I client had read my client newsletter and emailed me to express an interest in the new backup devices I recommend. A phoned him and logged in to his computer from my office to see how much data he needed to backup. He has quite a few photos, and plans to add many more. I gave him my recommendation for a one-touch backup USB memory stick, and suggested the capacity (amount of storage space) he should have. He agreed and I offered to order one for him, and we arranged for a time for me to visit to set it all up for him.
A couple of days later I arrive to do the set-up. The installation went well, but the initial backup got stuck on one file and wouldn’t continue, and wouldn’t even respond to the ‘stop’ command. We restarted the computer to try again. Yes, I am aware of the cliché about turning it off and on again, but it does often solve such problems. In this case, it didn’t solve the problem and the backup got stuck again on the same file. The client then informed me that the backup method he previously used had also got stuck on that file. This meant that the problem wasn’t being caused by my backup method and device, and pointed towards the file itself being the problem. Anyway, a few troubleshooting steps later and the file was fixed. The next attempted backup went perfectly.
Teaching him how to do future backups was very easy; “Plug the device into your laptop and the program will automatically start. When you see the backup program screen, just press the button on the backup device marked ‘Backup’. Job done, get 0n with something more interesting!”
Fixing the problem with the file took quite a while. For the techs amongst you, we had to do multiple reboots due to lockups, and he’s on Windows Vista with only 1gig of RAM so it took a while; I told him that if he finds his computer too slow we can get more RAM, but it’s his first computer and he finds it works well enough for his needs.
Due to the file problem, the fairly large amount of data, plus the initial work to establish the amount of data to backup, the whole process took about 90 minutes. I only allocated 60 minutes against his Subscription account though.
If you want information about my recommended backup devices, or any other services, please leave a comment and I will get back to you. Personal information will be extracted from any comments before they are published, so feel free to leave contact details in the comment. Thanks.
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