Is ThePhotoStick a Scam? (Nope! But…) - Krazy Ken’s Tech Talk

It's time for a new scam-buster! Feel free to binge all of the episodes here: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFWeyvvxf1riKzQK3dHt6c9… 🔔Subscribe and stat tuned because I have another great episode coming in 2 weeks about the Lytro camera! Remember that? Maybe not…? It's gonna be fun ;

Ken, the backup took longer than 113 minutes to complete as it started on Friday and finished on a Monday

For data protection, remember the "3-2-1" guideline: Keep three copies of your files in two separate storage formats, with at least one copy at an offsite location.

It’s a great day when Ken uploads another scam episode

Most cloud services don't guarantee that your data wont get lost and also have a paragraph saying they can revoke access at any time without stating a reason. Some of the services even scan your files. Don't just rely on cloud backups if you have something important. If it's too convenient, there is probably a catch.

I'd...argue both. I've had some bad glitches with cloud services where a file vanished out of nowhere and made me lose a lot of work on a document. Always do both. In the world of backup it is not a question of cloud or physical, do both. In many realms of IT the notion of using ONLY cloud for backup would be mocked.

Sixty bucks for 32 gig of USB 2 storage? They're having a laugh! Six months ago I bought a 256 gig USB 3 flash drive for £18 ($23), and backup software can be had for free.

I suspect that USB stick is somehow corrupting the file table when you unplug the stick. It might be open while the app is running so when you unplug it gets corrupted. I'm slightly handwaving here but I suspect it's something like that.

Don't forget cloud based storage could be hacked as well. If you remember a few years ago, many celebrities iCloud storage was hacked and many pictures got leaked.

Rhonda: I was able to finally find those photographs, but the feelings that I had was horrible. Me: What were these photographs? Porn? Gore? Falling out with someone? Death?

My biggest issue with this product (I did buy one) is that the drive they use is USB 2….. Which is fine until you have to backup more than a couple of gigabytes of data.

I'm fairly sure there's some regular ole USB drives that come with photo back up software in them already. I got one from one of the normal name brand UBS drive providers (Sandisc for this one specific) that has two ports, one regular square computer-end USB and one USB C shaped. The idea was one end was for your phone, the other for your computer so you could easily transfer files between them. Got it I think 2 or 3 years ago for I think like... $15-$20 bucks and it's worked just fine. The software is on the stick directly so you don't need to bother with the app store. It's android instead of iOS which likely makes it run a bit smoother. Basically, this is a product that already has existed in a better, more stable form for a while.

10:32: "For Gits and Shiggles" HA, love those types of anagrams. That one is defiantly up there with Fuster Cluck and I look forward to using it one day.

That stick looks exactly like those free flash drives they give out at convention sign in... I had two dated back to 2017, one had failed.

I love your channel because some of these scams I could’ve fallen for without you 😅 Thanks

New to your channel. Most backup experts recommend 3-2-1 Backup Strategy. Three copies of data, original plus two backups. Two physical backups over different media. One backup must copy be remote.

1. time machine will work with any hard drive so no need for the $300 apple time capsule a 2tb seagate usb drive from staples for $79 will work. 2. most macs since i think osx 10.4 supports time machine.

11:40 Although I can't 100% be sure this is the issue; one of the feature updates to Windows 10 introduced a change to USB mass storage: Safe Removal Mode. AFAIK, this is now the default, but speeds are slower, and as it is tracking open/modified files in real time, that could explain the variations. If you go into the device's properties > Policies tab, you can change this to Better Performace mode, which, as stated, will result in faster transfers and more consistency when you have a lot of small files. This was how Windows used to operate, back when you HAD to use the Safely Remove Hardware option to eject, and the drive bloody took forever to eject.

I just know this could be hilarious. Keep it up Ken, you’re really in for some more scam stuff.

16:45 Don't use "the Cloud" for your Private Data. There are many Storys where either someones account got hacked and their data was published/sold or the company's lock your account because of some guideline violation. A Backup as an encrypted drive (SSD or HDD) would be better