Between the vicious migraine I picked up in Los Angeles and my hot date with TurboTax, I didn’t have time to write my review of Buffalo’s CloudStor for this week. (Though I did use it while I was out of town, and my tax return is getting backed up onto it right now.) I did, however, manage to come up with some rules for the Rebit 5 CD giveaway so that my extra copies of the Rebit software don’t go to waste. (Okay, I am copying said rules from other contests I have seen. I have not had enough brain cells for much original thought lately.)

Here’s how it works. Post a link to last week’s Rebit 5 review to Twitter, Facebook, your blog, a Yahoo! group, a forum, etc. and then put a link to your link in the comments here. (Another WordPress blog should leave an automatic pingback, but come by to check anyway—I’ll need your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win.) You can also e-mail me a screenshot of your posting if it’s in a place non-members can’t link to: the e-mail address is sallie [at] fileslinger [dot] com.

As an example, here’s the link to my review on the official Rebit site:

Your link doesn’t have to be nearly as fancy, but that’s the general idea. You can (possibly you should—I’m not sure what the FTC thinks about this) say that the purpose of your post is to win a free copy of the software.

On April 22^nd, I’ll draw 2 names at random from the entrants. Once I notify the winners and get their addresses so I can send them the CDs, I’ll post the names here on the blog.

I also have two copies, still in unopened boxes, of the Rebit SaveMe software from last year, reviewed in January 2010. I’m not sure why I didn’t give these away then—probably because I was planning to install one of them on my original Rebit drive, but never got my Round Tuit out. Anyway, even though it’s not the latest version, it was perfectly functional software, and I’ll be happy to award it to the runners-up if they are interested.

Yes, a brand new holiday in honor of backup. And if you go to http://www.worldbackupday.net/ you can enter to win backup-related prizes from SpiderOak, Backblaze, MiMedia, and CrashPlan. We’ve covered some of those services here on this blog and hope to get to the others before too much time passes.

There’s a certain irony to this, because I’m a laptop-only person, so I’m not going to be building my own computer anytime soon, but last week Dave Wiebe of the Build My Home Computer site asked if he could interview me about backups. I agreed, and the resulting interview is now posted on his site. Dave also has his own page about backup.

I didn’t reveal any deep, dark, never-before-mentioned secrets in the interview, but if you’re new to this blog, you might find it useful.

And if you’ve come here because of reading that interview, welcome! Hope you stick around for a while.

Acronis kindly notified me that they’re having a back-to-school sale on Acronis True Image Home 2010. Act now and you can get it for $29.99 instead of $49.99.

I haven’t tried the home version of True Image—or not for some years—but the Ur-Guru swears by the Workstation version, which he installed on my new laptop. I haven’t had to restore from it yet, which is the real acid test, but it creates backups speedily and effectively.

PS. Nope, I have no financial relationship with Acronis, though if they were to offer me one, I might accept it.

Just announced today: Dmailer and Verbatim have joined forces to launch “A Backup Saved My Life,” a contest that invites you to submit your videos, photos, and stories in order to win a Verbatim 250GB Pocket Drive (see photo above) and a one-year subscription to Dmailer Online’s unlimited storage plan.

For complete details, read the press release and watch the video below. Submissions are due by May 22^nd.