Carbonite Has Hidden Drawbacks

While I’ve been using Carbonite for automated backups, it does have some hidden flaws that will take you by surprise. I only know this the hard way – I had to restore and some files were missing!

By default, Carbonite does not backup EXE files, video files or any files larger than 4 GB! Now if you are getting into the video thing like me, this could be a major drawback. Also, if you have random files that are simply too large, you are hosed. And if you save EXE files you have purchased and downloaded, you are in trouble.

Luckily, you can still manually select these for backup, but there is no way to make this the new default setting. One other way to catch these items, should you forget, is a small clear/white dot on the corner of each folder indicating that folder contains items not being backed up. Files backed up are indicated with a green dot.

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ahhNatural Keeps Spas Chlorine-Free CleanA brief update now that I’ve been using AhhNatural for several years. It continues to provide a clean hot tub without chlorine. But I would like to share some tricks and tips from experience.

Unlike traditional hot tubs which essentially chemical bomb the water, you should enter an ahhNatural tub clean. If it becomes overwhelmed with oil and bacteria, you may need to resort to chlorine to get it back to clean state. I have resorted to using chlorine on a few occasions, but only to get my water back to “normal”. When I do this, I remove the ahhNatural bag from the tub until most of the chlorine has dissipated.

ahhNatural specifies using hydrogen peroxide to shock the tub and keep it clean. I usually do this after refilling the tub. Over the course of using the tub, I use “MPS” – monopersulfate. There are a few forms of this compound on the market, which most pool supply stores will carry at least one. Essentially this uses oxygen, like peroxide, to keep the tub clean. You should experiment with various MPS brands. SpaDepot offers an MPS I have used consistently. However, I have found that when the water gets really dirty, you may eventually go through a large quantity of MPS. What I have noticed is that in large quantities, MPS will break down into some cloudy material. This may give you the impression that your water is dirty. It will eventually get filtered out, but you may need to resort to chlorine to get the tub back to normal. Too much MPS can wreak havoc with your pH too.

The biggest tip is that pH is critical. It is true that your ahhNatural water will stabilize to its preferred pH, which will likely differ greatly from the standard spa pH level. I have also lived in two areas where the water is quite different and can impact how easy it is to maintain your pH.

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