All my writing is gone, now what?

Discussion in 'Writing Software and Hardware' started by Talmay, Feb 2, 2013.

  1. mg357

    mg357 Active Member

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    I have never had it happen to me but if i may offer some advice save your writings to flashdrivers their inexpensive and very useful for saving important files.
     
  2. Traviud

    Traviud New Member

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    Exactly how dead is your hard drive? Unless something is mechanically wrong with it, you can probably get the files off of it and transfer them elsewhere, like onto a friend's laptop.

    I used this after the bit that connects the hard drive to the motherboard tore on one of my old laptops:

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002EUCU3O/?tag=postedlinks04-20

    In the meantime, don't quit. You might want to take a break, but rust develops quickly. You've got to keep moving.
     
  3. Khaelmin

    Khaelmin Active Member

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    Not really true. All email clients, be it Outlook, Thunderbird etc. have a setting that goes something like 'Keep a copy of the email on the server.' Using this, the mail is not deleted and you have it both online and on the hard drive. Also, all email providers should have web-mail page you can access from anywhere.

    Using your Yahoo or Gmail account is usually your best bet for backing up small files, like stories and novel drafts.
     
  4. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    The point is, if you haven't elected to keep your mail on the server, or don't even know the setting exists, you may have a false sense of security mailing your writing to yourself.

    Not everyone here is technical enough to know the essential difference between different email services and options.

    And web accounts are not particularly secure. So I don't agree that these are your best bet. Adequate, perhaps, and convenient, but there are better and safer solutions. Cloud storage is an option, but know your provider.

    For my part, I would rather rely on resources I have control over, but online solutions are also viable if that is where you want to place your trust.
     
  5. madhoca

    madhoca Contributor Contributor

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    I've used many different laptops in the last 12 years because we get them given to us where I work and they are changed every 3 years or so, as needed. Several times I've had a laptop turn itself off on me in mid flow or refuse to come on in the morning. The last problem I had, when it wouldn't turn on, it was just the screen and the hard drive wasn't affected at all. I expect your data is still safe and sound for a while longer--nothing can be stored forever, though, and CDs, USBs etc all need to be backed up with hard copy. You should scrape the money together and get your laptop looked at.
     
  6. Khaelmin

    Khaelmin Active Member

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    Ah, you hit it on the head. I was, actually thinking mainly about convenience. Everyone has an email address, and, with a strong password(10-16 characters, preferably something seemingly gibberish) you're pretty safe. Notice I said pretty. There is no 100% safe method. Passwords may get stolen, CDs, DVDs, flash drives and external HDDs break down eventually, just like your computer. Plus, email companies, big ones anyway, back up their servers regularly, so you don't have to. I've never lost a document I sent to my... mail cloud, heh. :D
     
  7. Kectacoco

    Kectacoco New Member

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    Consider incremental backups to your destination of choice, both Windows and OSX support them as part of the OS (Time Machine for Mac. The equivalent Windows service seems trickier.) They're less costly in terms of disk space--and bandwidth if you're using an online service--than always doing full backups.

    Also, why not try drawing, or perhaps writing things you wouldn't normally write? Maybe even write something and then obliterate it intentionally? Being able to get over attachment to the creation is an important aspect of art, in my opinion. :p
     
  8. Talmay

    Talmay Member

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    Again, I can't thank you all enough for the suggestions! Will definitely look into a bunch of these. Apparently the problem is the motherboard, so once I get my tax returns I'll get it fixed.

    One of my main problems is that my writing is very unorganized. I don't label correctly (or at all) and just randomly throw things around. Some of my folders were almost ten years old, but it would be a pain actually trying to find it. Literally on the day of I was organizing and backing everything up after putting it off for years; compiling notes to print out, putting projects in a common folder and labeling correctly.
     
  9. thewordsmith

    thewordsmith Contributor Contributor

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    Talmay, I'm just the opposite. When I'm working on the computer, I save to a dedicated flashdrive. Every two or three months (sometimes longer) I will back up to my computer just in case something should happen to my flashdrive. But, as for your initial problem, there is a solution.

    Take your computer into a computer shop/service. Unless it's completely and hopelessly fried (that's a technical term :0) ) they should be able to retrieve whatever is on that hard drive. My son is a computer geek of the first order and has built systems not only for me but for several others as well including some freebies for folks who could not otherwise afford a computer. He has, in the course of his good works, found himself dismantling a system and removing the harddrive or, in some cases, hooking into an external hard drive, to recover lost info. Check around. You should be able to find someone who can do this for you. Good luck.
     
  10. Talmay

    Talmay Member

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    Well, my laptop's fixed. The problem was, unfortunately, the hard drive. Had to get it replaced, so everything's still gone. I'm still depressed about it, but I'm ready to start anew. Maybe it'll come out better this time.
     
  11. Kingtype

    Kingtype Banned Contributor

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    @Talmay: Well if your writing is gone......then just write some more. And if it is all truly gone then you rewrite it.....and make it better than before!!!:)
     
  12. Carthonn

    Carthonn Active Member

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    My suggestion would be to use it. Use this experience and channel the negative energy into something positive. I feel there is a possible story here.

    My first question was going to be what exactly to your computer? However, it sounds like you've already had it replaced. Were you running windows? Often you can run Linux of a flash drive and salvage work when you have a blue screen of death. Where is the hard drive with the stuff on it? Did they format it?

    I appreciate you sharing this story with us. It has caused me to prioritize my back up system.
     
  13. Talmay

    Talmay Member

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    I still have the hard drive. Apparently it either over-heated or just defected from the start. One day I turned it on, worked fine, turned it off when I was done. An hour later I turned it on again, but it was stuck at the start up screen while it made a weird beeping sound. My sister thought it was the motherboard. It was the hard drive trying to start up, apparently. The place I went to said while they don't have the resources to salvage anything themselves, it could be done. But it could end up being very, very expensive. I just don't have the kind of money it'd require at the moment.

    Right now I'm scrambling to write down what I remember, which is difficult; I hadn't touched some projects for months. Kind of humbling to realize I didn't know my story as well as I thought I did.
     
  14. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    I believe it was said before, but take the hard drive to a good computer repair shop. Bring or purchase a good drive to receive the data. A good shop will have at least one tech who can extract data from the majority of failed drives. There ARE some drives beyond all recovery, but they are pretty rare apart from a drive that has been crushed by a semi.

    Meanwhile, develop and stick to a solid backup strategy to prevent a "next time."
     

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