell really does not seem to be able to get me a replacement system in a fair and reasonable time frame I decided I had to share.

What I ask of you fine reader is… what would you consider to be a fair time for replacement… I told them 5 to 10 days as I realise they need to get the order from Malaysia but even 10 working days I feel is pushing far beyond reasonable when you consider that upon purchasing the system originally I did so with the understanding that any issues would be resolved in a very timely manner. I use the system for work, study and personal affairs and therefore without a working laptop I struggle immensely.

So go nuts… what are your thoughts?

Stuart