– this is a laymen’s guide to backing-up personal data
AND recovering crucial files lost from hard disk failure
BUT will NOT include specific softwares nor companies offering such service –

( although the problems and solutions are Globally similar,
will lend some local facts for South Korea )

storage capacity is related to Fall 2013, when  are the most space-to-cost effective are :

  • FAST 32GB SD memory cards at around W40,000
  • FAST 32GB USB dongles at around W40,000
  • 128GB SSD’s at around W120,000
  • 3TB hard disk drives at around W130,000

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[ BACK-UP ] synchronization softwares abound, but manual copying of files every Season recommended :

you can use the same backup programs but a nuisance to install and set backup intervals, which by the multitude may take up quite amount of extra hard drive space .

so a good idea is to do it manually : copying cherished files onto another physical drive (NOT a different partition on the same hard disk)

  • if your whole data it less than 32GB, you can store the main files on a USB drive so that you can carry it with you on travels, and back-up on your hard disk .
  • more than that : best to used an old disk drive (thus would be quite small in capacity) well past warranty (for you will only need it as a back-up)
  • I recommend you back-up every Season or when you travel (when you will take the most important files with you), while back-up important folders Weekly or at least Monthly .

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[ RECOVER ] can do it yourself but is messy, so can hire a professional company but quite expensive :

when the mishap hits, you can try to save your most important yourself with dedicated software . you will learn a few bad news :

  1. it takes time,
  2. NOT all can be saved,
  3. those that are saved, are all mixed-up so you have to take more time re-arranging it : file names as well as content 0o0

meaning : you can only try to recuperate a small amount of lost files yourself, and would hire specific companies to do this if this is for work . searching, you will find quite many and more walking around the few buildings mentioned on my computer district Pages on top menu . in YongSan Electronics Market in SEOUL, this would be between Seon-in SangGa and (once bus) Terminal SangGa (SangGa means retail or wholesale building)

and since there is NO guarantee they will do what they say will do, plus the matter of privacy from your worshipped data, it is best to go to a known place, which would usually be those that double as actual importer for Western Digital, SeaGate, Hitachi or Toshiba hard disk drives (in the order of my preference). note, there are usually a few importers for each HDD company. this is easily differentiated by checking out their official website, show how much portion of their business is import versus recovery .

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– Korea Tech BLog –