Backing up your digital files
Last week I had my laptop screen die on me. While I knew it was going out (it had a pink tint to it at start up) I kept putting off getting it replaced. Then right when I had a heavy shipping and sewing day, the screen went out.
I would love to say that I backed up everything on a flash drive or used an online backup for my files but I did not. Yes, all of my embroidery files had been backed up but about 4 of them that were custom jobs for clients were still on the laptop and not backed up. So what did I do?
Well, I did not panic since the screen was the only thing that went and not the hard drive. The screen, while being very dark, still barely showed the desk top with a flashlight shining on it. I managed to get the files off of the laptop on to a flash drive. Locating the arrow from the mouse on a darkened screen was a PITA but I managed it.
The next step is to get an enclosure for the hard drive in the failed laptop and slave it to the current laptop so I can get to my other files.
While I would love to say that we should always backup everything everyday from our computers, it is not always possible or practical. I now use several flash drives to keep the files that I am working on at the time and work from those flash drives, just having the main program on the computer. It does save hard drive space and backs up my files at the same time.
I would love to say that I backed up everything on a flash drive or used an online backup for my files but I did not. Yes, all of my embroidery files had been backed up but about 4 of them that were custom jobs for clients were still on the laptop and not backed up. So what did I do?
Well, I did not panic since the screen was the only thing that went and not the hard drive. The screen, while being very dark, still barely showed the desk top with a flashlight shining on it. I managed to get the files off of the laptop on to a flash drive. Locating the arrow from the mouse on a darkened screen was a PITA but I managed it.
The next step is to get an enclosure for the hard drive in the failed laptop and slave it to the current laptop so I can get to my other files.
While I would love to say that we should always backup everything everyday from our computers, it is not always possible or practical. I now use several flash drives to keep the files that I am working on at the time and work from those flash drives, just having the main program on the computer. It does save hard drive space and backs up my files at the same time.
Comments