HELP WANTED: Organize my drives, delete unwanted files and implement ongoing backup

[traderNik]

Before I start, I want to say that every one of us is capable of doing on our own what I need done. I've actually learned a lot about computers in the past few years and I built the rig I am typing on right now. My problem is that my lack of knowledge would require me to spend a lot of hours just figuring things out, things that an expert could do in a few minutes. I'm just way too busy and it would be cheaper for me to pay for someone's assistance.

The files on my computer are all over the place. I am not even going to go into an explanation. I also have a bunch of stuff on my computer that I don't need. I either need someone to come to my place or I need to take my computer over to your place with all my internal and external drives, and then look through them, organize my files and develop an ongoing system for keeping things organized. I also want to implement an ongoing data backup system. I have backups of all my data on two separate hard drives. Drive contains an image of my C drive and another just contains files which I have manually copied. I'll explain why I want to re-do all of that. Part of what I need is a demonstration that my backup system is working. I will consult with the right person to figure out how best to back up my data.

Please... I need the person I work with to be 100% fluent - I would prefer to hire a computer pro and not someone who just knows a lot about computers. Could many of you who are not pros help me? Of course. However, I don't have the time to take the chance that I get someone who just needs cash and ends up over here scratching his head and going 'Hmmmm....'.

Please PM me with your qualifications and let me know what your fee would be to do this for me. I will call you since it's probably the most efficient way for you to figure out exactly what I need.

Thanks, Nik

[coolspot]

Here are two automated backup programs which I'm sure you can setup yourself:

http://www.mozy.com <- Easy to use (automated) but hard to retrieve files
http://www.jungledisk.com/ <- Not as slick as Mozy, but works like a remote network drive

[enforcerviper]

You should look at Windows Home Server. I've installed several for my clients with great success. It will take care of all your needs.

[Desolatax]

I'd recommend spending today, going through all of your files, and organize the files on your computer. I'd also recommend building yourself a home server. Windows Home Server is pretty good, but if you want to use Linux, there is a pretty good how to guide here: http://32packets.com/2008/07/16/how-...server-part-1/
Lots of screen shot and explains a lot of it pretty well. Only thing that isn't covered is how to build the actual hardware.

Mozy is another great solution, I really like the mac client which automatically backs up everything to their servers ($5 a month per computer).

Windows search is surprisingly pretty good, only thing is that it slows down your computer a bit when its indexing. Once its done, its pretty good.

[CodecX81]

Left you a PM!

[traderNik]

I'd recommend spending today, going through all of your files, and organize the files on your computer. I'd also recommend building yourself a home server.

Viper and Desolatax, thanks for the recommendation, I will definitely look into Windows Home Server next week. It's just not very smart for someone who spends as much time at the computer as I do to not have things organized and clean. That's why I have three redundant backups - I'm never sure if one of them has everything on it.

[coolspot]

Windows Home Server is a great solution; however you should still get off site backup (see thread about home theft).

Thankfully Jungledisk can be loaded onto Windows Home Server

[traderNik]

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[traderNik]

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