• Ironkey 4GB, "the world's most secure flash drive"
• Sandisk Cruzer Contour 8GB
• Sandisk Cruzer Titanium 2GB
• PNY Swivel 4GB (Very small)
• Sandisk Cruzer Micro 1GB (This is an old one.)
• RiData EZ Twister 4GB (I bought this one because it has a write-protect switch.)

The test was simple: Use TeraCopy to write and then read two different batches of files. When its done, TeraCopy shows the performance in megabytes per second (MB/s); that's the number I published here. For the small file test, I used a batch of 48 files in one directory, total size 30MB. For the large file test, I used two files totaling 1.33GB (although for the 1GB drive, I only used one file for 669MB).

Here are my results. All numbers are MB/s, so bigger is better.

Clearly, you get better performance when you spend more. I was disappointed to see the RiData come in with low-end performance because this drive is part of their "business" line. The ironkey had great numbers, but that's not a good general purpose drive. And the Cruzer Contour is somewhat bulky. In the end, I decided to buy a Cruzer Titanium for my son.

Please take a look here: How to Backup Your Site and feel free to leave comments if you have any questions.

• How to backup your blogger blog
• Creating a backup of your wordpress.com blog
• Creating a backup of your typepad blog

But obviously, those are not the only options for creating a blog without installing and managing your own server. So, if you're not using one of those services, then I have a few ideas for how to make a backups on other services. Check it out, and let me know what you think by leaving a comment!

Next up, I plan to write a few "how to" guides for making backups of sites that use CMS software installed on a web server: WordPress, Movable Type, Drupal, Joomla!, etc.

If you use blogger.com rather than wordpress.com, then you will find how to backup blogger is more helpful.

The bad news is that if you are keeping a list with more than a few addresses, then you know how hard it is to keep it organized and up-to-date. And the chore only gets harder as the list gets longer. On top of that, your email client doesn't do a great job at handling bulk mailings. If you put all the addresses on the "to:" line, then some people will not like having their addresses sent all around. If you put the address on the "bcc:" line, then your message looks funny because isn't addressed to its recipients. Either way, a spam filter along the way could mistakenly trash your message.

If you have a list of more than a few email addresses, you should take a look at creating your own Google Group. You can create a group in just a few minutes, and it is free.

Once you've created the group and added your members, you can reach the group by sending to a single email address, such as"my-group@googlegroups.com". Google takes care of sending the message to everyone on the list.

Here's why I think a google group is a better alternative:

• People can control their membership in the group. They can join, change their email address, and drop off the list all on their own. You don't have to be involved, although you can do all that for them. And if you want to control who is in the group, you can set it up so that you have to approve new members before they can participate.
• The group keeps a history of all the messages. So, if someone is looking for the details on an event you announced, or if they are trying to remember your new summer address, they can go to the group web page and look it up.
• You can get help with maintaining the group. You can give permission to whoever you want so that they can help with the chore of keeping the group running. There might not be much to do, but it is nice to know you can get help if you need it.
• People have options for how they receive messages. They can receive each message individually. They can receive a daily summary if they feel like they are getting too many messages each day. And they can turn off email completely and read the discussion on the group web page.

(You can take the Google Groups tour to learn more about how it works.)

As with most things in life, the group also has some drawbacks. First on the list is making sense of how Google handles the "sign in" process. When you sign in, you're signing into Google, not just a one group. You can use whatever email address you want (it doesn't have to be a gmail address) and whatever password you pick. Once you've signed in, you can get into any group where you're a member. That's nice for me, because I belong to eight groups right now and I don't need a separate sign in for each group. But for the guy who belongs to just one group, it can be a nuisance. None of this is very clear on the web site, so I plan to post details on how to get started.
In the end, if you decide your google group isn't working out, you can always close it down and go back to your old scheme. All you loose is the time you spent. So go ahead and give it a try. I'd like to hear how it works out for you.

A backup is simply a copy of blog that you save away in a safe place in case something bad happens to the posts you created on the blogger site. Why should you bother? Even though blogger is reliable, there are no guarantees. Lots of things could happen that would make you want to have your own copy of your blog: You could accidentally delete your posts. Or someone could hack your blog. Or you could get your account suspended. Or the blogger service could change in some way that makes you want to get out in a hurry. Maybe you just want to have a copy so you sleep better at night.

Whatever your reason, backing up is a good idea. The step-by-step instructions will give you a backup copy in just a few steps.¹ That one file contains formatting information, all of your published posts, and all your drafts. You can use the "Import Blog" option back in step 2 to restore posts. I will explain how that works in some other post.

So, you finished your first backup. Now what? I recommend you store that file in a safe place. Probably the best thing you can do is to create a separate directory (folder) to store all of the backup files you create.

Also, you should decide how often you should backup. Ideally, you would make a backup after each new post. But that can old fast, so do it after a few posts, or every Friday, or the first Sunday of each month. That way, you're only risking your most recent work. Imagine the worst-case scenario, where you loose your entire blog 5 minutes before you make a new backup. Everything since your last backup is lost. If you've only made one or two posts, that's not so bad. But if you have made a hundred posts, or it has been so long you have no idea what's changed, then you're probably waiting too long.

One last encouragement: take a couple minutes to figure this out now, make a habit of it, and you'll thank me later. Or, even better, you'll never have to thank me, because you'll never need to recover from a disaster. And that's ok too.

1. Update: I had the instructions here in this post, but decided to move it to the "how-to backup" along with all the others.

