They say we “learn from our mistakes,” but I also think we can learn from other people's mistakes. Because of this, I am going to share a story about something I recently failed to do, that could have had some frustrating consequences.
A few months ago I purchased a new lap top, with the help of the advice of some of my readers! In the process of starting it up, I somehow didn't get around to scheduling it to back up onto our Time Machine or iCloud. I thought about it at one point, but just never did it.
When I turned on my computer one morning last week, the screen was black. And stayed ... black.
I tried everything I knew to do, and couldn't get anything to appear on the screen. Fortunately, I had signed up for the Apple Care plan, so I called the Help number. After hours of attempting to diagnose and fix the problem over the phone, they finally concluded that the problem was a software issue. The solution: erase everything from my computer, and reinstall it.
"Do you have everything backed up?" The question made me wince. Fortunately, the technician who was helping me was incredibly patient. We finally found a way to retrieve the information on my computer, back it up, and then reinstall all my files and photos. I am very aware of how lucky I was!
Even though I only had a few months of information stored on this new computer, it still would have been frustrating to lose it all. For example, the only copies I had of the photos for the Red Velvet Valentine's Day Candy recipe I just published had been on my computer. My choice would have been to either not publish the post, or make a new batch of the pretzel candies and take more photos. I really didn't have enough time to make more candy, especially after the hours I had spent restoring my computer. Fortunately, I didn't have to!
I think that I have learned how important it is to back up a computer, no matter how new it is. I hope that after reading this, you will understand the importance of it as well!
Is your computer backed up?
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It's why I love CrashPlan. I also need to mirror my hard drive to my terabyte drive.
ReplyDeleteI have not heard of CrashPlan - sounds like something good to look into!
DeleteI would have had a heart attack and it is something I will be checking in the next couple of days. I'm not posting this week except for my 2 surprises at Huffington Post that I was blessed with Sunday. I'm sick and I'm stuck in bed for the rest of the week sleeping and sneaking in some reading and sharing as much as I can. It's nice to get to just sit back and read for a couple of days. I'll email you tomorrow I've missed talking to you!
ReplyDeleteOh Rena - I didn't see this till now! I hope you are feeling better!!
DeleteI'm terrible about backing up stuff on my computer - thanks for the reminder!
ReplyDeleteI was terrible too ...
Deleteafter loosing important documents in the past, i started backing up all my documents
ReplyDeleteIt is a hard lesson to learn! Sorry you lost documents - hope you were able to recreate them!
DeleteGreat reminder. It probably would be a good thing to get rid of some things on my computer but others would be a major loss. I do backup -- just not often enough! Computers are one of the most amazing (and frustrating) things ever invented. When they say it's "hard to teach an old dog new tricks", I think they mean "me"!
ReplyDeleteMost amazing and most frustrating is a perfect description!! I totally agree!!
DeleteSpent an hour since I read this looking into the Cloud. (Not as much fun as the statement may suggest. But I digress . . .) Thank you for the heads-up. I could have been sorry!
ReplyDeletePerhaps after we finally figure out the computer cloud we will need to spend an hour on our backs looking up at the real clouds!! That - or medication!
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