The need to back-up digital files
There are days when I really do hate computers. One hard drive that I hadn't backed up yet became corrupted and I lost a large number of digital files, mostly RAW. I'm still in the process of trying to recover as many as I can, but I'm not extremely hopeful that I'll get them all. I think I've got about 1/4 - 1/3 of them so far.
My computer, I believe, in particular the motherboard, has a defect that has plagued me here and there since I purchased the thing. I had to replace the motherboard not long after I bought it, so it could be something else, like maybe a bad memory chip. I recently replaced a firewire card that I suspected was giving me trouble with the firewire drives, but I'm getting the same error now after the replacement as well as a complete reload of the system. The message is a "delayed write" error on one of the firewire drives. I have 2 firewire drive enclosures, one is a 2-bay enclosure and the other is a 4-bay enclosure. The 4-bay enclosure is where I'm getting the error from and from where the drive was corrupted. I'm suspecting the enclosure at this point.
But, I've spent the past 2 full days reformatting, reloading and reconfiguring the computer. It would also happen to be the drive I haven't backed up. It goes to show that having a consistent workflow for backing up and archiving is vital if you are to maintain any sort of safety net for your digital files. I got busy doing other things and neglected this drive. One day I booted up the system and Windows XP saw something (or thought it saw) damaged on the drive and attempted to fix it (damaged chains) and before I knew it the drive had been scrambled. Whether it was a virus or not I don't know. Norton has not indicated I have one (which isn't unheard of), but I should have had issues with other drives if that was the case.
Anyway, there was nearly 60GB of digital files on that drive, so this might be a good warning to those of you out there who are slacking on your backup. Better the take the time now than to regret it later.
My computer, I believe, in particular the motherboard, has a defect that has plagued me here and there since I purchased the thing. I had to replace the motherboard not long after I bought it, so it could be something else, like maybe a bad memory chip. I recently replaced a firewire card that I suspected was giving me trouble with the firewire drives, but I'm getting the same error now after the replacement as well as a complete reload of the system. The message is a "delayed write" error on one of the firewire drives. I have 2 firewire drive enclosures, one is a 2-bay enclosure and the other is a 4-bay enclosure. The 4-bay enclosure is where I'm getting the error from and from where the drive was corrupted. I'm suspecting the enclosure at this point.
But, I've spent the past 2 full days reformatting, reloading and reconfiguring the computer. It would also happen to be the drive I haven't backed up. It goes to show that having a consistent workflow for backing up and archiving is vital if you are to maintain any sort of safety net for your digital files. I got busy doing other things and neglected this drive. One day I booted up the system and Windows XP saw something (or thought it saw) damaged on the drive and attempted to fix it (damaged chains) and before I knew it the drive had been scrambled. Whether it was a virus or not I don't know. Norton has not indicated I have one (which isn't unheard of), but I should have had issues with other drives if that was the case.
Anyway, there was nearly 60GB of digital files on that drive, so this might be a good warning to those of you out there who are slacking on your backup. Better the take the time now than to regret it later.
posted by Mike Shipman | 8:02:00 PM
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