Backing Up While Driving...

Are you so dedicated to backing up that you would do it during your commute? I doubt it. However, our confidence in our tools have advanced to the point that we could.

This topic comes up because I had another IT consultant handling a problem from one of my clients that was vacationing in California. The consultant was in a pinch for time and started a Shadowprotect image backup before he started driving. The backup continued while he and the laptop were in the car, proceeding to my client. He arrived at the client's condo as I was on the phone with the client, and proudly announced that the backup was at 92%. It finished and he released the laptop to the client.

After I stopped laughing, I admired Jim's audacity. I found myself contemplating what had just happened, and realized a couple of things. Now, here are a number of observations to go with this little story. PARTNERING :: It is great to have partners in other areas that you can depend on. In this case, my client benefited from the relationships that I have built. Raises my value in the clients eyes as they see me as not being just another computer consultant. CONFERENCES : Conferencing made this possible. I met Jim at 3 different conferences. My conversations with him gave me the confidence to sub this out. Going to a conference will let you meet people like this. Everyone that knows me knows that I really love conferences. Developing solid relationships with other IT consultants is one of the reasons. RELIABLE TOOLS : The reliability of our imaging tools have gone up, to the point that this consultant was willing to start an imaging job and drive to the client with the confidence that it would work. He wasn't worried about showing up at the client with a failure on the laptop screen. While I would not have thought of doing that, I certainly agreed there was no reason that it would have not worked. StorageCraft products are AWESOME!

So next time you feel that you are wasting driving time, get that much needed laptop backup done! Please start it BEFORE you start the trip. I don't want to run into you unexpectedly. :)