First of all, blogger converts everything you upload to the PNG file format, and looses the animation in the process. That's true even though the filename ends with ".gif". For example, this little guy started out as an animated GIF. But when I uploaded the file, blogger converted it to a static PNG image (even though it still had the GIF extension).

Firefox shows the true format if you right-click the image and choose "Properties":

Secondly, blogger reduces the size of large images that you upload. The dialog box above is 400 by 147, but it started out on my computer as 642 by 236. That means some of the detail is lost. If you zoom in on that image, you will find that the text isn't any easier to read. And if it were a family photo, you wouldn't be able to get a better look at how I've aged over the last year.

What to do?

If you simply upload to blogger, then you give up control. Most importantly for photos, you will not be able to see high-resolution versions. To avoid those limitations, you can upload your images to a photo sharing site and then link to them in your blogger post. Fortunately, there are plenty of free options for hosting images:

• flickr is a very popular site. They host millions of photos.
• photobucket seems like a popular option for blogger folks.
• google docs really isn't designed for photo sharing, but lets you upload files. Just be sure to "share" the file so that people reading your blog can get them.

No matter which service you use to host your images, once you have them uploaded, you can use the "Insert image" option right here in the blogger editor to include it.

You should link to a small version of the image, and then make the image a link to the page that has the larger sizes. This photo is an example where I used the "small" image from flickr, and changed the link to go to the image page itself. I have to admit it takes a little fussing around to get this right. But now that its done, you can click on the photo to take advantage of the features that flickr offers.

I love a bargain... Since mine is a first-generation, it only costs $9.95. The modern version for iPhone 3G and 3GS lists for $29.95. Three times better? No, I think they are just cleaning up old inventory. Even better, the web page for the older case has a coupon code that will give you five dollars off your order, regardless of which case you buy. (I could tell you the code, but I'll leave it up to you to find it on this page.)

Core Cases has great customer service... The order page wouldn't accept the coupon code, so I fired off a quick email to their customer support. I honestly didn't think they would write back to someone wanting a five dollar discount on a ten dollar order. To my surprise, I had a response within the hour, and they had fixed their ordering system so that coupon worked.

A closer look... The case comes in two parts that slip together. Here they are side-by-side. The part on the left flips over and covers the front. The part on the right covers the back and has a cut-out at the bottom that leaves the black strip of the original iPhone exposed. (I am not sure why it needs that hole, but there it is.) The interior is a little fuzzy to protect the iPhone from wear.

How it fits together... I could try to explain how the case fits together, but I thought it would be easier to show it in action. This isn't exactly high-quality stop-frame animation, but it should give you an idea of how the case works:

The bottom line... I recommend Core Cases. Mine is holding up well after more than a month of use. It only adds a little bulk to the phone and it seems plenty sturdy. My only complaint is that the metal can be a little slippery at times. (I haven't tried drop testing, and I don't plan to.)

The InvisibleSHIELD screen protector advertisements have always caught my eye, so I decided to give it a try on my new (to me) used iPhone. I have used ScreenGuardz screen protectors before, but I don't recommend them. They look bad (they always have bubbles) and they aren't very rugged. On the other hand, InvisibleSHIELD looks super tough and the installation process looks challenging. I figured it would be an interesting project, and I wasn't disappointed.

Zagg sells "Front Coverage" and "Full Body Coverage" varieties. I settled on front coverage because I wanted the additional shock protection of a hard-shell case. (I will review Corecases in my next post.) Besides, the installation process looks super-fussy, even more than I can stand.

Finding a deal...

The best price I could find was from the Zagg online store, using the coupon code "ZAGG20". That gave me 20% off the retail price, and shipping was only $2.99. That's a better deal than the online stores that take a dollar off the price and then make it up with a six dollar shipping and handling charge. (Its always worthwhile to check the final price; I've found that if an online store makes it hard to see the shipping and handling charges, then they are probably overcharging.)

Once I had the product in hand, I read through the instructions a couple times and waited until I had plenty of time to complete it. Installation was still tricky. The video makes it look easy, but I think their hand model was a ringer.

Getting it done (second time is the charm)...

The biggest thing I learned is that they don't give you any idea how sticky the adhesive is. I mean really sticky. Really, really sticky. The installation fluid is intended to keep that under control, so I recommend you use plenty of it. (Use as much as you think you should, then use a little more.)

The first time through things were a little too dry. I was able to apply to the screen, but it wasn't aligned well, so I pealed it off. I should have reapplied the fluid at that point, because my second attempt went poorly. Then I accidentally let the adhesive back touch the table I was working on, and it was all over. It picked up some crud and there was no way it was going to look right. (Did I mention how sticky this thing is?)

I ordered a replacement, and the second time through I used a lot more fluid and things were much more under control. I was able to get the screen aligned pretty easily.

The results...

At first, the screen is pretty tacky; it takes a day or two for the fluid to evaporate. Once it does, the InvisibleSHIELD is still not as smooth as the bare glass of the iphone, but that really isn't a problem.

I am pleased with the results. I can't say how well the InvisibleSHIELD will protect my screen because I haven't had a major incident yet. After a few weeks of normal use, the iPhone screen and the InvisibleSHIELD have remained in good shape, and the screen doesn't show any marks from riding around in my pocket.

My advice: if you decide to try the InvisibleSHIELD, take your time, use plenty of the installation fluid to keep things slick, and you should have good results. You might also want to read another review by The iPhone FAQ.