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Monday, February 15, 2021

Tech Month Monday #2 - Questions about external hard drives

Tech: Love it and hate it. 

I managed to delete the obsolete credit union app from my phone and learned there is no longer a version that will work on my phone. I was able to put it on my iPad though and will ask my husband to put it on his phone.

Not much else to talk about as I am still going through computer files, bookmarks. and emails. I finished deleting and reorganizing the files and am in the midst of the emails and bookmarks. Next up is photos. Then onward to backing up.

Right now I am considering 2 options for back up. I use Dropbox for a few items and may add more to it. 

I'm also considering an external hard drive but really don't know anything about them. Do they also back up your software programs? Can I set it for automatic back up and then forget about it? How do I decide how much storage capability I need and which one to buy? 

Ongoing Financial Monday update - 

Turns out our taxes are so simple this year that we aren't even going to buy TurboTax but rather just fill out the forms.

I've actually been reading through (skimming) our updated homeowner's policy declaration. Boring but useful as I now have questions about whether or not we have sufficient coverage. Next up is doing the same for the earthquake policy before I contact our agent.

I mentioned we ordered a (quite expensive) shower door replacement. I would have shopped around more before the pandemic but now am just paying it and glad to have a responsive and reliable vendor.


13 comments:

  1. You are a tenacious person with your commitment to "tech month." I'd be giving up about now.

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    1. Ha-ha! I doubt it given how tenacious you have been with your downsizing. I do avoid it a lot though.

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  2. I had read that with the new tax law and decreased deductions for home ownership and home offices and such it would become easier. I use a free efile program just cause I don't want to mail and be electronic. The tech knowledge I have does not extend to external hard drives my documents are fewcenough the drop box and the Amazon cloud work for me mainly.

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    1. Like you I may end up just using Dropbox but if an external hard drive will back up programs that would be a plus. Haven't put my research hat on yet.

      It did seem that they simplified the tax forms and instructions this year at least for our situation which does not include a mortgage so no point in itemizing deductions. I don't think we qualify for free efile so am going to read through the instructions for filing and paying online to see what we can do.

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  3. Wow, you are doing great. I have no answers re an external hard drive, but I could ask our youngest son and see what he says. I am pretty sure you can set for an automatic backup though.

    God bless.

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    1. Thanks. I need to do some research now that I have identified my questions..

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  4. I'm really dependent on our kids for technical advice. You're way ahead of me, Juhli. How great that filing your taxes will be fairly simple! My husband and I recently looked over our insurance documents, too. Definitely not a fun task, but we felt good about doing it afterward.

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    1. I need a teenage grandchild for tech help lol! My tech industry son is solely an Apple user. My other son mostly uses Apple too. They don’t feel very able to help with non-Apple specific stuff but do with other things.

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  5. Look at you guys with the simple tax return. I haven't started thinking about ours yet. They are never complicated but it still makes me nervous doing the returns. And that's with Turbo Tax in place!! I have an external drive and had uploaded photos and old files to it when I got a new computer then transferred some of it onto my new computer. I use Dropbox, too, because I can access it anywhere. I pay $2.99 for extra storage on Dropbox and have been happy with it.

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    1. Thanks for the info. We did our own taxes forever until we had inheritances and real estate transaction to deal with at the same time. Turbo tax would make it easier to file electronically for sure.

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  6. I need to take those exact actions: read insurance policies and research external hard drives. I haven't gotten a round tuit yet though. ;)

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    1. It’s no fun. I’m not done. The earthquake policy sits there taunting me and I’m still organizing and deleting emails. Baby steps. But you must have power despite the mess in Texas!

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  7. I use a Seagate Backup Plus Slim external drive. I'm very happy with it. I've had external drives that have only lasted 1-2 years but this one is going strong. It comes with software and instructions to do auto backups, or you can back up files manually. I don't back up my software any more because all of it is available online for re-download, or it's a web product (like Chrome) or I have subscribed (like Microsoft 365).

    - Dar @ anexactinglife

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