Who would have thought this little machine, that didn't even exist in my life until just over ten years ago, would have such control over me!
Then the Sex and the City episode where Carrie's computer died popped into my head... Everyone kept asking her if she had backed up her work... Of course, she hadn't..... Ditto for me.
All I could imagine was that everything on my hard drive was gone. All my photos (of the girls, family, our pets).. All my business related work... All my tax records... Oh my gosh, did panic set in. So today, the day after Christmas, the second busiest store day of the year, we lugged the computer tower into Best Buy and hoped for the best...
The bad news: the power supply was definitely shot.
The good news: it could be replaced and, most importantly, nothing was lost.
Lesson Learned: I coughed up $89 above and beyond the repair bill for an external hard drive and I will start backing up my files!
Hoping you all had wonderful Christmases!!!
And I'm glad some of you enjoyed my Night Before Christmas collection/obsession. I'm going to be on the lookout for the Grandma Moses version! And I agree, there are lots of cats -and dogs - in the illustrated editions I have!
Donna
So very happy that you were able to "save" your stuff after all. It is a HUGE PANIC when our beloved computers go "out".
ReplyDeleteGOD IS GOOD.
I too never even knew how to turn on a computer 6 years ago. Now I spend MOST of my day on it...and as you can see... even in the middle of the night at times,,when I can't sleep.
I have not learned to use an external drive yet either..but MUST learn before it happens to me again too.
Rose
http://delightfulclutter.blogspot.com/
There's almost nothing more scary than a dead computer! Aaaaahh!!!!
ReplyDeleteI've lost photos twice because they weren't backed up. Now I back them all up on Picasa. Hubby also bought me an external hard drive for Christmas so I need to get that going too.
So glad you didn't lose your photos Donna, along with everything else! Poor Carrie, she always has some trauma going on. Usually Big can fix anything though ; )
Oh isn't that nice!! It's amazing how $89.00 can go from a total waste of money to the best of investments in just over 24 hours!
ReplyDeleteSorry about your computer. I too was stuck and thought all my pictures were gone. I was lucky and they were saved. Then we wiped it and started over. I still think I have issues but I got it back! Glad you are up and running again! And I do LOVE your collection!!
ReplyDeleteHugs, Lisa
Oh boy, what a scary situation! I have told my husband that both of us need to purchase external hard drives this year. We don't have them and I have read too many horror stories about what can happen!
ReplyDeleteThank goodness you didn't lose anything!
xoxo
Claudia
I had a similar panic about two weeks ago, when my computer did a "hiccup" and wouldn't work. Turns out I had a DVD in the slot and when the computer work up from sleep mode, the DVD was confusing it. I back up once a month, but I'm ready to back up more often, LOL. Glad you finally broke down and got an external hard drive. Would you believe that I have 2? LOL! Yeah, I'm paranoid that one of the backups will die right when I need it! hahaha, that will get you thinking now...
ReplyDeleteWe visited last yeaar via blogland, I told you how my favorite was Cindy Szekeres, I see this year you have her books. I loved seeing your collection again, brings a smile. As for the computer I have the same worry, My daughter's friend is going to backup my photos. Visit me I have added another blog, now one with each shop. Blessings Brook
ReplyDeleteDonna, I've had Macs our entire life without many problems at all - see the computer that woman is on in your photo - BUT I have an external HD and I subscribe to Carbonite. It's worth the $50 a year to have that peace of mind because, as you say, MY LIFE is on this Mac, sugar. But be sure to back up daily. With Macs it does it automatically every hour for me. After the initial backup, there is nothing for me to do, just sit back and relax knowing I'm covered no matter what, honey. I think the external HD was a brilliant idea, but remember those can fail also. Just a word of caution from a woman who understands what you're probably going through. :-)
ReplyDeletexoxo,
Connie
As a photographer, I know the importance of backing up EVERYTHING!!!! I did however have to completely reformat my new laptop. I did a minimal reformat a 1.5 weeks ago and lappy crashed on me again. This past week I did a complete wipe. It seems to be working fine now. :-) I use this computer for checking email, blogs, and client presentations.
ReplyDeleteIf it crashes again, new harddrive...
We have SO much in common! Guess what I got for Christmas!??!?! An external hard drive...in red...to match my new cordless mouse...hubby knows me well!
ReplyDeleteOh it would be so sad to lose all the photos! I keep saying I'm going to put them all on disc but never do. Maybe that will be one of my New Year resolutions.
ReplyDeleteI still miss having all the photos like in the past where you can see them and hold them. I love that we can now delete them all if we don't like them but I miss the actual photos.
Hugs,
Joanne
Thank goodness your computer is up and running again, Donna. It's like losing an arm or a leg without it, isn't it? Amazing. Take care and have a good weekend. Sincerely, Susan from writingstraightfromtheheart.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteSo glad everything worked out and nothing was lost
ReplyDeleteI don't have mine backed up either. You keep telling yourself, I'll deal with it tomorrow. I've heard there are some good online places that back up it cheap so you don't forget it yourself. I'll have to check all the options out. Glad you didn't lose anything!
ReplyDeleteBrenda
I understand your sense of panic when the once glowy blue dot is no longer glowy. My hard drive crashed the day before Thanksgiving. Unfortuately, the drive is really dead and nothing on it can be salvaged. The bright side is that I also have a Seagate and actually did back up my most critical files the last time I worked on them. My next thought was, what if the back up goes south, too???? ;)
ReplyDeleteI have had a computer now
ReplyDeletefor 4 years just learned
blogging.
Is it hard to (BACK UP) ?
How do you do it? Is it a big deal??
Glad you didn't lose it.
Happy New Year
Yvonne