AE Follow-Up: Adhesives, Mozy.com, & Week In The Life Banner
Tags:
Today I'm following-up on a couple things I've posted about in the past year. I have waited to post about each because I really wanted to make sure that I was happy (or unhappy) about the products before posting about them again.
ADHESIVES
Since learning that Kokuyo was discontinuing the US manufacturing of my favorite dot-n-roller adhesive I have been on the lookout for, and testing out, other adhesive options.
After trying out quite a few, including the highly recommended Scotch ATG, I have been consistently happy with both the Scotch Adhesive Dot Roller ($8.99 for 49 feet) and American Crafts new This To That Adhesive Dispenser Dots ($4.95 for 32.8 feet).
After using Kokuyo for so long I really wanted to find another that uses dots (vs. tape), that was a similar size and fit in my hand (I found that I really like the smaller ones the best), and that really stuck (I like permanent adhesives). I have found that both the Scotch Adhesive Dot Roller and the This To That Adhesive Dispenser Dots are really meeting my needs. Both get big thumbs up.
And just in case you didn't know, you can still find my favorite Kokuyo adhesive (the one manufactured in Japan) online at Jet Pens ($6.67 for 52.5 feet).
ONLINE BACK-UP SERVICE
Last June I did an initial product review of online data back-up service Mozy.com for Today's Mama.
I love the idea of the product - an off-site service that can back-up my data (specifically my photos & project files) automatically. When I first posted about Mozy I was in the process of doing the initial back-up.
Not long after that post, and while that initial back-up was running, my main computer had some major issues (totally unrelated to Mozy) and died (luckily I run Time Machine on my Mac with a couple external hard-drives and lost nothing). I decided to wait a couple months to try it again since I was then in the middle of my Yesterday & Today class and I didn't want to be dealing with any computer headaches at that time (actually, I never want to deal with computer headaches).
Once I was ready to start trying it out again (about two months ago now) it was still a pain to get the initial back-up completed. More than once I thought it wasn't going to work at all. It would freeze up at the same spot for days at a time. I kept getting impatient and to be honest I was lacking in trust that it was going to work. More than once I communicated with customer service reps and didn't really feel like it was much help.
In the end what I did do was change the size of the initial backup just to see if I could get it to work at all. I de-selected some of my external files and photos and just did some of my basic contacts and such. By making the initial backup smaller it worked. I was super excited to see it work at all.
On subsequent days I selected additional files (including ones from my external hard-drive) and have not had an issue since. I set it up to do daily backups at 1:0am and it has been doing it regularly without a hitch. I currently have it backing up 232.5 GB including my address book, mail files, iCal, Designer Digitals products, a couple projects I am in-progess on, and my Aperture & iPhoto libraries.
Feeling totally satisfied with Mozy at this point. I can't speak to how it will work in the event I actually need to retrieve those files, but at least for now I am feeling good that I have another back-up in place.
WEEK IN THE LIFE BANNER
Thanks to those of you who have requested the code for the 2010 Week In The Life banner.
Here's the image source code and a link to the post announcing the dates - feel free to share it on your blog or website (the process you go through to add this to your blog/site will vary depending on what service you use - check the help area for your particular service for how-to's on adding banners):
<a href="http://aliedwards.com/2010/03/mark-your-calendar-week-in-the-life-2010.html"><img src="http://aliedwards.com/AE_WeekInTheLife2010Ad.gif"></a>
Comments
Sign in or sign up to comment.
36 comments
Hi everyone, sorry to hear about the Mozy issues, mine worked perfectly from Day 1. I am currently backing up 160GB of photos on my EHD. It seems to back up about 10 - 30 GB a day depending on how slow our connection gets. Haven't tried a retrieve yet, might just give that a little test once its all downloaded.
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Hi Ali, I am still very new to scrapbooking but a bit obsessed with all the pretty paper and embellishments. I have made a couple of mini albums and some 12x12 pages but just couldn't seem to "discover" my own style. The 12x12 canvas sometimes makes me feel a little overwhelming. However, I have decided to follow you in the Week in Life project. I am hoping to be able to handle one page divider at a time. You have been a great inspiration.
