What just happened to my computer?

[Galactic Druid]

I wonder just how genuine that was...

[Sarena]

Hey now!

[AngelicFaith]

*snickers*

[Psi]

If your really worried about your system and your data there are a couple of things you can do.

Hardware Redundancy

Regardless of what form of drive you have - ATA / SCSI / SATA / SAS / SSD.

With two drives you can "Mirror" the drives, so if one drive fails the other keeps going.  (Never "Stripe" two drives unless you only want speed)
With three drives you can "Stripe" the drives - two drives contain your data - one contains a "Parity" bit - which means if one of the three drives fail, it can be rebuilt from the other two.

Mirroring requires 50% more storage then you actually get.
Stripping + Parity requires at least 1 HD more then you actually get.
More complex methods do exist - I have a dedicated NAS that uses 4 drives, and at work I maintain a couple of SANS that have 12 or 16 drives.

However - this only provides hardware redundancy - not backup capability.

Backup
For full coverage you should have the following.

A Live System / Data Set - your Computer.
An Incremental backup of your Live System / Data Set - often to a NAS.
An Offline Copy of your System - updated at fixed points in time, or before major updates.   (Sometimes this can be a rotated incremental backup)

Unless its in three "Digital Locations" its not truly safe.
The offline copy should be located somewhere other then next to your computer.

You can further increase this with Cloud Storage (Assuming you trust it..)
Dropbox lets you sync documents, as do many other services - Wuala, Google Drive, Sugarsync etc.
There are also solutions that let you backup online - I use Crashplan, which backs up my machine incrementally to both a local copy within my house, and to the cloud automatically. (I paid for the latter option)

[Galactic Druid]

Dear God! After several days of being on E via phone, and keeping my gaming restricted to a DS, this screen seems way too big. It's at least twice the size of a phone! XD

Seriously though, I feel like I need to readjust. Anyway, back online! Now, to my group game! RPGuy away!

[Sarena]

*giggles* I am just glad you are back on your computer, love!  It's been a rough few days! 

[AngelicFaith]

Whoohoo! Good to have you back sweety!

[Kaia]

Yay you're back!!

[Galactic Druid]

I'm glad to be back! Though I still suspect slight sarcasm on the sympathy over my lack of Guild Wars 2...

[Oreo]

I'm genuinely sorry you can't get it. I know all too well how frustrating it can be when other costs pop up and steal our fun time plans. I hope you can get it soon. Did your Steam saves remain safe in the clouds?

[Galactic Druid]

That was to Sarena, she's the one I detect sarcasm from. I'm pretty sure she likes me being undistracted. =P

Only my most most recent games. Skyrim and everything before that are gone.

[Oreo]

AAAccck. I hope you had finished Skyrim.

>_> Yeah, that might be sarcasm. *wanders away giggling*

[Galactic Druid]

Kind of, I had a few quests I still wanted to do, but my mage was retardedly overpowered anyway, it may be more fun to start fresh.

I'm just glad my Ys Origin save is in tact. As fun as that game is, there's one boss fight I never want to do with a certain PC ever again.

[Sarena]

That was to Sarena, she's the one I detect sarcasm from. I'm pretty sure she likes me being undistracted. =P

Only my most most recent games. Skyrim and everything before that are gone.

>_> Yeah, that might be sarcasm. *wanders away giggling*

I am sure I have no idea what y'all are talking about. *walks away, smugly whistling*

[mayovagn]

I never have automatic updates turned on. I nlite or vlite a copy of the windows OS I want to install with either updates ripped out or turned off.

Then never turn them on. Ever.

Security risk? Not really. I keep my security software up to date and will install pertinent security patches if it makes sense to do so. I disallow almost all scripting by default in my browsers and only white list stuff that I actually need and block almost all ads. (Major vectors of infection) I have been doing this since I switched from win2k to XP and never had any kind of infection in all that time.

I will not have microsoft taking over my computer remotely to 'update' the OS whenever they feel like it.

I will do it myself when and if I think it necessary to do so.

[Adammair]

I will not have microsoft taking over my computer remotely to 'update' the OS whenever they feel like it.

I will do it myself when and if I think it necessary to do so.

Amen to that! I want to be just as brave as you, if I grow up, may. ;)

[mayovagn]

Amen to that! I want to be just as brave as you, if I grow up, may. ;)

I'm not sure anyone should want to grow up 'may' *Grins* May is a twisted and insane individual. *Smiles*

[Beguile's Mistress]

Let me offer my congratulations for your return and wishes for everything to work out from here on.  I've been lurking but keeping my mouth shut.  That is such a revolutionary concept for me. ;D

Welcome back.

[Adammair]

I'm not sure anyone should want to grow up 'may' *Grins* May is a twisted and insane individual. *Smiles*

That's funny, so am I. We'd get along famously. *maniacal laugh*