posted 03-17-2005 11:36 PM                  

Last October, my computer had a virus which kept me from accessing my operating system. When my son came home on leave, he fixed everything, got rid of the viruses and restored my operating system. He HATES windows and the problems that come with it (he has a MAC). He also recommended that we buy an external drive to save all my data files (photos, etc.) on so that if the OS crashed again, I would not lose everything. So, we did, he installed it and transferred all my files including six years worth of digital photos. They were all the photos I've taken of my two Prowlers, POA photos, Prowler photos, all the events I've been on, family photos, pet photos, etc.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a major problem with the external drive and it would not allow me to access the files. Long story short, we sent it to a Data Recovery service in CA in hopes they would be able to retrieve the data. Well, they called me yesterday and in the midst of an already tough day (my sister was rushed to the hospital) to inform me that the drive had a head crash and they are unable to retrieve any data. Everything I had was lost.

I know, I know,.........I am partially at fault for not yet having taken the time to copy everything to additional media. A very tough lesson to learn. You never think it's going to happen to you. The woman from the recovery service even admitted to me that she doesn't have hers backed up. If you don't........do it.

I can retrieve a good number of my photos off the POA website that I have posted, but certainly far from everything I had.

I'm asking that if any of you have any pictures of my cats from any events that we attended, would you please share copies with me? Sending them by email would be great. I'm very upset about this whole thing, but I'm going to try to rebuild a collection. Anything you might have would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much for any photos you might be able to share with me.

posted 03-18-2005 07:59 AM                  

Since you were storing a lot of photos an external hard drive was a good investment. I use CDs to save my photos, but they can go to crap as well...

While I also like MACs, the only reason there are fewer viruses with MACs is because fewer people use them. If more people were using MACs you can bet the clowns who write viruses would be doing a lot more of them for MACs.

posted 03-18-2005 08:07 AM                  

Well, we thought we were doing the right thing, but as I have experienced, the external hard drive crashed and it wasn't that old. They couldn't give me an explanation as to why. She said it can be caused from the slightest physical shock, if piece of dust gets in it, (she said that's like throwing a 2x4 on the freeway), power surge, etc. They are indicating that the arm that carries the re-write head hovers just a hair above the platter, but that if it touches the metal it can cause a groove in the platter that can scratch (disintegrate) the data and it's gone.

If they couldn't do it, I doubt that anyone else can. So all I can do now is try to rebuild. Very tough lesson. My son felt bad and also reminded me that software and hardware are just that and they can fail at any time. Even saving it on disk is just as risky......they can fail or go bad, too.

They just suggest that you have multiple copies. Since I get the lecture from my son all the time about Windows, I will have to relay your comment "While I also like MACs, the only reason there are fewer viruses with MACs is because fewer people use them. If more people were using MACs you can bet the clowns who write viruses would be doing a lot more of them for MACs.

posted 03-18-2005 08:47 AM                  

quote:

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Originally posted by CJ:

"While I also like MACs, the only reason there are fewer viruses with MACs is because fewer people use them. If more people were using MACs you can bet the clowns who write viruses would be doing a lot more of them for MACs.[/COLOR]

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I have been online for I guess about 10 years now. I am currently using cable as my ISP and to this date...Thank God...I haven't had one single virus. I am also running what I believe the best program out there! "Norton Internet Security". It automatically updates itself which virtually makes it a no brainer.

The problem you have is why I personally do not like external hard drives. When it is internal to the CPU it has no chance of getting inadvertently tossled around.

Bob Miller stated that CD's can go to crap as well. At least if you had all your pics burned onto a few CD's you would have been able to retrieve them.JMO You could have just downloaded them back on to your hard drive. Just burn your CD's with your pics. Place them in a nice storage container and place them out of the way in a safe location. I even put negatives from my old SLR camera in my fire proof safe. Stuff like that cannot be replaced!!!

As far as starting over. I would probably dump in a new 80 or 120 GB (internal) hard drive. If your son knows how to do this you could even partition off about 1/4 section of that hard drive for programs. The remaining 3/4 can be used for storage. That's what my brother in law helped me do. I works great!!!

I hope I was of a little help CJ. Good luck on retrieving all of your pictures and getting your CPU back in good health.
Brian

posted 03-18-2005 10:32 AM                  

I can send you all of my pics.

I have most filed in a folder unique to that event (ie... CAAP I,II, Final Prowler production, Crazyhorse, Colorado, Tenneesee, Texas Speedweek & Texas Stampede, Woodward's (two), Canada, etc...). There may be a few others mixed in with my month/year folders like Crusin the Coast...

posted 03-18-2005 03:57 PM                  

First off, I know what your feeling right now. Have been there done that. I setup my virus program to run nightly on all my files. I have the original pics you sent me some time back on your black but will check if I have some on your candy red.

Steven Trasher had a similar thing happen to him and he did not take it well..

WARNING: NOT SUITABLE FOR KIDS UNDER 18

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO WHAT HAPPENDED

Sorry to hear CJ.

Later...

posted 03-18-2005 08:58 PM                  

Sorry to hear about the tech issue. No fun at all.

Copying to CD, as mentinoed above, is a good backup. Another option that is picking up renting external disk space. Check out www.ibackup.com . Not as cheap as a drive necessarly, but 5Gig at $10 a month isn't horrible and certinaly gives the additional backup for piece of mind.

posted 03-19-2005 12:07 PM                  

Good luck.

posted 03-19-2005 07:28 PM                  

TooHipCat........I do know what I should have done.....after the fact... The drive certainly didn't get "tossed around", which makes it more frustrating as to why it happened. Tough lesson. Have learned a great deal from this experience....hope others have too.

DanP.......I'm not taking it well either, I feel like I lost a part of my life from the last six years (especially my family pictures).........but then during all this, my sister was rushed to the hospital when they thought she was having a heart attack. Fortunately, she did not, but it certainly was a scare..........and during all that, I kept thinking that the loss of pictures is pretty insignificant to what she is going through. I'm still bummed about it...sick about it.........but I'll live.

Again........thanks to you all.

posted 03-19-2005 09:45 PM                  

I'll send you pics from Woodward last fall.

As far as backing up photos....When I upload pics from my camera into "My Pictures" I put them into a folder titled "Not backed up yet". That way I remember to back them up (to CD) after I have done any editing or file name changes.

Once the files are on CD, I drag them out of the "Not backed up yet" folder into whatever folder in "My pictures" that I want them in.

Once I make the bakup CD, I put the CD's in a small fire safe in my closet. A cheap ($40) fire safe will hold more CD's than I can fill up in years...and I take alot of pictures.