A hard drive crashes and I'm so depressed.

[lostnfound]

Even Drivesavers couldn't save it. Wonder if they might have been able to do so if I hadn't taken it to a local place first.

A year's worth of photos and video clips of my young son - gone.
All emails I've ever sent or received -gone.

Yes, backups are simple, but the backup I thought I was doing over our network onto my son's computer apparently wasn't really a backup -- I swear I copied the pictures over in December.

I feel as if I'm constantly juggling and trying to satisfy obligations to work, family, etc., leaving me so scattered and disorganized; now I've finally dropped the ball on something that was really important to ME. My health is the other thing getting sacrificed lately.

Felt like a hard kick in the gut when Drivesavers gave me the bad news. They were really nice though. I swear they seem like grief counsellors -- prepared for the trauma on the other end of the line.

[DIKB]

1. My condolences

As digital imaging, video, etc. has become more prominent, I know I will likely face this same problem with my niece one day (no kids of my own).

It's one reason why my parents have multiple memory cards for their digital camera.

A good rule of thumb: Paper, and photos have proven to stand the test of time. HDDs have not yet done so. Might want to start burning them to disc CD, DVD, or even Blue-ray (one day you should be able to fit everything on one BR disc).

[lostnfound]

2. Thanks. Multiple memory cards are a good idea.

They are so cheap now. In fact, I was thrilled to discover that I had not yet erased the photos on 2 cards from our recent big vacation. At least I have those.

Years ago I remember spending hundreds on film developing so it's not such a bad deal to get some extra memory sticks.

I used to print out the photos regularly to keep hard copies but in the last year, not very much.

[lostnfound]

3. Lesson Learned #2: "You get what you give"

Whatever time that I spent emailing my brother and sister copies of jpgs with their nephew in the last year -- which is not much, but some -- is paying off. Two photos from the Christmas play just arrived.

[SKKY]

4. That's why I pay the 10 bucks a month for Xdrive...

...10 bucks a month gets me 50GB of on-line storage. I feel badly for you though. I would loose my mind if I lost all my pictures. Music can be downloaded/purchased again. But, pictures are priceless. For future reference, www.xdrive.com

[Orsino]

5. "...The USB cable falls to the floor." I love that song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--QBj4OyAaM

[necso]

6. If you emailed any

of the stuff to people, or posted it on the web, then this stuff may be recoverable. And picture printouts (photos) can be scanned back in. (Are you sure that the "backup" on your son's computer just isn't in a different place than you expect? Run a search.)

It's a good idea to test your hard-drives (including surface test) every once in a while to see if they have problems.

I like using two hard-drives in my computers, with all the good stuff kept on the one that isn't the system disk (it's hammered less; and I use drive-trays, so that it makes for quick, easy interchange) -- with stuff copied over from one to the other as a means of quick backup. (I also have older clone boot-drive backups.)

But I also use CDR/DVD backups (2x, verified). (And still I occasionally lose stuff because of some stupidity or the other.)

And it's a good idea to think about what you really need to backup. Email, your address book, cookies (and index), program configuration data where this is in separate, distinct files (my editor-program's user-created-dictionary is quite important to me), saved games, etc, are all things you might miss if they disappear.

...

Hang tough.

[lostnfound]

7. I never post in the lounge..

and was a little scared I'd be greeted with some folks saying "what a dope" for not backing up
Thanks for the kind words and advice to all of you.

[necso]

8. I've lost

some stuff (that I recognize losing, which recognition is another matter) fairly recently through screwing-up consolidation of backups, file truncation (how I don't know), putting-off making backups, tossing out things I shouldn't have -- and who-knows-what else.

It's a bummer, but what's gone is gone.

...

For my part, you're welcome.

[qanda]

9. I'm so sorry

I know that those are things that mean a lot to us. It is a reminder to me to do regular backups on my computers.

[Little Wing]

10. It won't do you any good for the things you lost optical/DVD is the way to go

Get a 50 pack of standard DVDs, 50 pack of slim cases, and Nero Burning Rom

http://www.nero.com/enu/index.html

and its backup system will take care of the rest. I had a scare recently, and in the past have lost the same amount of photos due to HD failure. I wouldn't even put them on an external drive. One nasty windows crash can even affect them.