Topic: "Backup Your Reg File" ... To What? (Read 3610 times)

Alonso Nefarious · « **on:** February 16, 2002, 03:43:08 pm »

There is no really safe place for the average user to save a reg file.

That is sort of a problem.

As in all this stuff about "back up your reg file to disk" presumes that floppies are any sort of reliable storage media. They are not. As a matter of fact they tend to suck, because the floppy failure rate is very high. Sure I have 10 year old disks that I can read, blah, blah, blah, but we all know when you consign something to a floppy there is a great chance that it will not be there when you want it.

I have been thinking about this, and since I have not come up with any sort of solution that makes me happy, it bothers me.

Ways to save a reg file, and the problems therein:

Floppy: Failure rate high. Magnetic.

Hard Drive: They fail too, every x years. Magnetic. And as Windows tends to need re-installation regularly, data gets lost.

Web Based Data Storage: They disappear. Security (credit card# in reg.)

CD-R: Not bad, but... Not everybody has one. Not really 'archival' quality. I spent some time looking into CD-R's and quality and found that A) Objective quality information is non-existent, and B) The readable life of any given brand of CD-R is not known.

Prolific Storage: (AKA the KingSparta method) Make about 20 copies, scatter them hither and thither. Security, cc#.

Personally I like to be able to print my reg keys out.

-Nef

Badger · « **Reply #1 on:** February 16, 2002, 04:13:42 pm »

I've been hoping I'd lose my v6 license file so I could justify buying v8 but no such luck yet. The doggone thing keeps getting backed up every other day (along with my tax returns and other stuff I don't want to lose). I also have a copy on a CD-R. By the way, what is the shelf life of a CD-R?

JimH · « **Reply #2 on:** February 16, 2002, 04:23:58 pm »

Name a safe place to put your car keys or a safe place to leave your girl friend/spouse/partner.

Alonso Nefarious · « **Reply #3 on:** February 16, 2002, 04:39:48 pm »

JimH: That's the nice thing about car keys, they have a physical manifestation and the shelf life can be measured millennia. Also if my car keys are lost, I can call the vendor and get a copy for a reasonable price vs. replacing the car.

Badger: When I was poking around ( http://66.96.216.160/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?board=cdrwb ) I heard that some tend to croak in 1-2 years, but that some others are still good after 5 years. or less. Depends on brand, burner, dye type, burn speed etc. etc. At this point the answer is a big ol' ?

JollyJim · « **Reply #4 on:** February 17, 2002, 02:14:09 am »

Badger, JimH

I've been hoping I'd lose my spouse so I could justify buying a decent car but no such luck yet. The doggone thing keeps coming home every other day (along with her family and other stuff I want to lose). I also have a copy that I keep in a gin-bottle. By the way, what is the shelf life of a mother-in-law?

KingSparta · « **Reply #5 on:** February 17, 2002, 02:29:24 am »

Alonso Nefarious

>>I can call the vendor and get a copy for a reasonable price
I just payed $39 for a truck key, ford is crazy

as with everything car keys also go bad

Badger

>>I've been hoping I'd lose my spouse so I could justify buying a decent car but no such luck yet.
LOL

about the Many copies of the rrg file, 20 I don't have that many, come on

I do have one on each hard drive partion (

, 3 on floppy disks, 2 on a cd rom, 4 on 4 zip disks

1 in the safe and 1 in the safty deposit box at my bank

about the >>Security, cc#.
it is encoded i don't think someone wants to brake into my house and take my rrg file and set down for 10 years trying to crack it to get my credit card number when they can just point a gun at my head, they can then have my visa, master card, and my food lion VIP discount card and what ever lint they can find.

Charlemagne 8 · « **Reply #6 on:** February 17, 2002, 12:47:11 pm »

>> Name a safe place to put your car keys or a safe place to leave your girl friend/spouse/partner. <<

I'll keep them for you. Trust me.

Jolly Jim, You're a nut. Keep it up.

Doof · « **Reply #7 on:** February 17, 2002, 03:31:27 pm »

I'm really not sure what you expect from any kind of backup solution.

As you've already shown, there's no perfect backup solution. Even printing out your registration information is faulty. Who's to say that paper won't burn/be thrown away/get wet/etc?

There are levels of risk involved with any kind of backup. Businesses typically rely on backup tape stored in an off-site fire-proof safe. So if you're really worried about it, buy yourself a fire-proof safe, make multiple backup copies of your RRG file onto floppies, CDR's, ZIP disks, or backup tapes and then lock them away. Replace the media every month or so and create new backups. Then cut up the credit card you purchased MJ with and report it stolen to get a new number issued. If it's good enough for multimillion dollar corporations, then surely it's good enough for your registration key.

