You would not believe what I’ve been through today. It all started last night when I noticed my computer was acting up. It suddenly just stopped working, I tried to restart it, but then it wouldn’t even turn back on. I started freaking out, but I didn’t even realize at the moment the extent of what just happened. I was about to learn a very hard lesson.
After trying to figure out the problem on my own which consists of about 2 seconds, I turned it over to my husband like I usually do. He tried and couldn’t get it to work either. Thats when I knew something was REALLY wrong. “Sorry Crystal, but your computer crashed.”
Um, WHAT!!! Ha, no, thats not possible, it’s only 3 years old and it’s a Mac. Aren’t Mac’s supposed to be the best?
I was trying hard NOT to believe him and began thinking of the last time I had backed up my computer. Thats when the anxiety began rushing through every vain in my body. I realized I hadn’t backed it up in well over a year. Bits and pieces of all the information I had possibly lost starting flashing through my mind. Pictures, home videos, projects, folders, emails…. THE BIRTH OF MY SON!!!! No no no no, this can’t be happening! How could I let this happen? I was so upset and even cried before I fell asleep at the thought of losing all my precious memories I had worked so hard to capture.
I woke up the next morning feeling sick to my stomach. My whole life had been turned up side down. You may think I’m being a little overly dramatic, but I honestly could not live without my computer.
The first thing I did was went down to the Mac store in hopes that they would be able to recover all the information. I dropped it off for them to look at and anxiously waited for their call. I literally could not function, It was like I was paralyzed. Finally after a long 3 hours passed, I received the phone call. “Sorry, we were NOT able to retrieve any of the information, but you can call this other company and they may be able to help you.” Okay, so I called the other company in tears. She said they have a 96% success rate and she was pretty positive she’d be able to recover the information from the hard drive. Yay!!!!!! Just as I was about to take a huge sigh of relief she said, it will cost anywhere from $700- $2,700… WHAT!!!! Are you serious!!!! Then I cried some more.
Okay, now I have a question for you. Would you put a price on your memories? How much would YOU be willing to spend to retrieve lost memories?
This experience caused me to really think. All of this could have easily been prevented if I would have just taken the necessary precautions. A new hard drive only costs around $100, and backing up my computer only takes a few minutes each day. It’s been a hard lesson to learn but I can see how this applies to many different situations in life.
Sometimes we get lazy and think, oh that won’t happen to me…
and then it does.
That is a very HARD lesson to learn.
I'm sorry. =(
Sorry you had to go through all of that, but I will be backing up later today. Thanks for the reminder!
Sorry you have to go through this! That is really stinky! Do you have your photos on a site like shutterfly? Or did you email birth pictures to family? Maybe you can get a few special ones back that way.
Xo
Kelly
OH Crystal…I am so very, very sorry this happened to you. I can only imagine the heartache. Thank you for at least sharing with us and reminding us what we need to do.
Oh no! I hope you can get it fixed. In the meantime . . . I'm off to back up mine.
Oh, wow, I have no idea! I hope you are able to retrieve them!
I'll be sending good thoughts your way, Crystal!
$700! Wow. That is tough. We are doing the law school thing right now, so if that was us, I would have to cry my eyeballs out and let it go…
Lesson learned. And I totally dug out my spare hard drive as I read this.
Crystal, just reading this,.. tell your experience brings back that horrible day when the same thing happened to me. The sick to your stomach, your heart hurting…the thought of Cristians birth and all his baby pictures, I had 3 years worth of pics… ALL gone. Yea, I know the feeling SO well, one that I don't want to relive. Anyway, we took it to someone also to retrieve our pictures $1200 later…SO WORTH THE $$$$. It's annoying to think how much you have to pay but worth every penny. And yea, lesson learned went to Costco bought an external hardrive with I think 5 terabites. Everyday at midnight it backs up my computer. So no more lost pictures and music. I'm also looking into backing them up on line. Just can't take that chance ever again. Good luck!
I wouldn't pay to get the things back but after reading this I am going to buy a external hard drive and back up my stuff so that I don't have to worry if my computer crashes.
These are the online storage companies that the lady from the photography workshop I'm taking recommends. carbonite.com and mozy.com. They are similar prices, carbonite though does offer a 5 year unlimited storage of files for $199, so I am thinking of going with them. Hope this helps.
