A warning to all our DIS friends

[MenashaCorp]

Hi all! Just hoping some of you may benefit from a lesson I've just learned about complacency. If you have photos/videos on your computer, BACK THEM UP REGULARLY. I had gotten complacent with my newest laptop, keeping all our vacation photos, Disney and otherwise, including PCC 1.0, DAP, the proposal cruise, the honeymoon etc. on my computer without backing up regularly. One power surge later...

As of Friday night, they're, well, gone. The IT guys are still trying, but it doesn't look good for recovery.

They're only pictures/videos; I still have Susan , a good job, pretty good health, so not the end of the world, but it's a blow.

So if ANY of you out there have precious memories or emails or documents in only one place,

PLEASE BACK THEM UP!!!!

I/We wouldn't want this to happen to any of you.

Jason (& Mrs Jason)

p.s. hug your family, call your parents, and eat your green vegetables too.

 

[WDWisTheBest]

Bummer. Hope that they can be restored.

 

[DisneyCrazyX5]

What is the easiest way to back up my files on my iMac.

 

[mommy2allgirls]

Oh wow, I am so sorry. I hope they are able to get them back. Good luck

 

[ADP]

So sorry to hear that Jason and that's great advice.

I always back them up under my free photobucket accounts. They are safe there if I ever need them.

 

[Claudia Kellenberger]

Although I have used a computer at work for MANY years, and I have used Web Tv at home for internet for MANY years, I have only had my own lap top computer for a short while. My computer system has already urged me to back up my files.

I didn't do it because I don't know how to do it, and I don't even know what it means.

Can someone please be kind enough to give me a short explaination of what it means, and how it is done ?

I would greatly appreciate this. Thank You.

 

[georgemoe]

I am so sorry to hear about this Jason. Good advice!

But you are Mr. Susan. You have that going for you.

 

[FireDancer]

SpinRite has worked the vast majority of the time for me. Depending on how bad the drive is it may take months but if anything short of a specialty drive rebuild (for thousand of dollars) is going to fix it SpinRite will.

 

[scarlett873]

After losing my husband in July, I've become obsessed with protecting my precious pictures/videos/etc. I would be devastated should I lose them as they are irreplaceable. I am currently in the process of doing an online back up of my computer. Friends have recommended Carbonite to me and that's what I using. Back up is taking almost a week now...but it will be worth it in the end! I would happily pay the $55 a year to ensure that my precious memories are preserved.

So sorry Mr. Susan..I hope they are able to perform a miracle and recover those pictures!!

 

[dunbarfamily]

Good advice. I hope they can recover even some of them for you.

I keep meaning to back up the laptop, but I have THOUSANDS of pictures and don't know how to even start. Guess I'm off to Google it!

Thanks again, and good luck!!

 

[dpuck1998]

Good Advice from Frank. Also, if you are willing to put out the cash and they are that important to you, don't give up hope. There are some quality restoration companies that can almost always recover your data for you, at least most of it.

 

[dpuck1998]

Sidenote, playing couch QB here, carbonite, external HD, DVD backup and I keep a HD connected to my router. All are kept up to date with photos and videos. I'm crazy about keeping backups, but I've lost photos in the past and won't touch them until they are backed up.

 

[Disney Dad Canada]

SpinRite has worked the vast majority of the time for me. Depending on how bad the drive is it may take months but if anything short of a specialty drive rebuild (for thousand of dollars) is going to fix it SpinRite will.

Another big recommendation for Spinrite. Steve Gibson, the creator of the software, is a fantastic programmer, and knows computers at the base level. Unless there is a physical defect in the hard drive, Spinrite will fix it.

As for backups, I have an HP home server that I back everything up on, or you might want to go with the online option, such as Carbonite.com

 

[ukwildcat]

What is the easiest way to back up my files on my iMac.

Get an exteranl hard drive and use the program called Time Machine that is builit into your iMAc to back up. It will do regular back ups automatically. I also recommend the online service Carbonite. I do both just in case.

 

[Sammie]

The easiest way is to put your photos on a Flash drive.

 

[bits-n-pieces]

Sorry to hear but, great reminder. This is why I love my external HD I back up every week. Saved me $200 and all my memories were still saved when computer crashed 6 months ago.

 

[rotlex]

Really sorry to here about this. I can't even imagine what I would do if I lost my 50K plus photos, and GB's of video.

I'm paranoid, and use a Mac and Aperture for photo work. My general strategy is to use Time machine to backup to an external drive, and use Apertures built in vault system, to backup to another external drive. I also keep a 3rd drive for time machine, that I keep in a fire proof box, and back up to say once a month.

I use a similar strategy for video, but also make DVD backups of all my home movies.

In today's technology age, external storage is very, very cheap. Keeping a few 1TB external drives around for peace of mind should be a priority for everyone!

 

[FireDancer]

Keep in mind that an offsite backup is also important. A local backup to an external drive is great because it handles the problem of a hard drive crash or an accidental deletion. If your house is robbed, burns to the ground, floods, or some other catastrophe there is a chance the local backup will also be lost.

As Don mentioned Carbonite is great as is buying some Amazon S3 space. If you are not comfortable trusting your sensitive information to the cloud you can either encrypt it and back it up or back the data up to a second external drive and leave it at a friend, parent, grown child, etc's house.

 

[aspen37]

First Congrats to you and Susan!!
I'm so sorry about the photos Jason. They are just photos, but it would be heartbreaking to lose those pictures and video.
I also put my pictures on CD's. I have gotten behind on this lately, so this is a good reminder for me to start doing that again.

 

[mikelan6]

Backing up now ... thanks for the reminder.