The new HP I bought my daughter for Christmas, and my old IBM Thinkpad. Hardware problem in the HP and software problem on the Thinkpad. I was using the HP for backup. I had my important data files (financial records, etc) also backed up to a CDRW, but I just realized I didn't have another backup of my RECIPES folder. :-( I thought I had one more backup copy at work, but I just checked and it's gone -- I must have deleted it a few weeks ago. It's only about 70 or 80 recipes, but they were all good ones that I've tested.
I can recover a lot of the recipes because I've posted them here or in r.f.r. I sure hope HP doesn't wipe the hard drive when they repair the system (it acts like a bad power supply, so there should be no need to replace the HDD or the operating system.)
The new HP I bought my daughter for Christmas, and my old IBM Thinkpad. Hardware problem in the HP and software problem on the Thinkpad. I was using the HP for backup. I had my important data files (financial records, etc) also backed up to a CDRW, but I just realized I didn't have another backup of my RECIPES folder. :-( I thought I had one more backup copy at work, but I just checked and it's gone -- I must have deleted it a few weeks ago. It's only about 70 or 80 recipes, but they were all good ones that I've tested.
I can recover a lot of the recipes because I've posted them here or in r.f.r. I sure hope HP doesn't wipe the hard drive when they repair the system (it acts like a bad power supply, so there should be no need to replace the HDD or the operating system.)
Thanks for listening, Bob
You should be storing all files on a removable... in duplicate for those important files you really need to keep and stored in a shielded container. Nothing should be stored on the PC hard drive.
---= BOYCOTT FRANCE (belgium) GERMANY--SPAIN =--- ---= Move UNITED NATIONS To Paris =--- ********* "Life would be devoid of all meaning were it without tribulation." Sheldon ````````````
The new HP I bought my daughter for Christmas, and my old IBM Thinkpad. Hardware problem in the HP and software problem on the Thinkpad. I was using the HP for backup. I had my important data files (financial records, etc) also backed up to a CDRW, but I just realized I didn't have another backup of my RECIPES folder. :-( I thought I had one more backup copy at work, but I just checked and it's gone -- I must have deleted it a few weeks ago. It's only about 70 or 80 recipes, but they were all good ones that I've tested.
I can recover a lot of the recipes because I've posted them here or in r.f.r. I sure hope HP doesn't wipe the hard drive when they repair the system (it acts like a bad power supply, so there should be no need to replace the HDD or the operating system.)
Thanks for listening, Bob
You should be storing all files on a removable... in duplicate for those important files you really need to keep and stored in a shielded container. Nothing should be stored on the PC hard drive.
I agree with you; I just didn't realize my recipes folder was in that catagory until I might have lost them. I thought a backup copy on a relatively new different computer was good enough. Luckily I had a 3rd (and 4th) copy of my financial files on removable media.
I recently bought a cute little 2.5" harddrive enclosure for a spare laptop HDD I had. ($20 from Tigerdirect.com) It kind of looks like an aluminum cigarette case but it's only about 1/2" thick; connects thru and is powered by a USB cable. That may be where my primary copy of important stuff lives from now on.
"zxcvbob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
The new HP I bought my daughter for Christmas, and my old IBM Thinkpad. Hardware problem in the HP and software problem on the Thinkpad. I was using the HP for backup. I had my important data files (financial records, etc) also backed up to a CDRW, but I just realized I didn't have another backup of my RECIPES folder. :-( I thought I had one more backup copy at work, but I just checked and it's gone -- I must have deleted it a few weeks ago. It's only about 70 or 80 recipes, but they were all good ones that I've tested.
I can recover a lot of the recipes because I've posted them here or in r.f.r. I sure hope HP doesn't wipe the hard drive when they repair the system (it acts like a bad power supply, so there should be no need to replace the HDD or the operating system.)
Thanks for listening, Bob
You will probably be okay, but I have seen cases where the power supply went bad and took other components down with it, including hard drives. That's one downside of using something like a usb drive as your only backup -- a bad power problem could destroy all connected devices. For stuff that's really important, I'd still keep a CD backup and use the spare hard drive as a current backup. Just occasionally update the CD backup so that if, by chance, the hard drive dies you've still got something to fall back upon. It may sound like paranoid overkill, but I've seen people kill both their machines and their backups -- or kill their machines and find out that their backup didn't work.