Oh, my goodness. How awful. I might be willing to part with a few hundred dollars for baby pictures. That stinks!
We just went through the same exact thing a few weeks ago. Luckily I was able to get my computer to turn back on one more time so we could download the pics. A back up hard drive is now a MUST in our house. I'm so sorry!
sweetie, I'm so sorry! That happened to me 2 years ago! I was devastated, my whole business was on this computer. My dad had been telling me for months to back up but my laptop seemed fine. I had to learn the hard way. I lost EVERYTHING. Thankfully some of my photos were on facebook, some on kodak gallery and hubby usually copies the photos that we take on vacations to his computer too. But, I lost a lot of client files, personal info, pictures, etc. Guess what my dad bought me for Christmas (just months after all this happened)? A huge hard drive. Now I back it up much more regularly and back up my books and other important data on a flash drive too almost daily when I don't make the time to back up everythng.
One program that made a huge difference for my laptop (I'm using the same laptop)was MaxRegistry Cleaner. It cleans broken files and startup errors like MS DOS errors on my PC. I use this coupled with their MaxSpyware Detector and ESET NOD32 Antivirus software. I haven't had a problem since. Just last month, my laptop was acting funny and once I used the registry cleaner, I learned it was broken MS DOS files that cleared up immediately. Worth getting!
To answer your question, I don't think there is any price you can put on memories. If there was no way to get the info back via your hubby's computer, etc., I'd pay the money but ONLY if they are able to retreive ALL of the data. 🙂
~Karla
Oh man! That is so stressful! I have been faced with this twice!!! I think I will go back up right now…
Did you join the bandwagon of my life's luck or what? I'm so sorry that happened Crystal. Whenever I am quoted I take the high quote and anything less is bonus. So you have to configure if $2,700 is worth it to you. It's interesting you raise this question because those are the things that money can't buy, the things that are so treasured, the things that we will look back and say that's what life was about. So finally there is a price tag to retrieving it…and I say it's worth it. For future reference, there is a site called Mozy.com for online backup. You will always have it in storage, even if your hard drive dies, if your comp crashes, if you lose every disk you own because your house burns down (knock on wood). It's free the first 2gb, I think, then like $5 a month for unlimited space. Good luck and sorry!
I cherish my memories so much that I carry with me some of my journals. I would not mind if a thief steals my back but leave my journals back to me. Photos, music and films are my life and there is no prize that would not pay to keep them.
I couldn't put a price on our pictures and I'm so sorry this happened to you. Someone at my work took my laptop when I changed locations and left it behind for a few weeks… they erased the hard drive and all of my youngest child's pictures from his first 4 months of life were on there… not backed up. Family members have some, of course, but those were our special ones… the first bath, his first photo shoot, his first everything. Gone. I would pay whatever to get them back, and you better believe I back everything up now, and am a little psycho about it… 2 different backups plus my hard drive should suffice, but just in case I can't get to certain parts of my house in an emergency, I need to put them in a few places. I hope you get everything back. Again, so sorry!
That would be a lot of money to part with.
Sorry to hear about your nightmare experience. I have been able to use various backups to recover most of what was lost during computer failures–since it has happened twice now I think.
🙁 I'm so sorry. I would do a bit more shopping around. $2700 sounds ridiculous to me. $700 is really high, but depending on what I had on there, I might actually do it. Good luck with your decision.
That is rough! So sorry!
What price can you put on life? It could be worse truly. Even that is stuff. We have each other. We can always make more memories. 🙂
You poor thing, what a horrible experience.
I need to back-up my files and photos.
I am so sorry! I would have been sick too. I have so much of my life on the computer as well. I am lazy in this area but so blessed to have a husband who works in computers so he back ups our back ups and then some.
I don't think there is too high a price for memories (as long as you have the money I guess). I hope you get it figured out.
If you don't, let me know (I honestly mean it). I'm in Utah too and maybe my husband knows someone who either could help you or could tell you a better and more reasonable place to go.
Good luck!!!
don't leave us hangin' –I'm guessing you were able to get it repaired?
Several years ago I purchased one of the "book" drives – it was a lifesaver when I was about freak out when my computer did the same thing last year. I'm still not vigilant about backing up all the time though.