epic failure!

well, the very thing we all dread happening… happened!  my 63 day old computer CRASHED!  yep, I said 63 days!!  turned it on and all I hear is beeping.  knew it couldn’t be a good sign, but ran through what options were available, to diagnose the problem.  after getting what appeared to be a devastating error message, I went straight into denial.  contacted hubby, son, and friend.. to verify that it couldn’t be that bad, right?!  WRONG!!  hubby spent over an hour on the phone that night, with hp, unhooking & rearranging cables.. only to have them tell him in the end, “I’m sorry, it appears your hard drive has ‘failed’. 

*** insert dramatic music & hysterical tantrum & tears! *** 

ok, ok.. maybe I didn’t throw a complete tantrum.. but there were lots of tears, a few mumbled curse words,  & why, oh why didn’t I back up sooner?!?!  see, I had a plan for backing up my files. My plan, was that I would do it once a month, at the end of the month.  well, the end of the month came, and I was ONE day late people… ONE DAY!!  now all of our business files.. locked into that failed drive.  all of the work I’ve done… most likely GONE.  so many hours of work.  so many vectors and images that we’d have to redraw, hunt down, and repurchase, etc.  that’s money down the drain.  time wasted.  and potential for panic if anyone purchased one of those designs before  they could be recreated!  36 hours of overwhelming frustration. 

then… the new hard drive arrives.  a friend, who swears we should be able to recover files from the failed drive.. steps in to help.  hubs, my son, and our friend begin work.  first, replaced the old drive with the new.  then, hooked old drive up on the extra cable.  [hate the terminology for it.. but for those who may have this issue someday, I’ll repeat it to help you out.  the main drive is called the ‘master’ and the extra is called the ‘slave’]   dare I hope??  everything gets restarted, and we wait.. wait… nothing.  we restart the computer again, hoping this time, it will recognize the extra drive. [think of your back up drive.. should show up as extra ‘device’]  still, nothing. 

*** insert more tears! *** 

as I’m becoming undone once again, the hubs is walking around with the old drive in his hand… shaking it and tapping it.  suddenly, he rushes back to desk.. and plugs it back in and tells our son to restart computer again.. he thinks he got it to spin!!  omg! omg! could it be true?!?!  will it spin?  will computer recognize it this time?  will I be able to finally get my files???  wait for it…

YES! YES! YES!

thank you, LORD!!!!

we were able to pull all of the files off of the old drive, and put my heart and stomach back to their rightful place!  this time, insert very happy tears & deep sighs of relief!  I cannot tell you how relieved we all are!!!

so, please let my hardship be a lesson to you all……..

BACK UP YOUR FILES OFTEN!!!

when I say often, I mean.. if it’s really important, back it up IMMEDIATELY!!!  otherwise, at least back up weekly.  that is our new plan of action! 

now that the important stuff is loaded.. I’m now off to begin the task of reloading everything else! :P

have a great weekend everyone!  and don’t forget to stop & take a moment on the 11th, to remember the many lost, and left behind.  BE SAFE!!!!

xoxo -Tracie