[Rant] Buying PC parts in Japan

If you are thinking of buying a PC in Japan, the first place that comes to your head is Akihabara. That's where I bought my first PC from. But that was a mistake. Why? Because you can buy one for much cheaper if you buy online.

Why is it cheaper?

Two simple reasons.

Firstly, you can find the cheapest prices for the items that you want to buy via websites like Kakaku. One items could be cheaper at one shop but another item could more expensive at the same shop than another shop. You cannot go to every shop and not down all the prices. However, there are shops that are not registered in Kakaku.

[Lifestyle] Ordered a Domino's Pizza via online for the first time

Yesterday when I arrived home after work, I discovered that there was a Domino's Pizza brochure in my mail box. In Japan, you get these brochures and offers almost everyday and I throw them away, most of the times even without reading. But today I read it and there was a discount of \1,000 on select pizzas. I took it home and told my wife, "Let's order a pizza tonight." I had never ordered pizza before. 

The offer was for 6 new pizzas which have a usual price of ¥2,500 for the medium sized one. They have dropped the prices of them to ¥1,500 when used with a correct coupon. The coupons were printed on the brochure. I chose the "Summer Quatro" and decided to give them a call as per the instructions printed on the brochure.

But then I noticed that if I ordered online, there was a 5% discount. It was no brainer which method to choose. I already had made an account with Domino's Japan but I had never used it (Pizzas are expensive!). I logged into their English site but couldn't find any of those 6 new pizzas. Then I went to their Japanese site and there they were. Instead of using the same website with just English translation, they had made a whole new website for English and haven't updated it. Stupid!

The revamped data backup plan – with Carbonite

With the recent upgrades to the storage setup (here and here), I have started considering backing up my important data (heck, they are all “important”) very seriously. I cannot afford to lose my photos and documents. I even am paranoid about the photos that I made several SkyDrive accounts to upload the photos takes on trips in Japan. Besides, the doom’s day is just around the corner. LOL

 

Anyways…

 

There is a commonly accepted rule when it comes to backing up your important files. It’s called the 3-2-1 rule.

 

The 3-2-1 rule

This is what the rule suggests.

• You should keep 3 copies of any important file (a primary and two backups)
• You should have the files on 2 different media types (such as hard drive and optical media), to protect against different types of hazards.
• 1 copy should be stored offsite (or at least offline.)

 

Is it feasible?

Currently, my backup plan is not ideal. It’s just built on convenience, rather than the safety of the data.

I don’t like optical media. It would need more than 250 DVDs to backup my entire hard drive (just the data that’s available now). It’s just not practical – not even close. Only solution is to use hard drives. So, I have a 2nd hard drive just for backing up the data on the main data drive, which is pretty much in sleep to reduce wear and tear (and power consumption, but that talk is for this topic).