Panic attack (oh my...)

I just had the biggest freak out of my life...

As some of you may have previously read in other posts, I've written a novel. I'm doing a second run through edit... and sat down this afternoon to kill off another 15 or 20 pages (this is a quicker editing run). I wrote it last fall, and have been editing it with the aim to publish (self-publish) soon.

I have said document on a Flash drive (those portable thingies)... since my poor laptop that I edit on isn't the most trustworthy machine anymore.


I guess I shouldn't trust a Flash drive either...


I plugged it in this afternoon and it said the drive wasn't formatted... tried it on the other two computers... no dice


WHAT!!!!! (breathe, dang it, breathe)

Two and a half hours, one long IM conversation with a techie friend, cursing a bluestreak, and purcahsing not one, but two file recovery programs (one for 40 and the second for 70... ouch), cursing another bluestreak because the saved file wouldn't open, searching company's help files to find a Document Repair Utility (free, thank God), and now emailing the file to the other computer, and burning the file onto a CD-R... etc...

I'm saved. I've learned my lesson, Obi-Wan. Backup, backup, backup.

Holy Frijoles Batman... I need a drink. And another bowl of ice cream. Too bad I'm out of ice cream... darnit.

time for a new flash drive.

lesson here, my padawans? always back up your work. and don't trust any single piece of electronics to carry the load...

*sigh* I'm gonna go watch TV and regain whatever sanity remains...

Amanda

Wow! I'm so glad you finally got it to work! That must have been amazingly scary.

I've got everything on my flashdrive.... guess I should put it all somewhere else too....

Oh my god, what a nightmare. I have a novel, too, half-finished and that's as far as it's ever going to get -- but it would still kill me to lose it. Just keep taking deeeep breaths...

Yeah, I think you definitely deserve a drink after that! Thank goodness you were able to recover it. That sounds like something that would happen to me.

yep, I could have told you that. I've had that happen with a school project before. Always backup your work. The extra minute it takes to do so, could save you hours in the long run.

I'm glad that you got it all worked out.

Flash drives are very useful but they are more for taking data from 1 pc to another, rather than long term storage. Although I have managed to keep stuff on mine for a long time.
If your laptop is getting on in age, I recommend you buy an external hard drive, That way you could back up everything, to be on the safe side.

PC's and their accessories are wonderful wee gadgets until they "have a moment" then its very upsetting. Remember pc's are not 100% reliable and things always go wrong.


Can I ask what the 2 data recovery products were? I'm in a similar situation, a whole folder of my childhood, cat and my brothers wedding photo's have vanished for no reason. Not a virus, everything else is fine, no one else uses my pc. But they all vanished. Your purchase in the long run is a load better than if you had taken it to a shop. I have been quoted 1 arm, 1 leg and 1/2 my manhood to have those pics recovered.

Originally Posted by DIEGO

Flash drives are very useful but they are more for taking data from 1 pc to another, rather than long term storage. Although I have managed to keep stuff on mine for a long time.
If your laptop is getting on in age, I recommend you buy an external hard drive, That way you could back up everything, to be on the safe side.

Click to expand...

I'd love to, but at some point, if the money allows (like getting a decent paying job i just applied for), I'll just get a new laptop. This one is an OLD G*****y, that i bought brand new in 1999 (yes, it's that old, only runs W98), but since it's not online, it's more stable than the other PC. I also have a Mac, which I love dearly. My houssehold contains three computers, two cats and one human... not to mention the sewing machine, kitchen gadgets, hoards of fabric and craft stuff, nearly 1000 books, a few cameras, etc... 850 square feet doesn't hold that much, unfortunately.

Originally Posted by DIEGO

PC's and their accessories are wonderful wee gadgets until they "have a moment" then its very upsetting. Remember pc's are not 100% reliable and things always go wrong.

Click to expand...

Yeah... when I was back in Chicago, living in a 7th floor apt, I had one of those moments with my desktop PC at least once a month. I used to call my dad telling him I was >this< close to dropping that thing out my apt window... it's the Spawn of Satan and has had SOOOO many issues... it needs a therapist... either that or I do... maybe i just need to go back to Mac and balance the scales here... oh dear... a 4th computer *shakes head* ... although I would like to trade my PC desktop in for a Linux machine... either that or convert it into one... MUAAHAAHAA!!! (and no, I've not had that drink)

Originally Posted by DIEGO

Can I ask what the 2 data recovery products were?

Click to expand...

The cheaper of the two didn't quite retrieve every file... hence me getting the second one: called Recover My Files (smush those words together and add '.com' to the end). If you find your files, you may need to download one of their utilities after the fact, but search their support pages... If you run into snags, just PM me... I think I have them sorted out. But their support pages seem pretty thorough.

*sigh* I was hoping to do some editing tonight, but I think I need sleep... I never want that scare again... turns out the CD-R's I bought are music only... go figure... but it's on two computers, and they'll both get shut down for the night... I'll be stopping at OfficeMax on the way home tomorrow for a new flash drive and some disks...

I do have to redo the formatting (page breaks, italics, etc...), but that's easy enough...

So, help me God, this novel better make some money...

you can still save data/files onto music cd's theres really no difference.
At least I dont think there is.

thanks for the info

I think I'd rather get CD-RW's... that way I'm not blazing through a pack of disks on ONE project...

I just put it on a floppy for the moment... despite everything, I don't fully trust any of my computers right now. it's sitting on both desktops' hard drives, as well as in both email programs as attachments... but it could all get erased, very easily... I'll even put it over with the books... so it's FAR away from the 'puters.

Amanda

That was a close one! Im glad you were able to save it! I had that happen to me here at work before. Sadly I lost alot of the info that was very important. My boss was PO but I still have my job and he doesnt seem mad any more.