Frequently Asked Questions

Backup Services

• "Do I need to buy my own disk for a data backup?"

  • We'll need somewhere to put that data. For small or specific-file backups, a USB "flash drive" is usually adequate, depending on how much storage it is capable of. Modern storage is counted in "gigabytes" (or, GB for short), and most people can back up what they need on 8GB or 16GB flash drives. If you need more than that, you can explore larger flash drives, or even "external" hard drives or solid-state drives that plug into your computer with a cable.
    
    CozyTech will happily help you determine which storage solution is right for you, and can either sell you a device, or point you in the right direction to buy one from a retail outlet of your choice. We will also never advise you to buy more storage space than you require, unless you specifically want more than you need at present.
     

• "Can you back my data up to the Cloud?"

  • Yes, but it may require a subscription on your part. CozyTech does not sell Cloud backup services. Companies like Dropbox, Google, and Microsoft (for example) own the "Cloud" servers, and only offer a little bit of storage "space" to start. Typically, you'll require more than that amount, and that's when you must subscribe for them to allot you more space. CozyTech can happily walk you through that subscription process and help you perform the backup, but understand that once your files are backed up to "the Cloud", they are the responsibility of yourself, and the Cloud service provider, and not of CozyTech.
     

• "What is a hard drive migration?"

  • "Migration" just means to move data, and it typically means moving your data from an old device to a replacement.
    
    There are a couple reasons this might be done: for example, because traditional hard drives have moving parts that wear out after 5+ years of usage, and become slower, and eventually fail. In order to keep using your computer seamlessly, you may want to have your data migrated from the old hard drive to the replacement, so that you don't have to 'start over' with your new hard drive.
    
    Another reason would be if you want to upgrade from a traditional hard drive to a "solid state drive." SSDs are much faster than traditional hard drives, and these days, they aren't as expensive as they used to be. This can be a great way to keep an old computer feeling speedy and fresh

Digital Keepsakes

• Do I need to buy a USB drive for each tape or photo album I want digitized?

  • This is not likely at all, although it depends on the count of photos / length of tapes and the size of the drive. CozyTech will digitize your tapes, get a total size, and then let you know which size drive would fit all of your new files together (and offer to sell you a drive if you don't want to shop for it yourself).
     

• Do I need to pay for digitization again if I want more than copies of the USB drive?

  • Not unless you lose the original files.

  • You only need to buy the USB drive or drives you want, to store the files, which only need to be digitized one time. CozyTech makes recommendations for backing up your new files (because flash drives sometimes go through the laundry cycle by accident!), but we think a great fact of digitization is that as long as you have one copy of the file, you can make as many copies as you want after that. So you can buy additional flash drives from CozyTech, or Walmart, or Amazon...and make as many copies to give away as you want, without paying us for further digitization services. But if you lose the originals after I hand them over, then in that case, we would need to digitize again to recover them.
     

• Can I pay CozyTech a fee to keep my digitized photos / videos in case I lose them?

  • CozyTech is currently planning an option for this, although we have nothing to announce at the time of writing (December 2024).

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Personal Cybersecurity

• Do I really need multi-factor authentication?

  • Yes, you do. Even the best passwords can still be stolen, and it doesn't have to be your fault or mine if that happens. When passwords end up out "in the wild", the only thing protecting your accounts from intrusion at that point is MFA. Then, even if someone has your password, they can't get into your accounts without also (for example) having your phone, or having your face, or your fingerprints, and so forth. I will do my best to make MFA as convenient as possible for you, but know that I will not do cybersecurity work if you refuse MFA.
     

• Do you keep any of my personal login credentials after any cybersecurity work?

  • Absolutely not. When we finish with the cybersecurity packages, all of your passwords will be randomized (unless I receive different direction from you) and added to a password manager. You will be in charge of creating the master password for that password manager, and only you will know it when I finish working. I don't want to know your login credentials, because it would put a tremendous liability on me, and it is also a violation of your individual privacy.

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