I agree with you; I just didn't realize my recipes folder was in that catagory until I might have lost them. I thought a backup copy on a relatively new different computer was good enough. Luckily I had a 3rd (and 4th) copy of my financial files on removable media.
Quoted message said:
I recently bought a cute little 2.5" harddrive enclosure for a spare laptop HDD I had. ($20 from Tigerdirect.com) It kind of looks like an aluminum cigarette case but it's only about 1/2" thick; connects thru and is powered by a USB cable. That may be where my primary copy of important stuff lives from now on.
An external hard drive is an excellent medium for storing backup copies of data. Being as though I work in the computer industry and a significant part of my job each day is backing up several terabytes worth of data each night, I can assure you that its not a question of if people will lose their data, but when they will lose it. All hard drives fail.
You will probably be okay, but I have seen cases where the power supply
went
Quoted message said:
bad and took other components down with it, including hard drives. That's one downside of using something like a usb drive as your only backup -- a bad power problem could destroy all connected devices. For stuff that's really important, I'd still keep a CD backup and use the spare hard drive
as
Quoted message said:
a current backup. Just occasionally update the CD backup so that if, by chance, the hard drive dies you've still got something to fall back upon. It may sound like paranoid overkill, but I've seen people kill both their machines and their backups -- or kill their machines and find out that
their
Quoted message said:
backup didn't work.
Regards, Matt
The climate where I live destroys a CD within a matter of months if the CD is not in a case and the case is not stored in some sort of cabinet. I am a computer tech by trade so I know the risks, but I prefer storing data on a hard drive. Every couple of years I buy a new drive and transfer the data. Yeah, it takes a while to do it and it's a pain in the butt, but it's much better than having your C:\ drive wiped clean by the Road Runner "techs" (literally JUST happened to me on Thursday) and trying to load things back on the drive with corrupted CD's. Thank God my important data was stored on a Hard Drive. I just piggy-backed it to my C:\ drive and loaded the data I needed. Whew!
The climate where I live destroys a CD within a matter of months if the CD is not in a case and the case is not stored in some sort of cabinet.
<snip>
Quoted message said:
kili
Ouch! What's the problem where you live? Temperature? Moisture? I ask cause I was sort of hoping that CDs were the perfect medium for archiving data etc (for my laboratory). So I'm not safe after all?
What is the safest way to save data?
Dave W.
-- Living in the Ozarks. For email, dot edu will do!
You will probably be okay, but I have seen cases where the power supply went bad and took other components down with it, including hard drives. That's one downside of using something like a usb drive as your only backup -- a bad power problem could destroy all connected devices.
I would not keep the backup plugged in, I would only plug it in when I was using it. Can you tell I had a lightning strike near my house a few years ago? Bye bye vcrs, tvs, phones, melted phone lines, blah blah blah. Expensive little lesson that actually almost cost me my life, too. Now I have whole house protection on the electrical system, but the phone one was not working out, so if we have electrical storms in the area, I will usually disconnect my phone and modem.
You will probably be okay, but I have seen cases where the power supply went bad and took other components down with it, including hard drives. That's one downside of using something like a usb drive as your only backup -- a bad power problem could destroy all connected devices.
I would not keep the backup plugged in, I would only plug it in when I was using it. Can you tell I had a lightning strike near my house a few years ago? Bye bye vcrs, tvs, phones, melted phone lines, blah blah blah. Expensive little lesson that actually almost cost me my life, too. Now I have whole house protection on the electrical system, but the phone one was not working out, so if we have electrical storms in the area, I will usually disconnect my phone and modem.
nancy
I had a TV and a phone get fried by electrical storms and neither one was in use at the time. But they were plugged in. The TV went ZAP and gee, wouldn't turn on anymore. The phone just sort of fizzled and wouldn't do anything after that. Thankfully, my PCs are on UPS systems so nothing ever happened to them.
