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View Full Version : The true value of your Laptop - something to think about



Lazerick
02-17-2012, 12:40 PM
I was talking to a friend the other day about insuring equipment, he asked me "what dollar amount should I put on my MAC, how much I paid for it?" I said "Well think about it this way, how many songs do you have on that MAC, 20,000+?"

That question has just gotten a lot of you thinking, there is a dollar value you must put on the actual music on the laptop because it can/will be lost if you loose the laptop, So I ask again

"What is the true value of your laptop?"

Tonitz
02-17-2012, 12:41 PM
You should be backing up your shit!!!

:argh::argh::argh:

Lazerick
02-17-2012, 12:43 PM
Yes you should back your shit up, but the value of that laptop is much higher than most people believe.

jazzyj
02-17-2012, 12:50 PM
You should back up yo shit but also I think the insurance I took from the ADJA discounted people actually insures the music too - they will reimburse me .99 per song I think? of course i have to prove that I purchased it, so keep your receipts ladies!

KLH
02-17-2012, 01:00 PM
If your livelihood depends on it, make MORE than one backup. Buy two external harddrives and make two backups. Keep one at your residence and the other at a separate location. And keep those backups fresh at LEAST once a quarter.

While it's a pain in the azz, there's nothing more infuriating than the wisdom of hindsight.

-KLH

Andrew B
02-17-2012, 01:08 PM
Your computer is worth what the hardware is worth. Software and files don't add value.

Lazerick
02-17-2012, 01:14 PM
But still, think about it, there is a monetary value on the music, so if you can, insure the music also, keep a backup, but insure the music if you can, My laptop has almost 40K songs on it, to me it is worth almost 40k, yes I do backup my music but I will not underestimate the value of the music on the laptop.

Sween
02-17-2012, 01:25 PM
The ADJA insurance (Nuccio) only covers your music library if you pay extra for it... And it is expensive. Media coverage is a separate option and is quoted based off the value.

It's stupid to pay for... nowadays there is no excuse for not backing up. You don't even need to worry about buying/storing hard drives now with secure cloud services.

So no. I still say your media is worthless in a loss, because it should be backed up elsewhere.


NOW... if you left your laptop on a bus and someone else got their hands on it for free... well then yeah, it's worth a lot to the thief! But to you it should only be worth the cost of the laptop and the aggravation of having to reinstall things.

jazzyj
02-17-2012, 01:27 PM
The ADJA insurance (Nuccio) only covers your music library if you pay extra for it... And it is expensive. Media coverage is a separate option and is quoted based off the value.

It's stupid to pay for... nowadays there is no excuse for not backing up. You don't even need to worry about buying/storing hard drives now with secure cloud services.

So no. I still say your media is worthless in a loss, because it should be backed up elsewhere.

Hmmm maybe I misread my insurance forms!!!! Damn them!! lol I probably just forgot. But yeah, I have 2 HD's which I don't use (I do take one with me to gigs as backup) which are duplicates of the one I use on the regular.

Lazerick
02-17-2012, 02:10 PM
My point was to make you think of the value, now we all know how important it is to backup your valued tunes and now you know how much you have really lost if that laptop was stolen, If you do not diligently backup your music and it is lost, replacing the tunes can/will be expensive.

bernardgregory
02-17-2012, 02:37 PM
with most pay services for music, can't you re-download what you've previously purchased for free?

Lazerick
02-17-2012, 02:42 PM
with most pay services for music, can't you re-download what you've previously purchased for free?

I think there is a time limit, I know shit I bought off beatport 4 years ago I cannot re-download

Will MaXimal
02-17-2012, 02:44 PM
Value of laptop = 2200 dollars.
Value of files on laptop = around the same.

Sween
02-17-2012, 03:10 PM
My laptop has 37000 tracks on it. About 5000 of which are videos. None pirated. My laptop would be less valuable if it was solid gold...

Andrew B
02-17-2012, 03:10 PM
I think there is a time limit, I know shit I bought off beatport 4 years ago I cannot re-download

You just have to e-mail them.

fat8ack
02-17-2012, 03:28 PM
Back that shit up I have lost 2TB of music the past year and that is an absurd amount of money. I have a double back up now. And am paying 300USD to have all my pictures and other things recovered.

