Join Now
Join ePHOTOzine, the friendliest photography community.
Upload photos, chat with photographers, win prizes and much more for free!
Just got the verdict from the computer shop that my external hard drive is well and truly f****d. Was chock- full of important data - photos, over 4500 MP3's, emails, all the music I wrote, software that I downloaded (paid for) via the net, and loads more things that I am sure I will remember (and cry about) in the coming days. And it's all gone. The disk does not rotate anymore. Luckily I have copies of my photos on my desktop PC, but the rest is gone for good.
So, I guess what I am trying to say is - drop what you are doing right now, and go and backup EVERYTHING you need to disk. Do it before it happens to you. I wouldn't want anyone to suffer the same as me. The silly thing is that I changed my PC so I copied all the old stuff over to the external drive, but never copied it back to my new PC, except my photos. Dumb I know, but you never think it will happen.
If anyone knows of a cheap company that can recover data, I would also appreciate that. But all I hear is very scary prices for disk recovery.
So, go and backup your stuff TODAY. It does happen.
so sorry to hear it. you're right! i've been procrastinating, i should do it today!!
Sorry to hear that, the same happened to me last year, after we had a thunder storm during the night the next day I went to turn on my computer and it did not work no did half of the stuff in that socket, I lost everything and every digital picture I had taken up to that point.
I learnt my lesson and now back up my stuff to external hardrives.
Chris
can get u the name of reputable data recovery company if u still need it but average cost is around.......
r u sitting comfortably.........
£800.00ish
they take your disk apart and rebuild it in another case
oooooh and of course there are no guarantees
best of luck
trev
Thanks Trev. I heard the same. They have to take the disk out in a vaccuum area with no dust or other nasties floating around, and as you say, put it back in another casing. And I also heard that there is no gaurantee. Bugger. All the music I wrote has gone. I suppose I can contact the various companies I bought the software from, and they should let me download the software again and give me a licence key, but the data that has been lost is enough to make me slap myself for not backing up. Dont ya just love technology ? I wonder what a realistic life-expectancy for a digital photo is, given such unreliable disks - both internal/external computer disks and CD/DVD media.
Chris - This was an external drive that crashed, so I would make CD/DVD copies too if I were you. The guy in the shop said that it is caused by constant turning on and off, and eventually something gives. Mine was only 4 years old, so I expected a good few more years out of it yet. Just shows.
Been there. Fortunately I managed to recover most of the data but it was very scary. Apart from personal stuff I would have lost a lot of business stuff. (thousands of hours of CAD drawings)
I now have three disks (two internal and one external) which auto backs up daily or any other time by double clicking an icon on my desktop. (using Genie Backup Manager - brilliant litttle programme) It takes about a minute to update data onto both disks. I also run Trueimage once a week.
I recovered my disk with a prog called 'Recover it all professional' - which cost about $99.00 online. Initially the disk would not run. I bought another disk of the same make and switched the printed circuit board over. This got it going but it would not run normally because some of the data was corrupted. Presumably due to the shorting out which caused the original problem. After having no luck with several programmes I came across RIA which got about 98% back.
I've had a certain limited success with rescuing data (luckily, never been my own!).
Defo worth taking it to an enthusiast's shop as it could be just needing a prod to get spinning or, as John has done, a swap of the board
Quote: If you don't back it up, you're retarded. Simple.
Not everyone has the facilities, computer know how or the right kit to make back ups, so calling someone a retard seems a little un-necessary.
It's true though if you have sensitive data that's valuable, be it financial, personal or sentimental, back-ups are indeed a necessary evil. I have an external HD myself, but I still back everything up to 2 DVD's just in case. Why two? Just in case I get a corrupted DVD, it's happened before and I lost everything, be it only 4.7Gb worth.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, not something you wish to hear right now I'm sure Simpick. But it's worthwhile pointing out to other members who are not so computer savvy the reasons why others back up the way they do I'm sure.
Ade
Okay, having established above that I am probably a retard, please could some kind soul suggest a good method of backing up my data. I am not talking about buying external hardrives for the moment, so please advise accordingly.
Technical jargon will go straight over my head with an impressive Whooooooossshh! as I am not an IT expert.
Many thanks!
Nick
EDIT - just missed Ade's post - well said fella!!!
Add a Comment
ePHOTOzine, the web's friendliest photography community.
Upload photos, chat with photographers, win prizes and much more.
Related Content
Join Our Free Newsletter
Awards
Current Competitions
Olympus 'Portraiture' Competition - Win £1000 Worth Of Gear!
30th April 2013 - 31st May 2013
This month, to celebrate the launch of Olympus' new micro site Olympus Image Space, Olympus are giving you the chance to win £1000 worth of Olympus gear!...
Featured e2 Photo
May's Photo Month
Check out ePHOTOzine's inspirational photo month calendar! Each day click on a window to unveil new photography tips, treats and techniques.
