So I was sailing along with my Dell laptop that I’ve only had for five months. And I kept saying to myself that I was going to backup all my files, but I somehow didn’t get around to it. There was always something more important to do.
I wasn’t that worried because it was a shiny new computer. What could go wrong?
Then, two days ago, disaster struck.
I was having a pretty good day, getting a lot done, feeling very productive. All of a sudden, mid-keystroke, I was faced with the blue screen of death.
Then, nothing. I turned the computer off and tried to reboot. Nothing. Again. Nothing. After doing this about 20 more times, (isn’t the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again, hoping for a different outcome?) my heart sank.
I realized the computer was gone. Dead. Not functioning. Unusable.
My first thought was that my hard drive died and I lost everything. And that I only had myself to blame. (And I hate when I can’t blame someone else!)
After much adoo, I found out it wasn’t the hard drive. It was the memory cards, and my computer is getting fixed.
But I learned my lesson.
So here’s what I’m doing now. I’m going to backup my computer online, where it can be scheduled and I don’t have to even think about it.
I signed up with IDrive.com, because I read very good things about them, and I can get 150 gigabytes of storage for only $4.95 a month.
So, please… backup your computer early and often. Don’t make my mistake.
Tags: backup, computer, crash, hard drive, IDrive.com
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Tags: backup, computer, crash, hard drive, IDrive.com
I guess I should really do a off site back of my source code folder, this looks cheap enough!
Andy Bailey’s last blog post..Learn a Language by Osmosis
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I definately agree with the online backup. Its great. Especially for someone like me with a small business. If I ever lose my data all of my employees can get back up to date at the same time. The only thing to watch out for with cheaper online backup systems (and trust me… I did some serious research because as I said… its my business) is that some of them will only give you so much info per week or month or something. Some others only backup data in intervals and sometimes those intervals are too far apart. Its definately a great idea just really look into the company you decide to use.
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Hi,
This is great advice, and i will check it A.S.A.P
I have some problem too and I can’t allaud to
lost again.
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Great advice. I signed up with carbonite, which constantly backs up everything on my computer in the background and now I no longer worry. I’m working on a 4-year-old Vaio and I know I’m on borrowed time with it!
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hi Joan,
Nice blog! I learned the hard way about the importance of backing up my computer. I’ve had two hard drives fail over the years. The first one was painful. The second one I was prepared for. I use “Acronis True Image” software to backup to an external harddrive on a regular basis, and highly recommend it.
~ Steve (aka the Trade Show Guru)
PS. Glad to read it was your memory card and not the hard drive. Just some downtime, but no lost data. That must have been a relief…
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I think online backups are a fantastic idea. Not only is your data backed up automatically, but it is stored off-site. So your data should be safe even if you are unlucky enough to have your house burn down!
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