That Was Not The Day You Were Looking For…

[lagilman]

So yesterday I set up my to-do list, and I settle in with my cup of coffee #1, and I lift the lid of the trusty workhorse laptop (whose name is Archie to Nero-the-cranky-desktop), and…

The screen displayed not the usual “okay boss, hopping to it!” energy, but the unending beachball of doom-about-to-fall.

And sure enough, soon after that: everything froze.

Not having time, patience, or any other valuable commodity to spare, I finally did the only thing I could do: a hard reboot.

And got the Grey Screen of UnBooting.

We’ll cut the begging, pleading and attempts to fix it myself using all the helpdesk things that never work.  I got a Genius Bar appointment at 2pm.

…Four Hours Later….

It took TWO geniuses to fix things (the second was named Lex.  I can has an Evil Genius?  I can!),  but at 6pm I was on my way back home with a new hard drive, and the promise that yes, it was all working now, all I had to do HONEST was plug it back into my Time Machine/Time Capsule, and everything would be restored.  Really.  Trust us*.

Having a hard drive fail, when you’re mid-book, and being told “yeah, it happens” does not make one feel inspired to trust.  I’m just saying.

I want to give kudos to my geniuses, though.  They were dealing with a writer on deadline, whose writing machine had just failed under her fingertips, who had stormed into their bar on a quivering high of coffee and not a hell of a lot else (me to a friend, via text: “oh crap, I haven’t eaten anything today.  It’s 5pm.  I’m about to go into meltdown”) and kept me from utterly losing it, even when reinstall after reinstall failed.

Anyway: if you haven’t backed your shit up today, whatever your shit may be?  Take a moment.  Do it.  Trust me.  Full system backup.  Every. Damn. Day.

And now, I need to finish this coffee, open up my (restored!  Up-to-date!) files, and get the hell back to work.

*edited to add: they were right

Originally Published at Practical Meerkat: A Blog. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[penpusher.livejournal.com]

Two words: external harddrive.

They're finally affordable. In fact I'm getting a new 500 gb one next week, more than double my current hard drive and external combined.

[lagilman]

Well, yes: that's what my Time Capsule is, in effect. No need to lecture me on that! However, an external hard drive is only as good as the use you put it to. If you don't set it up to back your shit up regularly, it may as well still be in the store...

Time Capsule connects to my network via the router, and therefore backs up regularly, so long as I'm connected to the system. I don't have to remember to save, it remembers for me. I like that in a system.

[cypherindigo.livejournal.com]

I have Time Machine on my iMac and I have it backing up to external hard drive.

It is a very nice system.

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

Okay, Nero was the Dell (I think), but which one was Archie?

[lagilman]

Yeah, Time Machine is the software and Time Capsule is the external hard drive. I use them in conjunction with each other, tied into my home network (so yes, external hard drive, all the way).

[lagilman]

The MacPro.

[girasole.livejournal.com]

My computer guy recommended Carbonite, and I bless and praise its name. Yes, it's the cloud, which is not the same as having it in your hand. BUT, it also has an app on the iPhone, which means I can retrieve a file anywhere I am. That has saved my life more than once, and I have only had it for six months.
Also, Carbonite backs up everything, all day. You never have to think about it.

[lagilman]

Yep, the everything, all day" is what I'm talking about. Anything else, for a working machine, ain't enough, IME.

(the only thing I need on my phone is my schedule and contacts list, and that backs up via my service provider)

[spiziks.livejournal.com]

I've recently moved all my writing files to Dropbox and have been very pleased with the results. If a computer fails on me, I can still get to every file, basically uninterrupted.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

But please, please, please make sure that if Dropbox goes away, your files don't go with it.

[lagilman]

Yep. One of the reasons I dislike using a cloud or externally-owned backup. My data. Not to be held up in cases of disaster, bankruptcy, or fee-disputes.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

I'm very glad to hear it's been sorted. But I'm sorry you had to go through all that stress.

[chicating.livejournal.com]

My computer has the lifespan of a House patient(without the miraculous save,) so I feel your pain...(and am reasonably tired of ratholing data, to be honest.)
sigh.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

the unending beachball of doom

not how anyone wants to start their day... glad that the Genius and the Evil Genius got your boy back on track.

[goingferal.livejournal.com]

Dropbox.com can do the same thing for designated folders--synch immediately and it's available from anywhere you have web access.

And for up to 2gb, it's free. So it's useful for backing up works in progress.

[lagilman]

I tried DropBox, and decided it wasn't for me. Even aside from their ability to change ToS without warning, I don't like leaving my IP at the mercy of a third party with no reason to protect my interests.. if they go bankrupt, or there's even a minor dispute, I don't want my work to be held hostage to someone else's decision. Other folk have had the same reaction (see comments below)

3TB storage in my office, updated hourly and easily portable? Yeah, that's what I'm happy with.


(also, I found that I really didn't need to access my work from anywhere. So that isn't a selling point for me.)

[natf.livejournal.com]

TimeMachine saves lives!

[natf.livejournal.com]

My TimeMacine drive (1 Tb) is external and so is the drive with my Home directory on it (1 Tb) because it is HUGE. Hubby set it up for me but I expect the genius bar would be able to point you in the right direction too. Hard drives are cheap these days (I remember when 20 Mb was considered huge before bloat-ware like Word made data file bigger than text files back in the early 90s).

[lagilman]

Erm, I'm not sure what you expect the genius bar to point me toward. I have my (3tb) Time Capsule already set up as continuous external backup, as I said previously. It backs up my entire system, every hour.

If I were to set up a secondary backup method, it wouldn't be the exact same sort...

[natf.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I will shut up, then. I know you said your Time Machine drive was external but you said nothing about your Home folder being external.

/stops-trying-to-help