[AT] OT: Computer crash and data loss

[Phil]

Yup. You better not ignore the eleventh commandment: Thou shall make backups.
I find the simplest way to do that is by using a 
DVD recordable disc. They are pretty much 
indestructible, unless you scratch them badly or crack them.

Phil

At 04:22 PM 1/2/2014, you wrote:
>A few days before Christmas I was using my six- 
>or seven-year-old desktop computer and went to 
>open some particular file or other, but couldn't 
>get to it because the "My Documents" folder was 
>inaccessible.  The computer was otherwise 
>working fine at the time, but okay, no big deal, 
>some glitch or other, time to Restart. Upon 
>restarting, I saw some error messages about disc 
>sectors being corrupted, or something ominous 
>like that, and the computer launched the 
>CheckDisk program.  A few minutes later it was 
>done and began to start up Windows like 
>normal...but never made it.  Kept looping back 
>and forth between the initial Dell screen and 
>the Windows start screen, without ever really 
>starting Windows.  I was eventually able to 
>boot up from a utility disc I'd kept from when I 
>bought the computer years ago, but couldn't read 
>anything on the C: drive. Two weeks and two 
>visits to computer-repair places later, I'm 
>resigned to my fate:Â  The hard drive simply 
>crashed for some reason, and cannot be 
>repaired.  After some web searches and phone 
>calls, it appears that data-recovery services 
>involve big bucks:Â  Likely at least $1000, 
>perhaps $1500 or $2000 depending on the nature 
>of the problem.  I'm reluctantly concluding 
>that there isn't anything on there that's worth 
>$1000 to recover...but doggone it, after several 
>years I had a bunch of stuff that I'm not happy 
>to lose.  Financial planning documents, 
>spreadsheets, web browser bookmarks annotated 
>with password reminders, old emails I'd wanted 
>to keep, address and phone number records for 
>friends and family, photos, a whole series of 
>periodic reminders entered into a calendar 
>function, etc. The ironic part is that about a 
>week before it crashed I ran across the external 
>hard drive I'd purchased about four years ago 
>specifically for data backup purposes, but which 
>I'd quickly abandoned because its 
>automatic-backup feature was a huge memory and 
>CPU hog and bogged everything else down.  I did 
>have the presence of mind and discipline to 
>regularly back up my one most critical 
>financial-records file, using a thumb drive, but 
>everything else is just gone, out of 
>reach.  Dag nab scagaraggit anyway. So, just a 
>reminder to folks, don't forget to back up 
>anything you don't want to lose.  I'm not a big 
>fan of "cloud" backup services, but will be a 
>lot more disciplined about using that external 
>hard drive or making backup CDs or 
>something.  Meanwhile, back to the drawing 
>board... Dean Vinson Dayton, Ohio (soon to be 
>Saint Paris, Ohio!) 
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