In the end, you have to remind yourself that it's just a media player, and it only cost you $25. It's not your Last Will & Testament.

Hvy Duty · « **Reply #8 on:** February 17, 2002, 04:01:16 pm »

I guess some people don't understand it isn't the money just the aggavation.

Charlemagne 8 · « **Reply #9 on:** February 17, 2002, 04:03:54 pm »

>> it isn't the money just the aggavation. <<

Exactly what I was thinking.

Hvy Duty · « **Reply #10 on:** February 17, 2002, 04:39:35 pm »

I'll put it in this thread too about the help or tips on MJ (easy cd 5.1 $89.00) MJ has a better burner (labeler is tough)but it is under priced for what you get if you know how to use it. I know king,doof and a whole lot of others know how to get the most out of it but the average person does't know how to do that a D/L manual with the tip"s and tricks, help would be one good selling point and if you have to add $10.00 to the price I don't think that would be a problem. Like I say what is the purpose of having all the fancy stuff if the average user don't know how to use them.

Doof · « **Reply #11 on:** February 17, 2002, 04:52:37 pm »

Okay, so it's the aggravation.

Backing up software is an issue no matter what that software is. MJ is no exception. Why is it somehow more aggravating to backup your 325 byte RRG file than it is to backup a 650 MB MS Office CD?

No matter what software you buy, there's SOMETHING that needs to be backed up. Whether's it's a floppy disk, a CD, or a registration code, you need to store a copy of that SOMEWHERE.

My company bought Print Shop Deluxe a while back. We never backed up the CD it came on (we didn't have a CD burner). One day I went to reinstall it and found that the Program CD was missing. Now what? I called the company and was told that I would need to replace the whole 10 CD program. This isn't different than most software companies out there. Backing up the media your software came on is the user's responsibility. It just so happens that MJ's "media" is a 325 byte RRG file. Personally, I'd much rather back that tiny file up than back up 10 CD's. And you say that this is aggravating?

It's just a matter of perspective, I guess.

Hvy Duty · « **Reply #12 on:** February 17, 2002, 05:07:31 pm »

Beg to differ with you doof my win me on 3 computers used it many times(Reload) just enter the product code and go, XP same thing as long as it is on the same computer, you are talking about losing the CD, but we want someone to keep it on floppy you have a good point if you lose the CD you are in trouble. I think what you said and what we are talking about is a whole different ballgame.

Scronch · « **Reply #13 on:** February 17, 2002, 05:43:20 pm »

This is silly. The life of a CD-R or even a floppy is probably longer than the life of the slip of paper you're going to write the key on. So back it up to 3 floppies and 3 CD-R's. Keep a pair near your PC, a pair in a safe deposit box, and a pair at a friend's house (or at your parents' house if you have no friends). You will be dead before all 6 of these backups fail.

Silly.

Scronch

hvyduty · « **Reply #14 on:** February 17, 2002, 06:14:59 pm »

You know it amazes me how everybody thinks we are all computer experts I bought A TI 99 back in the 80,s (fascination) got a new one hd drive the works 386 big deal and I used to d\l everything from AOL 2400 modem worried about what it costs in charges. Point I never read the fine print to this day I am still a novice my whole point you might have 100,000 experts but there is 6 million average users so I guess if you just want the 100,000 experts so be it. This is a good program I don't think anybody is knocking it most of the time it is the reg file I have so many backup's I have to store them in the basement but a lot of people don't read the fine print. Everyday I find something I can do in MJ reading this board I just hope I live long enough to get everything.

Scronch · « **Reply #15 on:** February 17, 2002, 06:23:40 pm »

OK, that point makes some sense. Complaining that the backup formats are unreliable is silly. But complaining about having to back up the registration file in the first place, that is a valid point. JRiver could implement, once they get through the MJ8 release push, a registration file recovery scheme. They could store all the registration files, and send a copy for a nominal fee, say $10. The whole thing could be automated. As for storing the credit card in the reg file, that just seems like a really bad idea, even if it's encrypted. With this approach, the customer can back up the file, or they can gamble 10 bucks that they won't ever lose it.

My stance on this issue has always been that the users are told to back up their reg file, so when they haven't and they get burned, too bad, so sad. But I agree that JRiver could look into a more customer-friendly scheme.

