Don’t Forget To Back Up Your PC! I’ve Learnt The Hard Way
If only I’d backed up my files. After spending many hours Tidying Up My iTunes MP3 Collection to remove duplicates, add the correct Album Artwork and to get all my ID3 tags correct etc, I somehow managed to delete ALL of my ID3 tags. This wasn’t too much of a problem for iTunes as the iTunes Library XML file still kept it’s own record of each MP3’s details, but it has totally screwed my Xbox XBMC machines which rely totally upon the ID3 tags.
Because I’ve lost all the ID3 tag information I can’t even just run all the files through MusicBrainz Tagger as there are no tags left to lookup. Luckily, because iTunes saves each album in its own folder I’m managing to identify and manually tag about 2/3 of the files, but compilations are difficult as iTunes saves the file in separate artist folders rather than one big folder for the whole album. This means at some point I’m going to have to re-import all of my CDs which will take a very long time…
Well, I’ve learnt my lesson and after dabbling with various backup programs like Handy Backup. I’ve decided to get a proper backup solution and I’ve just ordered a 320GB Western Digital Dual Option Combo External Drive which has both USB2 and Firewire (faster) connectors. I’ve gone for an external drive as I don’t see the point of backing up files to the same drive that they currently reside on - I want a backup solution that will be there even if the whole drive conks out. I also went for an external Drive solution as I don’t want to put another HDD in my machine at the moment without improving on current cooling as my machine is starting to struggle to stay both cool & quiet at the same time with the hot weather, even with my water cooling.
It’s cost me just over £100 but it’s worth every penny to avoid having to go through what I’m going through now again. The amount of time it is taking me to restore my files (it’s a very boring task so it will take me months to complete) is worth way more than £100 to me.
If you don’t have a backup strategy for your PC I’d recommend getting one now. I was lucky as I can replace what I’ve lost, but imagine if you can’t e.g. one of my best friends lost all the pictures of his little girl from childbirth to her first birthday. Nearly cost him his marriage when his wife found out! Don’t Forget To Back Up Your PC! I’ve Learnt The Hard Way
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