1068 Tips on Hard Drives, Backups, and Cyber Security

Tips on Hard Drives, Backups, and Cyber Security

by Peter Myers, October 21, 2019

Newsletter published on October 21, 2019

Those of us who remember the 1980s know that computers were not always
'user friendly'.

Those were the days of DOS. You had to know your hardware.

Now things have gone to the other extreme. Your hard drives are usually
hidden. All you see is 'my computer'.

But you can make it a little less virtual.

Instead of 'my computer', tell it to show you your hard drives, SSDs and
external devices. These are important, because that's where your data is.

Everyone now touts SSDs for their speed, but there is a downside: they
don't last as long as hard drives. Secure Empty Trash is no longer
offered, because SSDs wear out if constantly overwritten. Therefore, I
stick with hard drives. Security before speed.

Now that hard drives come as 500 GB, 1 TB or bigger, they can be easily
partitioned into 5 or more partitions.

When mounted, each partition shows up as a 'volume' - it looks like a
hard drive, on your desktop.

Keep your data in one partition. If you have special needs, eg a lot of
photos or movies, there can be special partitions for them as well. This
makes backing up easy.

Apart from your data, your computer has software - system software,
applications software and utilities. These various kinds of software go
together, so they can be kept in one partition.

Computer software is updated from time to time. But rather than update
your existing, stable partition, update another one instead.

This means that you need at least two partitions for software.

On my iMac, I have three: one for Yosemite (which I call X10), one for
Sierra (X12) and one for High Sierra (X13). Each is bootable; I back up
each separately.

Let's suppose that your software is all in one partition (eg Windows 8
or Windows 10). Here's what you can do:

Repartition your hard drive, or another one, into a data partition and
at least two (bootable) software partitions. These could be for Windows
7, 8, and 10 - you can run 2 of these, or all 3, but only one at a time.
You could have two Windows 10 partitions - one for your existing stable
software (with Software Update turned OFF), and one to be updated
periodically.

Only Update the latter one. In the event of problems, you can fall back
on the stable one.

When creating the partitions, work out the size you need, and allow 20%
extra, or more.

After you have created, let's say, an additional software partition, you
need to set up the software for it. There's a long, slow, way to do it -
downloading and reinstalling it all -  and a fast, easy way.

Here's how I do it on a Mac: Suppose I have a computer running Yosemite
(X10), and I also want to run Sierra (X12).

I run Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the X10 software into the X12
partition. In Windows this is called a "System Image Backup".

It's NOT an incremental backup as Time Machine does. I have Safety Net
off, which means that the cloned partition is exactly the same as the
original partition.

And it's bootable.

Now, boot into the new partition - call it X12, but at this stage it's
actually running X10 Yosemite. Go into Software Update, and update the
system to Sierra X12 (or another - it's up to you).

Your user account, utilities & application software are all present; you
do not need to reinstall them. But some may need to be updated to later
versions.

Just as my internal drive is divided into say 5 partitions, my backup
drive is partitioned into the same 5 partitions.

Thus if my internal drive is named Perth, its partitions are Perth X10,
Perth X12, Perth X13, Perth Data and Perth Spare.

And if my backup drive is called Sydney, its partitions are Sydney X10,
  Sydney X12, Sydney X13, Sydney Data, and Sydney Spare.

If I'm running X10, when I backup, I backup (with Carbon Copy Cloner,
safety net off) Perth X10 to Sydney X10 and Perth Data to Sydney Data.

But when I backup, I backup to 3 backup drives, one after the other.
Let's call the others Brisbane and Darwin.

I would backup Perth X10 to Brisbane X10 and Perth Data to Brisbane
Data. Then backup Perth X10 to Darwin X10 and Perth Data to Darwin Data.

I might do such a backup once every 3 or 4 weeks.

Strictly, such a backup is called an 'Archive'. Apart from that, you
need to do daily backups.

You can automate the daily backup process with Time Machine or similar
software; but I do it manually.

I backup every file I'm working on, to a USB stick or an internal drive.
I've just backed up this file I'm working on, and I do it every 5 or 10
minutes, manually.

If you repeatedly run Carbon Copy Cloner in Mac OS X, or Retrospect in
OS 9, it runs much more quickly on subsequent occasions, because it only
copies files that have changed.

As for security: you need an anti-malware program that runs in all your
software partitions. This could be different versions of the same
product; with luck you will only need to pay for one.

Not all anti-virus software is reliable. Some of it is downright
dangerous - because it's produced by hackers. I would avoid any such
software made in a certain Middle Eastern country.

What better way to keep surveillance on someone's computer, than to run
the anti-virus sofware that has full admin access?

For Mac cleaning software, beware any site which recommends or downloads
Mackeeper or Clean My Mac; only use Onyx - it is safe. I don't know the
Windows equivalents, but shonky "cleaning" software is commonly used to
install malware. Anti-virus software can compromise your computer.

I recommend Eset and Malwarebytes.

Apart from them, Kaspersky is certainly not in league with Big Brother,
because it revealed NSA secrets, and got into trouble over it. Kaspersky
exposed NSA spy software deep within the Firmware of hard drives:

Russian researchers expose breakthrough U.S. spying program
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/16/us-usa-cyberspying-idUSKBN0LK1QV20150216

"SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The U.S. National Security Agency has figured
out how to hide spying software deep within hard drives made by Western
Digital, Seagate, Toshiba and other top manufacturers, giving the agency
the means to eavesdrop on the majority of the world's computers,
according to cyber researchers and former operatives.
"That long-sought and closely guarded ability was part of a cluster of
spying programs discovered by Kaspersky Lab, the Moscow-based security
software maker that has exposed a series of Western cyberespionage
operations."

In retaliation, NSA & GCHQ have been targeting Kaspersky:

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/snowden-documents-reveal-nsa-targeted-Kaspersky-and-other-antivirus-companies-2015-6

New Snowden documents reveal the NSA targeted one of the world's biggest
security companies

"Newly unearthed documents obtained by The Intercept indicate that the
National Security Agency (NSA) as well as the UK’s Government
Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) have been targeting the largest
antivirus companies using various hacking techniques. ...
"Both the NSA and the GCHQ heavily targeted the Russia-based antivirus
company Kaspersky Lab, The Intercept reports, citing documents leaked by
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden."

The prominent brands may be co-operating with the NSA, may incorporate
NSA code. You would not expect so, but Snowden and Assange are not holed
up for nothing. Our Governments have become Rogue States.

That's why I suggest you use Eset or Malwarebytes, or Kaspersky.