Vizual Graphix

cool t-shirts

Yikes! That’s scary… talk about getting too close to the action! :o(

I’ve mentioned this many times before, but I’ll say it again. Backing up your data is VERY important, and sadly something that most people don’t do. If you only have one copy of something, you really don’t have it at all. Why? Because all drives will fail at some point…they are not invincible… Don’t wait for fate, backup now!

This article reviews the Newer Tech Guardian MAXimus hard drive, for redundant backup via RAID 1. It has Firewire 800, 400, and USB 2.0 connections on the back, plus power and an on/off switch. It’s a true hardware RAID 1 (not software) so it’s very reliable. What does it do? When you copy data to the drive it simultaneously copies the same data to a secondary drive. Genius, I know. :) What’s even cooler is that is a drive fails, the L.E.D. for that drive lights up red so you know it needs to be replaced. You can continue to use the single drive until you can put in a new drive (must be the same size, brand and model) and the good drive automatically rebuilds the new drive to make them identical.

I just bought my first Newer Tech Guardian MAXimus and  installed two 750gb Seagate 7200.11 SATA II drives… amazingly simple to install and gives me the insurance I need to be sure I don’t lose any client files. I purchased mine from one of my favorite Mac retailers…Other World Computing. Check out OWC and Newer Technology’s new “Green” headquarters…an environment-friendly building. 

A great article discussing the ever important task of backing up data. This one was particularly interesting to me because he talks about his use of SuperDuper!, Time Machine, ChronoSync, DVD-R copies, Amazon’s S3 (Simple Storage Service) and other methods of backup. These are similar steps to what I’m going thru myself as well as teaching others to do.

I am currently using SuperDuper! to make a bootable backup or clone my OS hard drive, allowing me to boot from the external drive (although it must be a Firewire 400 or 800 drive…you cannot boot from USB). I am contemplating using Time Machine and/or Crash Plan Pro to backup individual files and folders on my Macs. I believe you can achieve this with ChronoSync too… but I don’t have experience with it.  Crash Plan Pro is nice in that you can backup to local drives, or drives say stored at your friend’s house. Also you can utilize and backup to online services, such as Amazon’s S3 service.

Speaking of that.. I am about to sign up with S3 via JungleDisk.com. It’s the best deal I’ve found…even cheaper (and much safer) than backing up to local drives…because you don’t have to pay for redundancy of power or storage.  S3 only costs 15¢ per gigabyte stored per month. And transfer is only 10¢ per gig per month. Considering a 500gb hard drive costs about $100 today (5/24/08) that’s 20¢ per gig…so we’re already ahead using S3. Plus we’d have to think about the cost to power the drive, and worry about backups in case of drive failure. With S3, we can feel safe knowing our data is encrypted, stored on the largest servers in the world, and stored in many locations… so if Amazon’s HQ’s burned to the ground, our data would still be safe in their off-site server locations, say Hong Kong, or London. Pretty cool. ;o)

The bottom line is…backup your data! If you don’t have 2 or more copies of your files, you really don’t have them at all. Be safe kids. Backup smart. 

Wow. Ten photographers combined to shoot 70,000 shots on their EOS-1D MkIII cameras to make an incredible new TV commercial for the Canon Rebel XSi. Also be sure to check out the video on how they made this commercial.

EPSQuickLookPlugin. Finally a way to preview EPS files in the Finder and QuickLook. As a designer by-day I deal with lots of illustrations, logos, etc. in Adobe Illustrator’s .ai and .eps file formats. But it’s a pain when looking thru a folder of these files and not be able to preview the easily without opening them in a native application.  That’s where this handy little plugin saves the day!  And best of all, it’s completely FREE! :oD The developer does ask for donations if you feel the plugin really helps you… I plan on giving for sure… this saves hours off my day. :o)

Incredible mathematic problem solver. Check this out!

create and find color palettes made from images, or search by tag, hex code, or image URL. Very cool and handy tool for web developers!

Shape the mood of the song with the Mellow, Beats, and Swell controls.

Adjust the volume levels of the different musical parts - the Pad, the Melody, the Ambience, and the Effects.

Shows musical information about the song playing.

• chill Radio, which switches songs after 5, 10, 20, or 30 minutes
• Save songs as AIFF and Wave
• Save songs as MIDI or tracks for further composition in Logic, GarageBand, Cubase, Live, and other digital audio software