I just upgraded to Windows7 (it’s awesome, by the way) and used the Windows Easy Transfer utility that Microsoft bundles with Vista to move my files from the old OS to the new one. It sounds so simple. It will create a file on another hard drive, CD/DVD, or flash/USB space with all of your documents and application settings.

Except, it doesn’t. Not unless you go into the advanced options and ensure that it creates a copy of all the non-microsoft application settings. I did not know that until I ported the files back to my computer and found that all of my Firefox bookmarks were gone! Also all my settings for my FTP program (Filezilla), Autocad, Photoshop, etc.

The biggest pain came from the loss of my bookmarks (years accumulated). Panic and anger set in… and then I remembered Carbonite.com. I use them for on-the-fly real time back-up of all my documents and settings. I can delete a file by accident and get it back. I can lose my entire harddrive and get it back. I can be in another country and access those files. Talk about awesome!

So I reinstalled Carbonite and went into my back-up (it shows up as another drive on your computer) to restore the exact files I wanted including my bookmarks! Seriously, this thing is a lifesaver (well, it saved many many frustrating hours of my life at least). For the small cost of around $50 per year you get total peace of mind and unlimited storage (got a lot of precious pictures of the family, or years of accumulated MP3s? Wouldn’t like to lose those, would you?).

If you are not using a real-time offsite back-up solution might I suggest you try out Carbonite? Mozy is another but I didn’t have a good experience with their software’s reliability. Your experience may be better. I, on the other hand, cannot say enough good things about Carbonite which I have used without fail for about three years.

Oh, and as for Windows7? If you’re on the fence, the improvements over Vista (which I didn’t have many problems with) are terrific and the upgrade is pretty slick and (aside from this one issue) painless. Recommended as well.

Note: I get no benefit from mentioning these guys. No money, no affiliation, nothing. I only hope to save others from any accidental disasters as we are all prone to experience from time to time.

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