Nearby
Cambridge, Ohaupo, Pukeatua, Te Awamutu, Karapiro - Maungatautari, Putaruru, Tamahere, Rukuhia, Tauwhare
Leamington news is brought to you by the team at Cambridge Edition
Recent posts
Thank you for using Neighbourly
A former quarry site which also served as a town dump 70 years ago will be sold and the money used t…
People have been told to change their driving habits and daily commuter routes to avoid the cost of …
Te Awamutu Museum could be replaced by the proposed Waipa Discovery Centre, if it has the backing of…
In the foothills of Maungatautari in the Waikato is a population that has been around since the time…
Reporter Gary Farrow potters around in his latest story for our Art Space series. It frequently put…
Reporter Gary Farrow explored the Cambridge Open Studios Art Tour as part of the Cambridge Autumn F…
Cambridge Edition held its short-film competition awards night at Tivoli Cinema. Have you got a great story that could me made into a short-film? Let us know for next year's competition.
Keeping in character, taking risks and engaging the camera are just some of the qualities a young pe…
Whether you want a new job, get a better job or get back into the workforce again. This course will give you the practical skills you need to do just that.
ENROL NOW – Visit our Website or call us today on: 0800-834-834
The dream start for Te Aroha Cobras football teams came to an abrupt end over the weekend, with thre…
As I write this on my 10" laptop, my desktop computer is packing a sad. Suddenly the hard drive failed to write a few things to disk, and as it rebooted I saw the all-too-familiar screed of errors indicating imminent failure or data loss. I immediately stopped and took time to backup my … View moreAs I write this on my 10" laptop, my desktop computer is packing a sad. Suddenly the hard drive failed to write a few things to disk, and as it rebooted I saw the all-too-familiar screed of errors indicating imminent failure or data loss. I immediately stopped and took time to backup my existing data to an external drive before more damage occurred. The fact that I didn't have all of my data regularly backed-up speaks volumes about my own hypocrisy; I regularly prompt clients to back up their data. Why? Because hard drives have lifespans and you don't know how long they are.
Often referred to in the tech industry as 'spinning rust' hard drives, magnetic hard drives have been the main storage devices inside modern computers for 3 decades. They work well, last a reasonably long time and are relatively reliable. But even so, 10% of all hard drives fail within the first 3 years of use, 20% within the first 4 years, while most fail after 6 years of use (source: Backblaze, an online data warehouse). For some it seems inconceivable that these devices which we rely upon so much could spontaneously decide to die.
But they do, and so you need to have your data in more than one place; ideally at all times. When I say data, I mean whatever documents, photos, etcetera that you have which are not stored online in some form, and that you would be at a loss without. The simplest solution is to buy an external drive (either a USB thumb drive or something a little larger depending on how much data you've got) and copy your important data to that. You can do that manually, or most operating systems (eg. Windows or MacOS) have built-in backup solutions which work pretty effectively.
You might think that a new storage mechanism will come along and solve this problem indefinitely. Unfortunately not: solid state hard drives, for example, are quicker but less reliable. The closest we've come to that goal is tape, but tape drives are expensive, and uncommon as a result. An external drive that is not plugged into the computer for most of the time will have a pretty good lifespan, provided you don't drop it or decide to feed it icecream someday. I have hard drives which're still going after 10 years - but they are the minority.
There's also some concept that with the internet 'your data is forever' and so we can stop worrying about losing things. That's not really true; the lifetime of your data online is the lifetime of the company which stores it. And if there's anything which the early 2000's dot-com crash taught us it's that no online company is insoluble. So don't rely on Facebook being around in 15 years time (even though it probably will be) to store your photos.
If there's something important to you, in the physical world as well as the virtual world, you need to take care of it. The procedure for doing that in the virtual world is to create copies. I'm not sure how well that works in the physical world, but I'll get back to you once the prototype cloning machine in my shed gets a council permit.
- Matt Bentley is a computer repair expert with Waikato Home PC Support.
Email info@homepcsupport.co.nz or phone 0211348576. www.homepcsupport.co.nz...
Hey neighbours,
Have you heard Transport Minister Phil Twyford's views on wheel clamping? He says it either needs to be banned or regulated - and he was working on legislation to see it banned. What are your thoughts? To read more, click here.
Are you a pet lover looking for an alternative to domestic cats and dogs?
Farm-style animals like chickens, goats, and even pigs, are gaining in the pet popularity stakes, but have specific needs and regulations you need to be aware of. … View moreAre you a pet lover looking for an alternative to domestic cats and dogs?
Farm-style animals like chickens, goats, and even pigs, are gaining in the pet popularity stakes, but have specific needs and regulations you need to be aware of. Here's what you need to know about keeping them in residential areas.
© Neighbourly 2026
Loading…