10 days ago my 1TB external hard drive stopped working. This hard drive was running Time Machine continually making backups of all my data. I took it back to the store. They said they would send it back to the manufacturer IO DATA. IO DATA phoned a couple of days ago and said they would fix it but I would lose the data. No problems I said it’s only the backup, everything is safe on my very reliable Mac Pro computer….
This morning turn on my computer and all I get is the Apple logo and a little thinking symbol.
Call Apple support. First question…
Is all your data saved?
AGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
After an hour of trying various things. The lady on the phone says that I should reinstall Snow Leopard, but I will lose all information on the hard drive. But there is hope…..
All my data is on my second “DATA” hard disk. Only applications are on the first “APPLICATIONS” hard disk. I figured I could reinstall on the first hard disk and all I will have to do is then reinstall photoshop etc which I have the disks for. (Because I was a good consumer and actually purchased the disk from Adobe!)
Lady on the phone talks me through the stages of clicking the Erase button followed by the various warnings saying are you really sure you want to do this…..
Snow Leopard is reinstalled. Computer springs back to life.
But….
Suddenly I begin to realize the consequences of my actions….
Anything saved to the desktop was on the now spotlessly clean hard disk 1. Images and articles I was currently working on have floated into the ether. The same goes for music, music videos, podcasts, ipod applications.
I connect the ipod to the computer. It says the ipod will only sync with the original computer, would I like to erase all the files on the ipod and sync with the empty folders on my spotlessly clean hard drive. I check the apple itunes store. It says please backup all music and videos as you can only download music and videos once. If you didn’t have a backup please purchase them again.
Insert Photoshop Cs3 disk to reinstall. Computer spits is out again.
Phone Adobe Japan. No English support. Explain situation in Japanese. I am told that they no longer give free telephone support to CS3 customers.
Without CS3 I can’t edit or print. But then again the images I was currently working on have vanished.
Suddenly realize that I am happy to be still using film so at least I have a physical backup of everything. Just need to rescan the latest images. Scanner needs to be linked to photoshop. Aggghhhh.
The internet. All my bookmarks have vanished. No problem, hopefully I will remember the address of anything important.
Go to WordPress.
Vent……
Feel better now.
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 
Oh, geez. What an incredible hassle.
Hang in there!
That sounds vey Kafka-esque. Poor you. I hope it doesn’t take you too long to get back to full speed.
“I check the apple itunes store. It says please backup all music and videos as you can only download music and videos once. If you didn’t have a backup please purchase them again.”
That is why I do not ever want to use a Kindle or itunes-like store for anything important. Just the thought of losing access to my work-related textbooks has me breaking out in a cold sweat. You put DRM on your product or service then I’m not buying.
If you’d written this but the computer was a PC I’m sure plenty would be saying “get a Mac… you would never have that kind of problem” and that kind of stuff. Since the boot’s on the other foot I’m doubting many will make a similar comment.
That really sucks though and am sorry to hear it. Sums up the digital age though, and why I try to keep backup after backup of everything important to me. I’ve got multiple backups of photos & music.
If I can help you out at all, just let me know.
I think I’ve learned my lessons.
If your backup system fails, don’t wait for it to get fixed, immediately get another backup running.
As you said Dave, even Macs can fail. Backup everything.
As buying music or movies from iTunes is about the same as buying a CD or DVD from Amazon, just buy the CD or DVD then you always have the original.
Don’t buy hardware from IO Data. Cheap but unreliable.
Remember it’s just a computer, a bit of hassle to deal with, and a bit of data lost. Worse things happen at sea. Worse things are happening to a lot of people all the time.
So shut up, smile, and start rewriting “The Best of Kumamoto.”
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oh Chris, you so have the right attitude – and in general (where just about anything is concerned) you get what you pay for.
I LOVE my Drobo (http://drobo.com/) spendy, but reliable and worth it!
My wonderful loving hubby runs TWO backups – an off-site and an on-site. Bless his heart.
We also have a .mac account and that helps TONS when things within Apple programs that are kept online disappear….they’re gettable again! Saved hubby’s iPhone when he dropped it, the LCD cracked, and SoftBank gave him a NEW phone (with no numbers, calendar, ring tones, apps, etc.) – syncing doesn’t always do the trick.
I am a strong believer in realizing a situation always could have been worse, and just like you said “worse things are happening to a lot of people all the time”. As my mother says – I hope THIS is the worst thing to ever happen to you!
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Hi Chris, sorry to hear your computer woes. I have had computers go bad on me MANY times, but I now back up in umpteen different places. I don’t think I would lose too much if this one went woof either.
But then I have 4 PCs…
There are also online services you might be interested in – one I just got called “dropbox” has free 2GB (useless to you, I know) and you can pay for more – and it automatically synchs data to an online server (that is guaranteed not to lose your stuff)
There must be other services too.
Or get a PC.
(sorry, just COULDN’T help myself)
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