Overthinking

Ah, overthinking.

I do that a lot.

Consider this business about backup applications. And encryption.

Backup application:

I received my Kingston DataTraveler 2 the other day (and still await my Lexar flash drive). I am now ready to research a nice little backup program, so I peruse them, find myself unexcited about any, then think:

"Well, hey, doesn't my HP have its already-built-in backup deal? Am I, like Dorothy of Oz, looking for something that is already in my own backyard?"  

I look, and sure enough, I've already got a serviceable backup program. It was there all the time, right in front of my face, like the proverbial Nice Guy the girls ignore. Is it as flashy and friendly as I'd like? No, but it'll fit my current needs.

Thus, I conduct my first external-drive backup.

Encryption:

Ah, but my precious data are not password-protected or encrypted.

But I'd already come upon the app for that - TrueCrypt. I read the beginner's tutorial. I felt immediately attracted by references to one's adversary.  And the potential need for plausible deniability, which enabled the virtual equivalent of a false-bottomed attache. And the need to mount and dismount volumes. Who wouldn't want TrueCrypt?  It gives one shivers.


Yet here again, my Nice Guy already had a perfectly serviceable encryption and password-protection application.  So I deployed it.

All rather boring, but useful.