How do you save your music?

[ejaghana]

A friend of mine just had her computer crash on her last night. It got me thinking...I am so frightened of losing all of my files, esp. my music!

So, other than your computers, is there any way you store your music files so that you have them even if your computer dies?

[steffib]

Buy an external harddrive and back your computer up regularly.

[asim1]

Originally Posted by ejaghana

A friend of mine just had her computer crash on her last night. It got me thinking...I am so frightened of losing all of my files, esp. my music!

So, other than your computers, is there any way you store your music files so that you have them even if your computer dies?

Well, there's a bit of geeking here in what I actually do, so let me say how I recommend people save their music.
I usually make a "first pass" at backing up my music by burning the MP3s onto a DVD. Note that DVDs can and do fade after roughly a decade -- in fact, I have some CDs I burned a decade or so ago, stored, and now cannot read.
The next level is to get one of those external hard drives. Copy all the music onto there once you've burned it to DVD. This way, you have it all in one place, easy to listen to, and portable, as well as DVDs of the music, as well. That's 2 levels of backup, and if you move your main music library to the portable drive, you'll only have to store once, burn once. The external drive is likely to last longer that a DVD, as well -- if nothing else, it'll be way surpassed in a decade!

Anyway, that's my suggestion for safety and flexibility. I wouldn't depend on an iPod or other portable music device as a backup, as they are too easily lost/stolen.

[ejaghana]

Thanks guys! I never thought about the external hard draive. I think I'll have to get one of those!

[Lauren_]

There are also online backup services. I used to use one though Mac, and I had a program that let me select which folders I wanted backed up. My computer would automatically connect to the server and back up my music, photos, bookkeeping and student files. (that kind of software is available separately from the service, as well).

Now I have a large web server where I could create backups regularly, but I'm too lazy to do it all by myself.

[nasila]

If you're only talking about your 'sets' that you've edited and put together, they should fit nicely on a tiny little flash drive (under $20). If you're talking about lots and lots of music because you don't have the CDs as backup, then you'll need something bigger...and pricier.

[mekyria]

Go for an external hardrive and if you have webspace for your website, stash it on your server too.

I bought a domain and server space for my website, most of it is empty because I try to keep my website as small as possible for visitors without broadband internet. You can put all your music files in a private folder, uploading them with filezilla or another FTP program. If anything should happen to your extrenal harddrive, you can download it from your server. The servers also make a regular back-up, so that's an extra security measure.