My Least Favorite Post. Ever.

This is a post I wish I never had to write.

On Friday, my worst fear was confirmed...we lost all the data on our external hard drive. After troubleshooting on our own and eventually sending it to the manufacturer (it was under warranty) they returned it repaired but blank. And there goes thousands of pictures, hundreds of graphic designs, our entire music library, loads of important documents and most of my Etsy shop. (Also known as "seven years worth of work, edits and memories") I am sick to my stomach. For weeks I dreaded the final answer, having a feeling it would be one I didn't want to hear. Realizing my worst nightmare had come true, I felt what I can only image people experience (to a much higher degree) when their house burns down, a mix of total shock, sadness and anger at the realization they've lost everything.

In the post you'll learn:
 -that I'm a bit anal attached to organization
 -how to keep this from happening to you

After Alex & I merged lives so did our computer files. Between desktops, laptops and USB flash drives, we began saving all data to a shared external hard drive, replacing and transferring to a new/bigger memory bank every few years. Over time, this collection had grown to include:

• Thousands of personal photo's spanning from pre-wedding to present, meticulously organized by date and event
• Hundreds of graphic designs including current business/blog logo's & a large portion of my Etsy shop
• Our entire music library - hundreds of albums, categorized by genre, date, etc. 
• Four years worth of family budgets in which I had logged every.single.receipt.
• Christmas lists/holiday budgets. Wondering what I got you for Christmas 4 years ago, I have the answer!
• Moving address list - an updated list of every person, company, magazine and rarely used department store credit card that would need to be informed upon any relocation. Complete with their contact info - just to make it easy on myself.
• Any resume/cover letter I've ever sent
• A running list of any interview I'd ever had, followed up with details like important questions they asked, what I did well and what I could have done differently.

These are just the things I can remember, I'm sure more will surface as time progresses. As silly as it might sound, it really feels devastating. So much gone at one time. On the other hand, I'm trying to think of it as a cleansing. Luckily, the 'best of the best' photo's were uploaded to Picasa and/or Facebook. If willing, we could spend the money to replace the music/albums. And I probably have hard copies of many things I don't even realize. I guess this is a good lesson for me to cut the attachment with 'stuff'. True, some of it I did need. But a good portion was lists I created and folders full of things that really just made me feel organized and in control.

I wanted to share because it feels good to vent some good needs to come of this...if I can keep this from happening to any of you super talented, creative, thoughtful people may I offer some advice:

First, go home and hug your hard drive. Thank it for keeping all your treasures safe and there when you need them.

Then:
-Back-up everything on a 2nd drive from time to time. Despite our misfortune, I still do believe that external drives are the way to go. But I was a fool to think it would last forever, even with our 'replacing every few years strategy'. (This last one lived less than a year.)
-If you're a photo person, upload every image you care about to a website like Picasa - it's my preference because the images can be downloaded in full quality if needed for prints, etc.
-I'm also going to start utilizing Google Docs more often, how convenient!
-If you have documents with no need for edit, consider burning them on discs for safekeeping.

I don't have all the answers, this is just a list of what we would have/will do differently going forward. If this has ever happened to you, let me say I'm so, so sorry. If you have any suggested methods of file safekeeping I would love to hear from you!