Lesson learned the hard way!!! =(

[Aayria]

I am in tears right now, and I feel like I'm going to be sick!!! =(

I just inadvertantly managed to loose EVERY SINGLE file and photograph I've done in the past two months!!! They aren't in the "recycle bin" on my PC, and they are nowhere to be found in the pictures gallery. My husband says worst case scenario I've also lost important .exe's and program files needed just for running the machine, and he will take a look after work!!!! I had just picked up a stack of writable DvD's to begin backing up all my photo files, starting this evening.. but I wasn't soon enough!!!

Thank GOODNESS I haven't gone into buisiness yet, or I would have some pretty angry customers!!! But I feel sick because I still had files to burn to a photo CD for my good friend whom I had just done a free shoot for her 6 month old baby boy! Now I cannot give her the orignal copies and all she has are the compressed, watermarked files off my facebook page!!! =( I called immediately to apologize and she seemed to understand, but I FEEL TERRIBLE!!! =(

So I'm venting to all of you from on my old macbook, with a WARNING to other new photographers!!!! ALWAYS ALWAYS back up your photos on a CD or something the MINUTE you get them off the camera!!! ale::cry::cry::cry:

 

[adversus]

Online Backup, Data Backup & Remote Backup Solutions | Mozy

$5 a month for unlimited backups, per machine. $5 a month of piece of mind!

I backup my Macbook Pro to a 1TB Time Capsule, AND up to mozy with encryption. My windows machines are also backed up to Mozy (I have three backup sets on mozy, so pay $15 a month total).

 

[icassell]

DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING! DON'T PUT ANYTHING NEW ON YOUR PC. If the files are there still, you don't want to cover them up until your hubby or other computer saavy person can take a look. Please let us know how things turn out. Good luck!

 

[reznap]

There's a pretty good chance they could be recovered by someone who knows what they're doing. You could also always call a REPUTABLE pc repair outfit and have them see if they can recover the data from the hard disk.

 

[Aayria]

Thanks guys.. I'm really hopeful that we can do something to help this.. My hubby is a computer engineer, and I'm confident if anything can be done he'll figure it out! =( He also said on the phone that he wants us to just buy an online storage server to prevent this down the road!

 

[adversus]

Thanks guys.. I'm really hopeful that we can do something to help this.. My hubby is a computer engineer, and I'm confident if anything can be done he'll figure it out! =( He also said on the phone that he wants us to just buy an online storage server to prevent this down the road!

As an IT person myself, I can't stress enough how good of an investment offsite backups are. Hard drive space is cheap now (compared to what it was even 5 years ago).

I've personally used Mozy and I can't say enough about how well it works. It just runs in the background and encrypts then uploads files that have changed every 4 hours or so (you can set the schedule you want).

 

[Ryan L]

As a last resort, if the hard drive does not want to give up any data. Put it in a zip lock and stick it in the freezer for a few hours. I know it sounds crazy, but I have had to do this on 3 hard drives to recover data and I promise you it will bring her back to life for a while while it's still cold. The last drive I did was in January, I bet I got another 2 hours out of it which was more than enough to transfer it to another hard drive. Hope everything goes well.

 

[Sharpiks]

There's software that might be able to recover your files. RecoverMyFiles is one. It saved my loss of data over-night.

Thanks for your warnings though, I have a server set up and I transfer all of my files (and photos) to it in case my primary drive fails or I loose the photos.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

In the digital world, redundancy is key. Backing up to a CD is not enough. At the very least, it should be backed up to a archival CD/DVD and a couple Hard Drives which are then kept in separate places. If you trust online backing (I don't), that's another one to add.

I certainly hope your hubby finds the files and that you only got scared but, as you said, lesson learned.

 

[Aayria]

Update!!!! My husband was able to recover several gigs worth of files after work! In total, I only permanently lost just under 10 photos, and they were only copies or shots very similar to shots I was able to recover!

We're looking into buying a "home server" for backing up files, as well as copying important photos to DvD, and backing up our hard drives on Mozy. I want to prevent any of this EVER happening again, it was such a huge relief that I didn't loose these photos forever.

Thanks for the help everyone.. Just coming here to vent about the situation with others who could empathize was a great help!

 

[Sharpiks]

Haha, sure thing. Data loss is like losing a part of yourself.

The thing is data is replaceable, but photos are not. No two pictures are the same, give or take copy/paste.

 

[DerekSalem]

There's a pretty good chance they could be recovered by someone who knows what they're doing. You could also always call a REPUTABLE pc repair outfit and have them see if they can recover the data from the hard disk.

Bingo

 

[Boomn4x4]

It sounds like you are looking at getting into professional photography... "Thank GOODNESS I haven't gone into buisiness yet"....

If that is the case, you'll most certainly want a website. When you do so, go with a hosting service that focuses on comercial hosting. Check with them as to how they manage data backups and drive redundancy, you husband should know what I'm taking about.

A reputable hosting sevice will provide, with even a basic webhosting plan, unlimited storage and have both on site and offsite data backups. If your specific server crasher, it'll be backed up... if the entire building explodes, it'll be backed up.

If you have any questions, or would like some recomendatioins, I'd be glad to help you out.

 

[er111a]

I had that happen only the photos never made it to the computer, they were accidentally erased when I formatted the card on my camera

 

[ghache]

i would use GetdatabackNTSF (if you have a windows machine) fairly cheap and it works great, software is going to scan all the sector of your hard drives and recover anything thats in there (you have to select what you want) the software is actually really easy to use.
when you delete something from your hard drives, you are only breaking the link from windows to the actual data. data is still there untill you save something new on you pc that would go and overwrite the same sector. untill then your data is probably still there.