(note): lost the externals due to noobieness and being too rough like a dumb noob.

uncut69
02-17-2012, 03:30 PM
I would value my laptop at whatever I could sell it for. The songs may have a lot of personal value, but of course they can be backed up and the bottom line is "value" is largely based on what someone is willing to pay for it. And most people aren't going to pay for music they haven't selected personally

tubby
02-17-2012, 10:08 PM
even if you can re-download the files, you've also got all the oragnisation you've put into it. For the value any insurance will cost you should have at least two backups for it. One that you update regularly with any changes that yuo keep in the house and another one that you do less often and take out of the house. $200 worth of hard drives is much better value than $200 on insurance, and even then they probably wouldn't cover digital files

DJ Matt
02-17-2012, 10:23 PM
i read this thread on the way to a gig and got real paranoid about my laptop LOL cos i havent backed it up in a while

what would kill me is not only losing the music but also the time spent organizing it

Sigma
02-17-2012, 10:37 PM
If you're a Windows user, this is a really good free tool for backing stuff up locally: -

http://www.educ.umu.se/~cobian/cobianbackup.htm

I used it to make a full backup of my root music folder first, so all of my music (at that time) was backed up, then I created a task to do an incremental backup once a week. The incremental backup only backs up files that have been added or changed since the full backup was created, so it doesn't take long at all to run unless you're buying thousands of songs every week. As it's all automated, you don't even have to think about it other than making sure your external hard drive (if that's what you're using) is plugged in ready for when the backup service runs.

fueledbymusic
02-18-2012, 12:11 AM
Your "playing" with your life if the files are not backed. Can anyone imagine what it would be like for you if all of that music gets losed. Imagine the time (if not cost) it would take to recover?

DjZzeless
02-18-2012, 12:17 AM
I paid $600 for a used mbp, all I have is Serato installed with some music, I have that backed up, along with an external, and thats backed up 3 times........

fueledbymusic
02-18-2012, 12:32 AM
I paid $600 for a used mbp, all I have is Serato installed with some music, I have that backed up, along with an external, and thats backed up 3 times........ Thats what I do too. Backed my music/ files 3 times too. One on my laptop, one on my desktop and the other on an external harddrive located elsewhere of my house.

moyo wilde
02-18-2012, 12:48 AM
i have a similar situation. my hard drive crashed. i know back up. sad thing is i was doing some cleaning and rearranging and it was late. i stopped and the next morning my ext hard drive failed lost at least 20 or more gigs of paid for music and that doesn't count the things i had edited.

unfortunately the guarrantee doesn't not cover the files they would have fixed it, but they would have cleared away the memory. it would cost $500+ to try to recover the files. still haven't done it. the value of the files is more than the value of the hard drive.

DJ Matt
02-18-2012, 05:54 AM
i use goodsync to sync my files to an external drive

by the way whats a good service for remote backup to the internet? because i have lost an external drive before after it fell in the floor

also internet backup would be great for travelling, incase your stuff got robbed

silentsounds
02-18-2012, 08:26 AM
If you're a Windows user, this is a really good free tool for backing stuff up locally: -

http://www.educ.umu.se/~cobian/cobianbackup.htm

I used it to make a full backup of my root music folder first, so all of my music (at that time) was backed up, then I created a task to do an incremental backup once a week. The incremental backup only backs up files that have been added or changed since the full backup was created, so it doesn't take long at all to run unless you're buying thousands of songs every week. As it's all automated, you don't even have to think about it other than making sure your external hard drive (if that's what you're using) is plugged in ready for when the backup service runs.


Is this very different from Windows' Backup and Restore?

The descriptions on that website seem about the same. I use the Windows Backup as I have two hard drives in my laptop. It performs a daily, incremental backup at around 9PM when I know my laptop will be on. The only downside with the Windows' version is that I can't seem to figure out how to schedule multiple backups. I'm guessing W7 Home Premium just doesn't allow it.