All Stories
Showing posts with label Storage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Storage. Show all posts
Welcome to the dawn of the SSD age. Solid-state drives now offer great performance at affordable prices, which is why more and more users are choosing them in new PCs and adding them to older ones.

I'm a big fan myself, but I want to share a cautionary tale. About six months ago, an acquaintance of mine installed an SSD in his laptop. Initially, he was delighted: the drive helped his system boot faster and run longer between trips to the wall socket.

Then, one day, out of the blue, the drive died. No clicking, no "imminent failure" message, no warning of any kind--just a dead drive.

It's under warranty, but so what? He has a laptop that won't boot and data he can't access.

Now, I've encountered a few failed (or failing) hard drives in my day, but all of them were traditional, mechanical models. In most cases I was able to rescue my data using various conventional methods: booting from a Linux flash drive, pulling the drive and connecting it to another PC, and so on.

But for the most part, a dead SSD is a dead SSD. If you've ever had a flash drive go bad on you, you get the idea. It's not just corrupted data, which is often recoverable; it's simply a hardware failure. And unless you're willing to pay for a professional data-recovery service like DriveSavers, you're outta luck.

That's why I make this recommendation to anyone using an SSD for the first time: Make regular backups. (Actually, I recommend that to everyone, but it's especially important with SSDs.) Keep an external hard drive on hand for local archiving, and take advantage of cloud services for secondary protection.

Remember: The data you save could be your own.

With an SSD, backups are more important than ever

Welcome to the dawn of the SSD age. Solid-state drives now offer great performance at affordable prices, which is why more and more users are choosing them in new PCs and adding them to older ones.

I'm a big fan myself, but I want to share a cautionary tale. About six months ago, an acquaintance of mine installed an SSD in his laptop. Initially, he was delighted: the drive helped his system boot faster and run longer between trips to the wall socket.

Then, one day, out of the blue, the drive died. No clicking, no "imminent failure" message, no warning of any kind--just a dead drive.

It's under warranty, but so what? He has a laptop that won't boot and data he can't access.

Now, I've encountered a few failed (or failing) hard drives in my day, but all of them were traditional, mechanical models. In most cases I was able to rescue my data using various conventional methods: booting from a Linux flash drive, pulling the drive and connecting it to another PC, and so on.

But for the most part, a dead SSD is a dead SSD. If you've ever had a flash drive go bad on you, you get the idea. It's not just corrupted data, which is often recoverable; it's simply a hardware failure. And unless you're willing to pay for a professional data-recovery service like DriveSavers, you're outta luck.

That's why I make this recommendation to anyone using an SSD for the first time: Make regular backups. (Actually, I recommend that to everyone, but it's especially important with SSDs.) Keep an external hard drive on hand for local archiving, and take advantage of cloud services for secondary protection.

Remember: The data you save could be your own.

Posted at 09:11 |  by Unknown
It’s tough to keep track of all of your passwords. In spite of advances in biometrics, and increased attention on the value of two-factor authentication, passwords remain the primary means of digital security. They're also one of the weakest links in the security chain. If we can’t get rid of passwords, we need a better way to manage them.

Remember when passwords were going to die out? Bill Gates told an audience, "There is no doubt that over time, people are going to rely less and less on passwords. People use the same password on different systems, they write them down and they just don't meet the challenge for anything you really want to secure."

That was in early 2004. Nearly a decade later we still rely heavily on passwords, and passwords still suffer from all of the same weaknesses Gates described.

I used to be guilty of recycling the same password across virtually every account as well. The sites and services I use broke me of the habit because the password policies are so different from one to the next that it became very difficult to even find a password that meets the requirements of all of them.

Fair enough. It’s a horrible policy anyway. Security best practice suggests you should use different passwords for different sites. Just as you don’t use the same key for your front door, car, bike lock, and safety deposit box, you don’t want to have the same password “unlock” all of your information. If one site or service is compromised and an attacker gets access to your password, you don’t want it to be a universal key to your entire online identity.

                                                          Passwords are literally the keys to your online world.

Apple recently unveiled details of the new Mac OS X, “Mavericks.” It is available only to developers right now, but one of the features Apple is adding is designed to help you choose more secure passwords, and manage them effectively without writing it on a sticky note pasted on the front of your monitor.

iCloud Keychain basically takes the password storage and management features of the existing Keychain feature and moves them to iCloud, where they can be accessed by and synced across iOS devices as well. The Mac OS X system running “Mavericks,” and any iOS devices with the upcoming iOS 7 will be able to auto-fill complex passwords from the iCloud Keychain.

That’s awesome for users who live and die by the Apple ecosystem, but it won’t work for someone using a Windows PC with an iPhone, or someone using a MacBook Pro with an Android smartphone—at least not yet. It’s a good solution, but an Apple-centric one.

PasswordBox is a new service that functions much like iCloud Keychain, except that it works cross-platform. PasswordBox is available on Mac OS X and Windows, and it’s available for iPhone, iPad, and Android mobile devices.

Like iCloud Keychain, PasswordBox stores passwords in the cloud using strong encryption to protect them from unauthorized access. When you need to log in, PasswordBox automatically retrieves the appropriate credentials. PasswordBox is free (for managing up to 25 passwords) and provides tools that let you share your credentials with family or friends—should they need the information if something happens to you—without directly revealing your passwords.

There are other services out there like 1Password, and LastPass that let you manage secure passwords more effectively. There is some concern about storing the keys to your digital life in the cloud—but it’s probably more secure than writing it down on a piece of paper and shoving it in your desk drawer, and it gives you access to your passwords any time and anywhere, from just about any device.

