It’s been almost a month since I backed up my data. So I thought of doing this today. Was busy the whole day creating backups. Whenever I do backup I make sure that they are easy to find later on. Due to this fact, I have to go on renaming files with a particular file naming format I created for my backups. That makes it easy to read.

Just for example, when I create a backup of movies (Yes the DVDrips of course) I have this format for the file name.

MovieName.YearOfRelease.avi

Now I know how old the movie is just by reading the file name. I make sure along with the movie file goes the subtitle file also. Though I watch all movies without subtitles, there are some points where I don’t understand words spoken. Subtitles come handy here. They are also useful for a foreign language movie.

While renaming I keep in mind that the file names don’t have space in them. Spaces are no trouble now. Gone are the days of DOS. Still I replace them by a dot. I find long file names unnecessary. I try to keep them as short as possible. This keeps the index data small though it’s size is already negligible.

The use of above tips is when you have your crashed but have safe data. Almost all data recovery software’s use a DOS based interface which spoils the file names. These tricks help you to keep them to a certain extent. I used to take backups every week. That habit is gone and I want to revive it.

Then I use a software to catalog the files. This way I don’t have to search the CD’s and DVD’s by manually checking them. Just after burning, I catalog it. I use WhereIsIt for this. Also the CD or DVD is named with a marker pen with same name as I save it in catalog. I search through the program. I check the results and I get the name of CD or DVD where my required data is stored. Spending just a little bit of more time makes thing easier.

Many things still to be backed up including the blog database. See ya later..