Do I have an online backup at DELL??

I bought a Dell laptop six months ago. Am I entitled to a few GB
of online backup at DELL? If so, how do I access it?

Thanks!

On Mon, 01 Oct 2007 20:24:31 -0700, Vengeful
wrote:

I bought a Dell laptop six months ago. Am I entitled to a few GB
of online backup at DELL? If so, how do I access it?

Thanks!

I wouldn't use an online backup for a variety of reasons. If you have
Vista Ultimate, I think MS has some sort of backup that may be related
to drive encryption information.

On Tue, 02 Oct 2007 08:11:20 -0500, Journey wrote:

On Mon, 01 Oct 2007 20:24:31 -0700, Vengeful
wrote:

I bought a Dell laptop six months ago. Am I entitled to a few GB
of online backup at DELL? If so, how do I access it?

Thanks!

I wouldn't use an online backup for a variety of reasons. If you have
Vista Ultimate, I think MS has some sort of backup that may be related
to drive encryption information.


Be careful as I found out the hard way and more recently read
something about MS that I think might have happened to me. I used
XP's encryption years ago and had a hard drive crash. When I tried to
restore that drive on another drive, the keys didn't work and I
believe I read more recently that when you have a reinstall of the OS,
the keys get wiped out. At the time I didn't know this and learned
the hard way . For that reason I'll probably never use MS
encryption again.

Word to the wise as Journey points out, read on MS encryption BEFORE
you use it so you are aware of the potential risks. For that matter,
might not hurt to read the risks of any encryption you might choose.

Hi!

I bought a Dell laptop six months ago. Am I entitled to a
few GB of online backup at DELL? If so, how do I access
it?

You'll have to check your order sheet or look around in the programs
that were preinstalled on the computer.

If it were me, I'd go and buy an externally attached hard disk and use
that for storage. Given the "flexible" nature of the Internet, such a
company could quickly disappear and leave you wondering not only how
you will get your data back, but also where it ended up.

(I deal heavily in secondhand hard drives. In recent times I went
through over 81 secondhand drives. Even today I can count on one hand
the number that had been properly erased. There are more where "some
effort" was made, but it didn't work. In both cases, I do what should
have been done and wipe the drives.)

William

Hi!

Word to the wise as Journey points out, read on MS encryption
BEFORE you use it so you are aware of the potential risks.
For that matter, might not hurt to read the risks of any encryption
you might choose.

Absolutely. Windows 2000 introduced the EFS (encrypting file system)
and XP/Server 2003 versions of Windows support it as well. (Not sure
about XP home, but it might...) Supposedly it is possible to designate
a so-called "recovery agent" to retrieve encrypted data, but I've
never managed to get it to work. The directions to use the feature
don't seem clear at all.

If you do use encryption, I'd strongly suggest leaving a backup copy
of your data stored offsite in a secured area, like a fireproof safe.

William

"Vengeful" wrote in message
...
I bought a Dell laptop six months ago. Am I entitled to a few GB of online
backup at DELL? If so, how do I access it?

Thanks!


Generally, I think the deal is a 12-month trial for a designated amount of
space. If that's correct, you may have some time left.....

wrote:
Hi!

Word to the wise as Journey points out, read on MS encryption
BEFORE you use it so you are aware of the potential risks.
For that matter, might not hurt to read the risks of any encryption
you might choose.

Absolutely. Windows 2000 introduced the EFS (encrypting file system)
and XP/Server 2003 versions of Windows support it as well. (Not sure
about XP home, but it might...) Supposedly it is possible to designate
a so-called "recovery agent" to retrieve encrypted data, but I've
never managed to get it to work. The directions to use the feature
don't seem clear at all.

If you do use encryption, I'd strongly suggest leaving a backup copy
of your data stored offsite in a secured area, like a fireproof safe.

Better you should make a floppy/CD with the keys and store that. Maybe
make 2 just to be sure.