I had a MIL who used to call me on the phone whenever we had bad weather to ask if I knew we had bad weather LOL I kept telling her, *stop calling me during a storm!* She couldn't figure it out. Lady, don't you get it? It's like flying a kite in a storm with a key attached. Ben Franklin we ain't.
"Dave W." <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
In article <[email hidden]>,
kilikini said:
The climate where I live destroys a CD within a matter of months if the
CD
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
is not in a case and the case is not stored in some sort of cabinet.
<snip>
Quoted message said:
kili
Ouch! What's the problem where you live? Temperature? Moisture? I ask cause I was sort of hoping that CDs were the perfect medium for archiving data etc (for my laboratory). So I'm not safe after all?
What is the safest way to save data?
Dave W.
-- Living in the Ozarks. For email, dot edu will do!
Dave,
I live in Hawaii. There is so much humidity here that the shiny, coated top side on the CD starts to corrode and peel off, and it doesn't take long to do it, either! That coating works almost like a mirror, so when it peels off, your data can't be read even tho it appears to still be there on the disk (if that makes any sense at all). Disks from a factory with a painted coating work for longer periods of time, but you still get tiny greenish spots on the data side of the CD that you can see thru when you hold the CD up in the sunlight. (I wish I could post a pic to show you!)
The problem is so extreme that I can't buy a 100 pack of CD's because I can't use them fast enough before they get corrupted at the bottom. CD's work well for people in temperate climates, but here in Hawaii I prefer to back data up on a regular basis with an extra hard drive well knowing that there are two kinds of hard drives; those that have crashed and those that haven't crashed - yet.
"Dave W." <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:dwesten- [email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
In article <[email hidden]>,
kilikini said:
The climate where I live destroys a CD within a matter of months
if the
Quoted message said:
CD
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
is not in a case and the case is not stored in some sort of
cabinet.
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
<snip>
Quoted message said:
kili
Ouch! What's the problem where you live? Temperature? Moisture? I
ask
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
cause I was sort of hoping that CDs were the perfect medium for archiving data etc (for my laboratory). So I'm not safe after all?
What is the safest way to save data?
Dave W.
-- Living in the Ozarks. For email, dot edu will do!
Dave,
I live in Hawaii. There is so much humidity here that the shiny,
coated top
Quoted message said:
side on the CD starts to corrode and peel off, and it doesn't take
long to
Quoted message said:
do it, either! That coating works almost like a mirror, so when it
peels
Quoted message said:
off, your data can't be read even tho it appears to still be there on
the
Quoted message said:
disk (if that makes any sense at all). Disks from a factory with a
painted
Quoted message said:
coating work for longer periods of time, but you still get tiny
greenish
Quoted message said:
spots on the data side of the CD that you can see thru when you hold
the CD
Quoted message said:
up in the sunlight. (I wish I could post a pic to show you!)
The problem is so extreme that I can't buy a 100 pack of CD's because
I
Quoted message said:
can't use them fast enough before they get corrupted at the bottom.
CD's
Quoted message said:
work well for people in temperate climates, but here in Hawaii I
prefer to
Quoted message said:
back data up on a regular basis with an extra hard drive well knowing
that
Quoted message said:
there are two kinds of hard drives; those that have crashed and those
that
Quoted message said:
haven't crashed - yet.
kili
Living in the rainforest above Kona, I store my CDs in an airtight Tupperware container and I have had no trouble. But I am not a computer geek at all <g>. Do you think it matters what kind of CDs you use? My 100 which I bought several years ago from COSTCO are "data CD.R for computer writers". TIA Thunder smithfarms.comsmithfarms.comOpen ↗ Farmers & Sellers of 100% Kona Coffee & other Great Stuff
"smithfarms pure kona" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
kilikini said:
"Dave W." <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:dwesten- [email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
In article <[email hidden]>, "kilikini" <[email hidden]> wrote:
Living in the rainforest above Kona, I store my CDs in an airtight Tupperware container and I have had no trouble. But I am not a computer geek at all <g>. Do you think it matters what kind of CDs you use? My 100 which I bought several years ago from COSTCO are "data CD.R for computer writers". TIA Thunder smithfarms.comsmithfarms.comOpen ↗ Farmers & Sellers of 100% Kona Coffee & other Great Stuff
You know, I never thought of a tupperware container, but I'd need one hell of a large one! Why didn't I ever think of that????????????? (slapping forehead) DUH!
zxcvbob <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...
