<p>I believe the cost is $49/year of $149/4 years. Maybe someone uses another data backup system? Or do you just use flashdrives? Thanks!</p>
<p>Best option: Get a backup hard drive (should cost ~$50-70) and literally copy your entire hard drive to it once a week, or have your computer backup to it every night.</p>
<p>Next best option (or good option in conjunction): use dropbox to store all your important documents (like papers you’re currently working on). It’s free for up to 2 gigs (I think 2… some amount), easier than emailing it to yourself, and it stores copies online, and keeps old copies too (which don’t count against your storage). This way, if you save over something, you can go back and get it.</p>
<p>Problems with the brown backup thing: you still have to connect your computer to the specific site every night. If you’re not going to do that with an external drive, you’re not going to do it, period.</p>
<p>Or if you hate Dropbox, SpiderOak is really cheap and works on all platforms. Set it to automatically sync your documents/saved video games/music/innermost secrets [diary] at predetermined intervals.</p>
<p>Or you could write papers using google docs, because it will be saved automatically. </p>
<p>Also, for those who are studying computer science (or any other subject which requires you to save files that aren’t just papers) be careful because the fine print of the backup plan says it only backs up certain files types. So if you are working on a huge programming project, it might not be backed up.</p>
<p>So you do have to connect the Brown plan to a specific site? I wondered about that. The other options sound better – thanks!</p>
<p>Not having used this backup before, I have a few more questions – so with Dropbox or SpiderOak do you also have to connect to a specific site? SpiderOak will do this automatically? </p>
<p>Also is 2 GB enough or is it necessary to get the larger plan?</p>
<p>Is the backup hard drive a good idea no matter what? It’s not redundant with these services?</p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>With DropBox, all you have to do is save your files directly to a “DropBox folder,” which looks like any other folder you’d put on your desktop/in “My Documents,” and as soon as your computer has an internet connection it’ll automatically upload them online.</p>
<p>If you just need to save stuff like papers, projects, etc. (i.e. not music and video), 2 GB is plenty. If you want to essentially save your whole computer, more would be needed, but that’s probably overkill (just use an external hard drive: most your large files don’t change that often, but your documents and such will).</p>
<p>AN external hard drive is good for backing up pictures, music, and video. An online service or the Brown plan is used to just back up things like documents which take up much less space.</p>
<p>Brown’s data backup system is totally unnecessary. You’ll be fine with Dropbox/email/flash drives/external hard drives (you get the idea). Also, speaking of things that are unnecessary, don’t get any service BSA offers.</p>
<p>^Exactly. For example, laundry: costs a ton, and you still have to take your laundry to their pick-up/drop-off site, which, if you’re living in say Perkins, means hiking halfway across the campus, rather than just using your basement laundry room.</p>
<p>I personally hate Dropbox. If you don’t like ruining your file structure by keeping documents and photos in the Dropbox folder instead of in their default location (Documents/Photos), consider a syncing backup service that backs up Documents automatically.</p>
<p>I have rescued a number of paper drafts that way.</p>