Make sure you choose secure ones, and find a tool that lets you remember and use them more easily.

Passwords aren’t dying any time soon. Here's how to manage them effectively.

It’s tough to keep track of all of your passwords. In spite of advances in biometrics, and increased attention on the value of two-factor authentication, passwords remain the primary means of digital security. They're also one of the weakest links in the security chain. If we can’t get rid of passwords, we need a better way to manage them.

Remember when passwords were going to die out? Bill Gates told an audience, "There is no doubt that over time, people are going to rely less and less on passwords. People use the same password on different systems, they write them down and they just don't meet the challenge for anything you really want to secure."

That was in early 2004. Nearly a decade later we still rely heavily on passwords, and passwords still suffer from all of the same weaknesses Gates described.

I used to be guilty of recycling the same password across virtually every account as well. The sites and services I use broke me of the habit because the password policies are so different from one to the next that it became very difficult to even find a password that meets the requirements of all of them.

Fair enough. It’s a horrible policy anyway. Security best practice suggests you should use different passwords for different sites. Just as you don’t use the same key for your front door, car, bike lock, and safety deposit box, you don’t want to have the same password “unlock” all of your information. If one site or service is compromised and an attacker gets access to your password, you don’t want it to be a universal key to your entire online identity.

                                                          Passwords are literally the keys to your online world.

Apple recently unveiled details of the new Mac OS X, “Mavericks.” It is available only to developers right now, but one of the features Apple is adding is designed to help you choose more secure passwords, and manage them effectively without writing it on a sticky note pasted on the front of your monitor.

iCloud Keychain basically takes the password storage and management features of the existing Keychain feature and moves them to iCloud, where they can be accessed by and synced across iOS devices as well. The Mac OS X system running “Mavericks,” and any iOS devices with the upcoming iOS 7 will be able to auto-fill complex passwords from the iCloud Keychain.

That’s awesome for users who live and die by the Apple ecosystem, but it won’t work for someone using a Windows PC with an iPhone, or someone using a MacBook Pro with an Android smartphone—at least not yet. It’s a good solution, but an Apple-centric one.

PasswordBox is a new service that functions much like iCloud Keychain, except that it works cross-platform. PasswordBox is available on Mac OS X and Windows, and it’s available for iPhone, iPad, and Android mobile devices.

Like iCloud Keychain, PasswordBox stores passwords in the cloud using strong encryption to protect them from unauthorized access. When you need to log in, PasswordBox automatically retrieves the appropriate credentials. PasswordBox is free (for managing up to 25 passwords) and provides tools that let you share your credentials with family or friends—should they need the information if something happens to you—without directly revealing your passwords.

There are other services out there like 1Password, and LastPass that let you manage secure passwords more effectively. There is some concern about storing the keys to your digital life in the cloud—but it’s probably more secure than writing it down on a piece of paper and shoving it in your desk drawer, and it gives you access to your passwords any time and anywhere, from just about any device.

Make sure you choose secure ones, and find a tool that lets you remember and use them more easily.

Posted at 03:35 |  by Unknown
Google Apps offers cash-strapped small businesses a lot of bang for the buck, but one app that can cause problems is Gmail.

Specifically, each Google Apps account affords just 25GB of Gmail storage, meaning it's not uncommon for users to bump into that ceiling—especially if they're on the receiving end of a lot of attachments.

When that happens, the user can't send or receive mail, which is a potentially serious problem. What if a customer submits an order and your sales guy doesn't receive it because his mailbox is full?

Backupify's new FreeSpace promises to help clear out overstuffed Gmail accounts. It does so primarily by scanning inboxes for attachments and identifying the largest ones, then allowing users to delete or download them.

Neither action has any impact on the email threads themselves; only the attachments are affected.

FreeSpace also offers tools for Google Apps administrators, allowing them to review users' Gmail usage and alert them to take action when storage space is running low.

All this takes place within simple, attractive dashboards. (Click the thumbnail above to see a larger, more detailed version.)

To get started with FreeSpace, just sign in as an administrator or a user. There's no charge to use the service; it's a freebie courtesy of Backupify. (If the name doesn't ring a bell, Backupify is a cloud-based backup service for Google Apps, Facebook, Salesforce, and other SaaS accounts.

Tackle overloaded Google Apps Gmail accounts with FreeSpace

Google Apps offers cash-strapped small businesses a lot of bang for the buck, but one app that can cause problems is Gmail.

Specifically, each Google Apps account affords just 25GB of Gmail storage, meaning it's not uncommon for users to bump into that ceiling—especially if they're on the receiving end of a lot of attachments.

When that happens, the user can't send or receive mail, which is a potentially serious problem. What if a customer submits an order and your sales guy doesn't receive it because his mailbox is full?

Backupify's new FreeSpace promises to help clear out overstuffed Gmail accounts. It does so primarily by scanning inboxes for attachments and identifying the largest ones, then allowing users to delete or download them.

Neither action has any impact on the email threads themselves; only the attachments are affected.

FreeSpace also offers tools for Google Apps administrators, allowing them to review users' Gmail usage and alert them to take action when storage space is running low.

All this takes place within simple, attractive dashboards. (Click the thumbnail above to see a larger, more detailed version.)

To get started with FreeSpace, just sign in as an administrator or a user. There's no charge to use the service; it's a freebie courtesy of Backupify. (If the name doesn't ring a bell, Backupify is a cloud-based backup service for Google Apps, Facebook, Salesforce, and other SaaS accounts.

Posted at 02:30 |  by Unknown

Text Widget

© 2013 iNet Freaks. WP Theme-junkie converted by BloggerTheme9
Blogger templates. Proudly Powered by Blogger.
back to top