> I wanted to mention that if replacing the controller board fails,
> you should try swapping the platters.

I've never taken recovery to that level before. The time may come. I have
one HDD from some years back which MAY contain photos from a Taiwanese
trip that I have found no backups of. (I may have a DVD backup thereof - not
yet checked thoroughly). (I have copies of the "best" but not the complete
set. Usually my backup procedures seem good enough, so far.

> PS What kind of backup system do you yourself employ?
Varies with material.
I distinguish roughly between 'photos' and 'the rest'. Photos are an
onsession, not (largely) a business but their retention is high on my
priority list.

Some mix of.

1 Usually [tm] - manual mirror of files to another PC on LAN.
2 Subsequent manually started backup to external USB hard disk.
3 Selected files on DVDs (usually photo records of trips)
4 Some few files sent by email for storage by a friend in another city.
5 GargoyleMail attachments.
6 Online photo storage of selected and less selected photos (Fotki stats
advise that I have 494 albums, 63754 photos, 33.87 GB uploaded since October
2005).

Considering possibility of internet transfer to a dedicated HDD in another
city - but unlikely to happen any time soon.

Considering dedicating a PC on LAN to backup with system located in
total-loss-fire-proof enclosure. May even happen.

1.2  I prefer manual initiation for various reasons. Does leave system at
risk of my reliability.

3. On trip (business or holiday) I tend to produce GBs/day of photos.
Increasing file sizes make this increasingly so. Files are sucked to laptop
at least daily and then written to portable HDD. Files are left on camera
card until card full. (Download modifies archive bit so only new images get
downloaded). May also write to DVD but less likely with this system. When
travelling over distance portable hard drive resdies in a pocket - usually a
front leg zipped pocket on 'cargo pants'. If I can get out alive my photos
have a fair chance of surviving as well.


Russell
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