Scronch

Doof · « **Reply #16 on:** February 17, 2002, 07:36:33 pm »

I work with the biggest bunch of computer illiterate people you'll ever see. So I can definitely appreciate the idea that backing up a license file may be tricky.

But in all seriousness... there's only so much JRiver can do to make it easy. For instance... if a person can save a file (Word document, MS Paint picture) they should be able to backup their license.

Saving a file : File -> Save -> Pick your location.
Backing up RRG: Help -> Backup License -> Pick your location.

Except for the actual menu choices, the process is identical, right down to the number of clicks.

If you use your PC to manage your finances, checkbook, 401K, etc., you need to back that data up. If you don't, you could lose it. But if you do, you suffer the same problems that Alonso detailed above, right down to the sensitive data being exposed part. Do people view that as aggravating as well? Or do we just avoid using our PC's in that manner because of these issues?

It's just data. And it's really no different than the music that's on your PC, your libraries, your email, etc. It's all data, some of it has more sensitive data in it than others, and it all needs to be backed up.

I'm really not trying to be obtuse about this. I just don't see why it's such a big problem when MJ gives you one more tiny piece of data that needs to be dealt with the same way all of the other data on your PC needs to be dealt with.

hvyduty · « **Reply #17 on:** February 17, 2002, 07:40:22 pm »

Scronch
You are right I don't know how I got hooked into this reg deal I guess just holding up for the amateur couldn't there be a way like on the install option,comes up insert disk for your reg file like win does for the startup disk then there would be no excuse for losing it. This is for selling MJ and That was my intent How to use it (to the full extent) I talked two of my kids into buying this and they call me with questions it is embarrassing (I don't know how either) I tell them to go to interact they say dad we don't have cable well I will quit #####ing about the help and tips and tricks file believe me this would be one good selling point it would beat bummper stickers

NY4 · « **Reply #18 on:** February 18, 2002, 01:12:59 am »

how about an online thing sort of like gamespy does
when you enter in your email address for say
then MJ would automatically register the program
for you..viola no more rrg files

NYMale · « **Reply #19 on:** February 18, 2002, 01:14:22 am »

i have mine in backup about 6 times to different hard drives
being mine are on slides and i can take them in & out at will

Chico · « **Reply #20 on:** February 18, 2002, 07:59:58 am »

>how about an online thing sort of like gamespy does
>when you enter in your email address for say
>then MJ would automatically register the program
>for you..viola no more rrg files

One of the things I like about having a seperate license file is that you can put MJ on any PC you want and don't have to be connected to the internet to run MJ Plus. Actually, I wish MJ would do the same with all of their plug-ins. If a PC isn't hooked to the internet, then you can not have any plug-ins added to MJ. Would be nice to have the plug-ins downloadable as an .exe that loads when the user wants and that the user can archive it in case MJ needs to be re-installed.

Doof · « **Reply #21 on:** February 18, 2002, 08:06:44 am »

Chico> You can do that, but it takes a little bit of work.

First, right click on the link for the plugin and choose Save As, this will download an .mjp file that you can save to your hard drive. You then have to open that up in a text editor (notepad) and you'll see the URL for the actual plugin. Copy and paste that into your browser and then download that. THEN, edit the URL in the .mjp file to point to where you just saved it (it will probably work just fine to take all of the path info out, but leave just the filename portion and then just make sure that the .mjp and the actual plugin are always in the same folder). Now all you have to do is double click your new .mjp and it will automatically install.

Chico · « **Reply #22 on:** February 18, 2002, 10:52:19 am »

>You can do that, but it takes a little bit of work.

Awwww... You said the "W" word!

Thanks Doof. Does seem like a round-about way of doing it. The downloadable .exe sounds so much easier.

Chico

Callithumpian · « **Reply #23 on:** February 18, 2002, 08:21:09 pm »

Doof
Thankyou so much for your work around above as to installing plug-ins.
Method worked just fine - overcoming so far insurmountable proxy problems here in the workplace.
I had previously downloaded the .mjp, I had gotten the .zip it points to, but the .dll wouldn't register.
I begged. I pleaded.
"A method to manually register the .dll", I cried. Nothing.
"Just make the .mjp do the work for you", says doof.
Beautiful.

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: "Backup Your Reg File" ... To What? (Read 3610 times)

Alonso Nefarious

Badger

Alonso Nefarious

JollyJim

Hvy Duty

Hvy Duty

Hvy Duty

Scronch

hvyduty

Scronch

hvyduty

NY4

NYMale

Chico

Chico