Back Up Your Computer!!!

Posted at 1:24 PM, Jul. 24, 2007

I learned a valuable lesson recently, one that you would have thought I would have learned years ago.  I've been using computers regularly for over 10 years.  In my earliest years of using them I killed them on a regular basis by deleting something I shouldn't have.  Back then, I got used to backing things up pretty regularly. As I got more and more competent with my computer skills I got more and more lazy.  It won't happen to me... you know the syndrom. And it hadn't happened to me in many years.  But, it's happened twice this year.

First, my PC. This wasn't a major loss since most of the work that I did was on my laptop anyway. Really, all I lost when I lost the hard drive on my PC was my Itunes library files (not the music, because that was on a seperate drive, of course).  In the spring I bought a new PC and got that all set up and in the meantime, my laptop started getting slower and slower. The harddrive was full, so I bought a backup drive and I backed everything up and removed everything I didn't need.  This was about 2 months ago.  At the time I thought I might have to totally reformat (and I wish i had done so now), but I didn't. I was somehow able to move things around and re-partition the drives so that I could use my system.  BUT, I knew that that hard drive was having issues and I knew I'd have to replace that machine before too long.  I was hesitant, I really didn't want to replace it. My light little Sony Vaio had been so good to me for the past 3 years, I was really going to hate to see it go.  So, much like your favorite comfy chair I held onto it.  Until one day when it continued to get slower and slower and I decided "I know! I'll defrag it and see if that helps!".  Bright idea Julie!  NOT!  I came home several hours later to find my machine giving me some major error and telling me to reboot. I did and I got the same error.  I tried several times in hopes that I could get things back and it never worked. I searched online for answers, and none were found.  Finally, I pulled out my Windows disk and reloaded it (in hopes that it would just re-install windows and leave everything else alone).  It didn't work out like I planned and I ended up reformating my drive.  I did get it working again.... but I lost everything since that last backup 2 months ago.  And, at that point I knew that I had to get a new laptop.  So, I did.

But, in the process, I have learned a valuable lesson. BACKUP the stuff you need.  Backup your emails, backup your favorites, backup your Outlook files.  Luckily, my laptop and my phone sync my contacts and calendar so that was backed up and really all I lost in the end was email.  I am back up and running now, and I will backup on a regular basis.  Its even set in  my calendar to remind me to do so.

So, let my mistakes be your guide. Go backup your system now. You never know when something might happen.