Quoted message said:
The new HP I bought my daughter for Christmas, and my old IBM Thinkpad. Hardware problem in the HP and software problem on the Thinkpad. I was using the HP for backup. I had my important data files (financial records, etc) also backed up to a CDRW, but I just realized I didn't have another backup of my RECIPES folder. :-( I thought I had one more backup copy at work, but I just checked and it's gone -- I must have deleted it a few weeks ago. It's only about 70 or 80 recipes, but they were all good ones that I've tested.
I can recover a lot of the recipes because I've posted them here or in r.f.r. I sure hope HP doesn't wipe the hard drive when they repair the system (it acts like a bad power supply, so there should be no need to replace the HDD or the operating system.)
Thanks for listening, Bob
That's awful, Bob! Back when the backup method of choice was tape, I lost a drive and the backup tape was no good. I had a few things on ZipDrive disks, but lost everything else. I sympathize.
Thankfully, my PCs are on UPS systems so nothing ever happened to them.
I had a computer on a surge protector. Lightning killed the surge protector *and* half the components in the computer. That was an exceuse for an upgrade :-) Even though the lightning hit the lightning rod on the apartment it still had enough juice to fry electronics *and* one of the taller trees nearby.
Anyway, I bought two APC UPS and several APC surge protectors after that. One of the best $200 I ever spent. Every UPS and surge protector has been hit by lightning (once) and surges (many times) with no ill effect. APC is more expensive but you get what you pay for.
Quoted message said:
I kept telling her, *stop calling me during a storm!*
Living in the rainforest above Kona, I store my CDs in an airtight Tupperware container and I have had no trouble. But I am not a computer geek at all <g>. Do you think it matters what kind of CDs you use? My 100 which I bought several years ago from COSTCO are "data CD.R for computer writers". TIA
The new HP I bought my daughter for Christmas, and my old IBM Thinkpad. Hardware problem in the HP and software problem on the Thinkpad. I was using the HP for backup. I had my important data files (financial records, etc) also backed up to a CDRW, but I just realized I didn't have another backup of my RECIPES folder. :-( I thought I had one more backup copy at work, but I just checked and it's gone -- I must have deleted it a few weeks ago. It's only about 70 or 80 recipes, but they were all good ones that I've tested.
I can recover a lot of the recipes because I've posted them here or in r.f.r. I sure hope HP doesn't wipe the hard drive when they repair the system (it acts like a bad power supply, so there should be no need to replace the HDD or the operating system.)
There are ways to recover your files if you're willing to shell out the bucks for it.
The base station for the phone can certainly be damaged by a lightning strike or heavy current surge.
It was eerie, when lightning melted my telephone wires and burned out a bunch of other stuff, my phone rang really loud and died. Almost like a last gasp. Like, BANG! (thunder) Flash (lightning) and RING! Had to peel me off the ceiling.
"Dave W." <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:dwesten- [email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
In article <[email hidden]>, "kilikini" <[email hidden]> wrote:
<snip>
Quoted message said:
Dave,
I live in Hawaii. There is so much humidity here that the shiny, coated top side on the CD starts to corrode and peel off, and it doesn't take long to do it, either! That coating works almost like a mirror, so when it peels off, your data can't be read even tho it appears to still be there on the disk (if that makes any sense at all). Disks from a factory with a painted coating work for longer periods of time, but you still get tiny greenish spots on the data side of the CD that you can see thru when you hold the CD up in the sunlight. (I wish I could post a pic to show you!)
<snip>
Quoted message said:
kili
I always thought of Hawaii as a sort of paradise on earth. Even paradises have their down sides, I guess.
Hmmm... Since you don't have a pic to show me I'll have to run an experiment. I'll stick a CD in a Tupperware container ... but I'll fill the container with water first. That should do it. Yes?
Regards
Dave W.
-- Living in the Ozarks. For email, dot edu will do!
