mallen1330 Loc: Chicago western suburbs

Actually a white FedEx truck, not bringing new photo equipment, but a new laptop to replace my damaged one. I dropt it, damaging the hard disk. My point here is to remind all to keep extensive and redundant backups of your data. I had everything backed up - including all original and processed images, all software data, all email and financial data (Outlook and Quicken), and all website account data (logins). Don't forget your software registration information.

So, now although it will take many hours to restore all my installed software and data (I'm a software - website developer, so have LOTS of software tools), nothing was lost except lots of time, and I have a new, faster system.

My caution to all: Think of what you might lose if your computer stops working in the next few minutes. It can happen.

Oknoder Loc: Western North Dakota

I have had a few hdds die over the years, I also have multitudes of programs and plugins that would require hours if not days to reinstall. That's not to mention all the personal settings that would have to be rebuilt. Now I clone my hard drive weekly, so this is not possible except under the most extreme circumstances like a home fire.

Was it a hdd or ssd that failed after the fall? If it was a had there is hope of resurrecting it, if your even mildly handy. Did you have to replace just the drive or the whole machine?

Sorry about your misfortune,
Matthew

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Smart man! Bravo! I wish I never hear this again - "My hard drive stopped working, how can I get my pictures back" or "my computer was stolen/burned up in a fire/or died and I need my pictures. What do I do now?"

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Mallen, thanks!
If my system went down right now...., I would not be able to be on the Hog and actually have peace and quiet for at least a shot while!!!
SS

mallen1330 Loc: Chicago western suburbs

It was a HDD... after a couple hours of tinkering by booting from a CD and running some diagnostic tools and fixes. I got its boot sectors restored to the point where it will boot and I can access files. However it is so damaged that with all the re-trys, reading it is 20 to 30 times slower than normal. My "scan and fix" app that would normally run for less than an hour on a 1TB disk, ran for over 20 hours! And was not able to make any additional repairs.

The laptop is otherwise in good condition, so I plan to replace the HD once I have the new system completely populated with all the backed up data and applications. If something is missing, I can still go to the old disk to (very slowly) retrieve stuff.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Good luck, and well done. Perhaps you can restore it, sell it on ebay and buy some nice camera goodies!

OscarG

As first, a computer and IT manager and second, a second generation photographer I can not agree more with the need for a quality backup system for your PC(s) and digital libraries! I have used tape, local Network Attached Storage and various cloud offerings, but the one I appreciate most is a cloud solution by BackBlaze. Currently flat rate of $50/year for unlimited storage of one computer in the cloud (off site if you worry about fire/theft/natural disaster). I currently have a 1TB drive and a 2TB external attached to the system.

It runs background on your computer and sends new files and changed files off to the cloud pretty much without bothering you. When you need a file or two you can quickly and easily download them. The full backup takes a lot longer to download, but, they have an option to get USB drive or stick mailed. There is also a no additional cost option to fully encrypt your data, but, if you forget or loose your "key" your data is gone.

I'm very happy and highly recommend this service.

insman1132 Loc: Southwest Florida

Great advice, Mallen. Been there, done that. Once burned, twice learned!

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Absolutely good advice, and it can't be repeated often enough. At least once a month, I see a sad post that usually begins with something like: "my HD crashed and I've lost all my data..."

After 25+ years in the data storage industry and having seen everything from double drive failures in RAID groups to failed A/C systems raising data center temperatures to >100 degrees to leaks from overhead pipes destroying servers and storage, I keep multiple copies of my data, with one copy residing off-site. I replicate data to another system on my network, periodically make MDisc copies of important data (which then reside in a "fireproof" safe), and automatically mirror to Amazon S3 cloud storage.

mkaplan519

Being a computer tech almost 34 years, I have seen more drives fail then all other computer problems. As mentioned above, you MUST keep multiple copies of your data.
I learned the hard way... years ago, I was trying to copy 2 folder of updates from one drive to another and accidentally clicked on sync so instead of just copying the changes, it started deleting all the other folder and their contents... by the time I realized and stopped it it was way too late. I was able to recover most if not all using recovery software but I had gotten over 16,000 files, with no names and folder structure was lost. It took a long LONG time to sort through them and recover them in some usable format. I used multiple programs to try going through the files. Trying to change names based on EXIF date/time which worked for some but not all. and manually going through and sorting them the best I could. There were multiple versions of many and of course some junk that was deleted stuff I did not even need or want. Learned the hard way...
I now keep 3 copies of all current data (2 years worth) and 2 copies of older files on 2 different external drives (1 a NAS and 1 a newer USB3 8TB HD).
Things get copied from my XQD or CF or CD cards using Lightroom import to my current HD. I then rename the folder and back it up to one of my external drives and then the 2nd. Only once that is done do I delete the photos from my card. Seems to work well.
BTW for my O/S drive I use Acronis True Image and have automatic weekly incremental backups done so I always can go back to wherever I need to in case of loss.

JustMePB Loc: Currently Indian Trail, NC.

I actually had to take a hard drive to a recovery place ONCE. Lesson learned.