How do I back up my email?
Webmail is not a backup, and an export is not a restore. Which method actually produces a copy you can read years later, and why the account matters more than the mail.
intermediate1 hr4 min read
Data & Backups
Not losing things, and getting them back when you do.
61 guides in Technology
How big an external drive do I need for backups?
The rule of thumb is two to three times the data you are protecting, and the reason is versioning — a backup that only fits one copy cannot keep yesterday's.
beginner20 min3 min readHow do I archive things I want to keep forever?
The 3-2-1 rule applied to keepsakes, formats that will still open in twenty years, and the checks that keep an archive alive.
beginner1 hr3 min readHow do I scan old photographs and slides?
What resolution actually matters, why a phone is fine for prints but not for negatives, and how to get through a box without giving up in week two.
beginner2 hr3 min readHow do I get photos off a camera or memory card?
Copying from a card safely, why formatting in the camera matters, and what to do when a card will not read or appears empty.
beginner30 min3 min readHow do I do an annual digital declutter?
A once-a-year pass over files, devices, accounts and subscriptions that takes an afternoon and prevents most of the small disasters that arrive at the worst moment.
beginner2 hr5 min readWhy can deleted files not be recovered from an SSD?
Because the drive itself erases the blocks. TRIM is a housekeeping instruction that turns a deletion into a real one, usually within minutes — and it is why undelete belongs to the era of mechanical drives.
intermediate20 min3 min readHow much does professional data recovery cost, and is it worth it?
Hundreds to low thousands of pounds, quoted after a diagnosis. When a laboratory is the only remaining route, when it is money wasted, and how to avoid being charged for nothing.
beginner25 min4 min readWhat do file sizes mean, and is a megabyte big?
A practical sense of scale for kilobytes, megabytes and gigabytes, what each kind of file typically weighs, and why the numbers never quite add up on a drive or a broadband package.
beginner15 min4 min readCan I get files back from a drive I formatted by mistake?
Often yes after a quick format, rarely after a full one, and almost never on an SSD. What the two kinds of format actually do, and the order to work in.
intermediate1 hr4 min readHow long will a hard drive, SSD or USB stick keep my files?
Shorter than people assume, and unpredictably. What actually limits the life of each medium, and why the answer for anything precious is copies rather than a better drive.
beginner20 min4 min readWhat is a NAS and do I actually need one?
A small always-on computer full of drives that everything in the house can reach. What it genuinely solves, what it does not, and the honest test of whether you are the household for one.
intermediate30 min4 min readHow do I get files off old CDs, DVDs, floppy disks and tapes?
Get the data onto a drive first and worry about opening it second. What hardware you need, in what order to work, and which formats are genuinely lost causes.
intermediate1 hr 30 min4 min read
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