I had just finished editing photos of 4 newborns babies. Right before I starting finishing up the "paper work" portion for their individual account I decided to re-boot my computer.
I hit re-start and ran to refresh my ice-water.
Upon my return, nothing.
Nothing! what? nothing??
I unplugged, took out the battery, hit the power button and NOTHING!!!
Long story short, I called my dear friends and after apologizing for interrupting their Sunday HE suggested I bring the computer to his house. (5:30 pm)
By 10:30 pm my computer was in total parts all over his kitchen table. "Sorry Claudia it's fried."
Dead.
Done.
Gone.
I first I was sad then mad and now resolved.
For months, no, years I have promised myself to purchase an external hard drive to back up my photos. (Granted it wouldn't have helped my current situation) But I wouldn't have lost 3 years of edited work.
It seems I have become the poster child of what NOT to do! Use my experience to RUN to the store and buy something for back-up. Whether it's a hard drive or burned discs or in the "cloud" back up.
Most recently here in Utah we have had devastating wildfires.
Fire fighters had to evacuate families in minutes! Dry summers such as ours this year have become ready fuel for Mother Natures storms or perhaps someones carelessness. As on lookers our hearts break and then the inevitable question comes to mind. What would you do in this situation?
What would you take if Firefighters pounded on your door telling you, you must abandon your home NOW!!
Reports have said that of course loved ones and pets would top the list with treasured photos next on the list of items that would be hurriedly fit into the car.
I had a dear photography friend in Colorado that didn't have the luxury of being home when her neighborhood was totally evacuated. Because she was at work she didn't get the chance to grab her cat or her grandmothers precious black and white photos or clients photos that she had backed up on several hard drives.
Both of these examples, mine not even remotely compared to my friends, reminds us to back up AND if there are treasures (and what photo isn't?) or your business is photography, back up and have copies in another location other than your home. Perhaps at your best friend's home across town or maybe a safe deposit box.
The word SAD doesn't begin to define the loss.
Hugs!
Please don't forget to add to our Flickr photo stream with your wonderful water photos!
10 comments:
Oh my gosh, Claudia! I am so grateful that you added those last lines! I was so upset for you azd so glad you got it back! I hope your hard drive is now purchased and installed! I back up, through Time Machine to an external WD drive. Periodically I am to take that to a second drive, but I get sloppy about it from time to time, and I always mean to keep it offsite, but forget a month at a time.I will be doing my second back up tonight!
Happy your computer buddy came back!
I am so sorry....even when we know better...we never think that it is going to be 'me'. But, I am happy that things have been recovered and you have made lemonade out of lemons. Thank you for the reminder. Loss is a powerful motivator!
Oh, Claudia, thanks for this wake-up call. I do have a back-up but I am slow to use it. I probably should consider a cloud back-up. That would definitely be a safe place.
How stressful -- good to hear your friend was able to revive your computer. My husband went through the same thing two years ago, and lost all his files -- years of work. It was a disaster! We now backup into the cloud and also use external hard drives, which reminds me I'd better do a backup right now! Thanks for the big reminder.
This is a nightmare not only for photographers but for anybody who keeps important stuff on their computers. I have maxed out one EHD, which I keep at my husband's office, and am half way through my second EHD, and it has 2Tb on it. (I do delete. Honest!!) I am seriously thinking about a cloud back up. Dell's is inadequate. I do backup once a month but if anything happened mid month, I'd be in trouble. When there are storms in the area, I disconnect my EHD. I don't completely trust surge protectors.
Glad you had somebody to help you out, Claudia, and a great reminder for us all not to be too complacent about our precious digital files!
xo
So glad it all worked out Claudia. I have my EHD on my laptop all the time and it backups daily. When I was in grad school I lost everythingggggg and swore that I would do everything in my power to not let that happen again. The photo of the fire is both frightening and beautiful at the same time. Isn't that strange? It is horrible to think of how much so many people have lost in the fires everywhere this year - and floods, etc. We never know what can happen. Great great reminder! (And I like your new "name button." :)
Thanks for the great reminder, Claudia, and I'm happy it turned out well in the end. I used to create CDs for my backup and then heard that DVDs were much more stable, so I switched to them. Then one day when I was looking for an old photo, I pulled out the DVD it was supposed to be on and . . . nothing. It was empty! So now I use an EHD (which is almost full as we speak) but my son recently pointed out that it sits not two feet from my computer and if there was a fire, they would both be destroyed. I have wanted to look into an offsite system but just keep putting it off. I think your post is just what I need to get moving on that.
So glad everything worked out in the end, but what a stressful few days to go through! Thank you for the reminder to keep everything backed up! I have an EHD and do make sure my precious photos are backed up!
I have an EHD as well, but like you said, I worry if something happened here, Wham they'd be gone! I think I was having a panic attack for you reading this!! Sooo glad it all worked out for you!!
What a nightmare! I'm glad it worked out for you!
You'd think with 2 engineers in my house we'd have all the latest and greatest technology! It took me about a year to finally get my trophy husband engineer to purchase and install a NAS drive to store stuff on. But I still think we need to store stuff away from the house! Just in case. I'm still working on that one!
xo,
Linda
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