One quick question - is there a reason you prefer the dot adhesive other than the tape runner?
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Good morning, Ali. I have often noticed that your posts are very early. As I am writing this, it is 4:54 am. We are from far north Alberta, Canada. CRAZY what you do for your teenagers! My son is going on a Jr. High school ski trip, and I just got back from taking him to the bus, which leaves at 5:00. As I walked in, I happened to think of your Week in the Life project, and I'm getting excited about doing it. Thank you for your (almost) daily posts. I love when you include detailed instructions or steps of layouts or albums. Looking forward to posts related to the WITL!
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Hey Ali,
Just had to smile about the MOZY post. About a year ago my husband became the 1 millionth customer of Mozy. They came out and gave us dinner and presented him with a cruise. I recommend MOZY to everyone I know and not just because they gave us a cool prize.
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Thanks for the follow up on the adhesives------
Did you not like/try the tombo mono dot? I just know Jennifer McGuire is really giving that one a big thumbs up lately on her blog and wanted your input too? Thanks ALI!
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Ali,
I added your sidebar banner for A Week in the Life to my blog. This will be my first time participating but I'm excited. It's already shaping up to be a great week. My daughter, her husband, two of my grandbabies and my mother-in-law will be in town for most of that week so, this will be a WOW week for documenting anyways. Can't wait to hear about your approach for this years 'week in the life'. Are there any other links to ideas for this project/process?
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Ali,
I can speak from experience that Mozy does come through when your computer crashes. It was very easy to access my files that I had lost. My only complaint was that they wanted to charge me to send a CD with all of my files on it. I ended up only selecting a few files from their server that I had recently updated and that worked for me.
Kelly
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Hi Ali, I just added your "week in the life" banner to my blog....my projects fro this class are still my most favorite, ever!
http://justus-photographyanddigistuff.blogspot.com/
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
I love love love...and did I mention LOVE my Scotch ATG.
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
I am using Mozy too, and have retrieved files from it, and it worked great! It is really worthwhile to use their service. I have backed up all of my photos and scrapbook layouts, and they are on an EHD.
And no, they are not paying me for recommending them :)
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Have you tried the glue glider pro by Glue Arts? The dot adhesive is one of the best that I've used so far. You get 55 feet on the cartridge and I have an easier time using their gun verses the Scotch ATG.
I'll have to check out that Mozy site. Thanks for the info.
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Hi Ali,
We used Mozy for a couple of years but got a Mac for Christmas. When we tried to upload our files our computer got soooo slow (PS, Safari, everything). Just wondering if you have noticed any of that? We use Time Machine but would love to have a backup of my iPhoto library...
Love your blog!
Sara
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
My initial Mozy backup, which I started on Jan. 29, is still not finished. So, once you get the initial backup done, does it take forever for the daily updates to run, too?
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
I've been really happy with Mozy. I ended up winning F-secure & it is ok, but the registration id keeps on going blank & it is annoying. I think I will stick with Mozy once the F-secure runs out.
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Did you see this at: http://www.scrapbook.com/forums/showtopic.php?tid/1529423/
02-28-10 01:39 PM - Post#12392345
Remember Kokuyo adhesive? Best adhesive on the planet? It was discontinued by the manufacturer and we all cried and begged for it to come back?
Its back!!!!!
Scotch bought the American sales rights to it - so now it is back and I actually think its better (and I'm a pretty devoted user, trust me). I squealed in the booth at CHA when I saw it. Ya!!!!
So here you go:
And yes, we'll have the refills in the six packs shortly. We just rushed to get this up ASAP.
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.
Thanks for the review. I'm always looking for adhessive that works and like something smaller as well. I feel i have more control then.
I will have to try the American Crafts, I'm a MW consultant and we just started carrying this adhesive! I will have to see if I like it for myself too :) Thanks for your thoughts :)
Replies
Sign in or sign up to reply.