Just a reminder!!!

[Tall Shadow]

Just a reminder…..Back your System Up now!
Back it up in SEVERAL places…not just one…..Trust me on this one!

Well, I just found out that I’ve managed to >NUKE< about 3 to 5 YEARS worth of files, pictures, bookmarks, Etc. because I didn’t follow the advise above.

I have been putting off the upgrade to XP for some time now, as my older system was working fairly well. I had finally decided to “Take the plunge” and was backing up all of my important data on the 20gig drive I >ALWAYS< use for this purpose.

Needless to say, the drive, or should I say the partition is toast.
Yes, I’ve used just about every recovery program to try to recover it…
I even blew $30 for a new one….that could “see” the partition….nope..I’m hosed!
It’s truly gone….. I can’t recover the data.

If I had followed my own advice, I would have backed up on RW/DVD or something similar, but I got lazy….Pure and simple. It was too inconvenient to take the time to do so, and now I’m paying for it.

Son-of-a-B**CH! :mad:

One of these days…..I’ll learn…..but obviously, not today.

Don’t be a bonehead like me!
Back your Crap up.

Tall Shadow

[Skinny Shooter]

I've had something similiar to that and it isn't fun.







Actually its Bush's fault!

And the bolt handles haven't fallen off of my Remingtons yet, but when they do, its Bush's fault!
:D

[Tall Shadow]

Originally posted by Skinny Shooter
I've had something similiar to that and it isn't fun.







Actually its Bush's fault!

And the bolt handles haven't fallen off of my Remingtons yet, but when they do, its Bush's fault!
:D

I was going to say it was "Global Warming", but That is Bush's fault too! ;)

Tall Shadow

[muledeer]

When I was a kid we called "Global Warming" Summer
muledeer

[Tall Shadow]

Originally posted by muledeer
When I was a kid we called "Global Warming" Summer
muledeer

:D :D LOL! ;) :D

[fabsroman]

Tall Shadow, how did you lose everything if it was just your backup drive that crashed? You should still have everything on your main drive. Me, I use two external USB drives and try to back everything up on a weekly basis. I alternate between the two drives and leave one over my parents' house in a fire proof safe, and as soon as I get my own fire proof safe I will be leaving the other one in there instead of on my desk.

Four years ago I used to back up my data to CD, but since buying these enternal USB drives, life is a lot easier. I created a file structure where all my data is in two main folders off of the C: drive, so I just copy those folders to the USB drives, and one of the folders within those folders is my "backup folder" which has back up folders for my financial software data, Outlook data, and Explorer favorites list. This way, I do not have to think too much about backing stuff up. It has become routine and I do it on Friday nights before going to sleep.

[Tall Shadow]

Well fabsroman, I am an Idiot....sometimes! ;)

44years old, married, kids....been "Into" computers since you had to build them yourself...I've worked on/in electronics since the late 70's.......

BUT!
sometimes, in my busy life, I forget one of my cardnial rules...

Thou shall not work on critical systems when thou art' tired!

I get working, and push myself a little bit (Allot) too far into the night.....and.... It bites me back for it! HARD!

WARNING LONG STORY AHEAD!

it was late. I was up W-A-Y past when I should have been in bed. I wanted to get my main system upgraded to XP.....and had backed it up on a secondary hard disk.....and nothing else.

I then wipped the "C:" drive and booted XP from the CD.
When it asked where I wanted to put the xp....I wiped Both drives partitions....I obviously didn't mean to, but I did.

As soon as I did...I realised what I had just done.....but figured that I could just recover the partition..after I had the system up and running. (Foolish mortal that I am!)

After getting the system up, and finally going to bed (2:30am..I have to get up @ 5am!) I thought that I'd be only mildly inconvenanced by this........
WRONG!

I've run everything at this thing...and finally found a program (demo) that I could use & would "See" the deleated partition......But wouldn't recover it..because it was only a demo!

After looking for many more hours, dropping posts all over the net trying to figgure out what I could do, I returned to the demo program...and went on-line and paid the $30 for the full version download...got it..ran it..and it's help file suggested running a "Heavy Scan" in order to make the chance of recovery more likely.....Set it to scan & went to bed (2:30am again!).

This morning I went back to my system to find the scan done, and the "Old" partition showing up in the program's window.
I selected it, hit the "Recover" button, and was greeted with an error window. :confused: It wanted me to deleate the partition table..:eek: I did, reselected the "old" partition again, and again hit the "Recover" button.......It sys it recovered the partition, but it can't verify it...and to reboot and check it...I reboot....XP now "Sees" the drive (It didn't before), but....

{It now says that the drive isn't formated...& that I need to format it!}

Sometimes I don't know why I get out of bed in the morning. :(

I'm off to go shoot it now. ;)

Tall Shadow

[fabsroman]

That is a rough story. I guess you learned to always keep the backup drive off the computer.

What happens if you get a virus that wipes out all the hard drives on the computer? Wouldn't do any good to have the backup attached to the comptuer at that point. That is why I only keep the backup harddrive attached to the computer long enough to backup whatever needs to be backed up. Usually a couple of hours a week. Then, it is off the computer and somewhere safe.

I cannot afford to lose all my data because it would mean a huge headache for me. I practice law and accounting from home, and about 8 years of work is kept on my computer, along with all my client data for marketing purposes. Granted, I have a PDA with the same information in it as Outlook, but I still like the fact that I have a harddrive off site with all the information in it. My townhouse has a sprinkler system throughout, but with my luck the fire would start in my office due to the computer, engulf my desk, computer, PDA, and lateral files with my client files in them, and that would be the end of me.

I truly am sorry to hear about your catastrophe. Have you thought about bringing the drive to somebody that specializes in this kind of stuff? For me, it would be worth several hundreds of dollars just to recover my personal data, and several thousands for my business data.

[Tall Shadow]

I did think about a recovery service, but the cost -vs.- the data I would be saving just is too high for me to justify.

While the data was of value to me, it was mostly data for my own personal interests.With >some< important data/documents/information thrown in..Like my bookmarks, some pictures from classic auto celebrations here in the metro Detroit area, hobby interest stuff, reference sites for work & hobbies, documentation for things I was planing on doing (Some day!), info for my hunting trip out to South Dakota next year, Etc.

It will all be missed...It took me (Literally) YEARS to gather it all together....some of it was/is irreplaceable..:(

Oh, Well....I'm already starting a new batch....What else can I do? :confused:

Take Care!
Tall Shadow

[fabsroman]

Good luck buddy, and you have the right attitude. When things get tough, you just have to fight back.

[Tall Shadow]

Originally posted by fabsroman
Good luck buddy, and you have the right attitude. When things get tough, you just have to fight back.

:D Well, I'm not one to give up without a fight! ;)

The stuff will be missed, more so as time goes on and I figure out just how much I've lost. But, a good portion of it will be found again..somewhere, and the rest will just be gone.....Oh, Well!

"Fix what you can, don't sweat the rest!" Kind of sums it up I guess.

Take Care!
Tall Shadow