I think my computer just died! Back up your lists, everyone!

[Sabine]

I think my laptop that I bought on ebay 5 years ago for about $400 finally burnt out! It had windows 98 on it originally, and it had its quirks, so I knew I would need to replace it soon, but I didn''t think to back up any of my wedding stuff!

I do have one print out of our guest list that does have almost all of the addresses (which I realized I will still need for all thank-you cards), and I think it has mostly correct response card numbering (although luckily we haven''t gotten any totally blank cards back yet), and THANK GOD we saved all our response cards because I DO NOT have a back up of the response list. But I am so bummed that I have to retype all of that info.

Plus I''m really bummed that I lost all of my pictures that I had stored on my computer an nowhere else.

Just a word of warning to the rest of you out there to back up your stuff! I really should have been doing that, but I NEVER think to!

 

[Stephanie]

Oh, Sabine, I am so sorry. Will it not reboot at all?!

 

[violet3]

Yuck. this happened to me a couple of years ago and i had to have a new harddrive replaced. However, the computer guy said that in many cases, even if you can''t use it anymore they can actually retrieve a lot of the data for you, including pictures etc. You might want to ask an expert if the pics are important enough to try and get back. Good luck!

 

[swimmer]

Oh Sabine!
That sucks.
My mac''s hard drive died 2 days ago and I found a place that will get my data for $250 or $50 if they find nada but just check it out. Probably not worth it for you with a $400 older computer. But my 9 month old macbook...well, I didn''t expect it to crash. Luckily all wedding info for us is in google docs so lots of us can edit and update. But I lost lots of work and school stuff that I hope will come back.
Its hard to believe, but sometimes the very computers that make our lives easier, can make them more challenging in the end.
Good luck with the re-typing

 

[musey]

Oh no!! I''m so sorry, Sabine.

Our guest list and budgeting spreadsheet have both been emailed back and forth between us and our parents SO many times that we''re pretty covered on vital wedding stuff... and if that weren''t enough, FI just bought an apple Time Machine for us to share, which is nice because it''s all automated. My entire hard drive is backed up ever 1/2 hour.

Thanks for the reminder, I can''t even count how many times I''ve lost important files!

And every time I just said "aw, man, WHY didn''t I back it up??"

 

[Sabine]

Thanks for all the commiseration...and I needed it because the hard drive is definitely fried. I think there was a problem with the fan, and one night when it froze during shut down it overheated, and well, now it''s just garbage. Just what I need less than 2 months before the wedding...but I guess I just need to go get a new computer and try not to worry about it.