There's something about old data

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There's something about old data Wednesday December 26

Last year, when home, I ran out of time to deal with the old Dell that was sitting in my Dad's basement. Inside it lay three hard drives -- full of information I could have never fit on my laptop when I went to Japan -- and I was determined, someday, to get it all back.

I bought a 300GB portable drive this year, so I simply brought it back with me to the States. The old Dell, unfortunately, won't turn on, so it hasn't been an easy procedure: I rooted the drives out of it, re-installed them on my mother's PC, and am now gleefully copying data (old CDs, MP3s of when I used to be on the radio, etc).

The most interesting part, though, is looking at the state of the data. These drives haven't been powered on since August 2005. The last pictures, the "latest" music, the projects for work: it is more-or-less a snapshot of my life 30 months ago. Somehow that's fascinating.

However, the best data, from University, is long gone after a hard drive crash. It was early in life that I have learned to back up early, and back up often. It is not a question of if a hard drive will crash, but when. At my Dad's house, Sharon labored to scan in and print a whole album of family pictures. I asked her if she had backed any of it up. That's a painful story waiting to be told.

Friendly reminder. If you have data you can't afford, or don't want to lose, buy yourself an external USB hard drive for $100. Better yet, buy two, and keep one locally, keep the other one in a safety deposit box at the bank.

And you think I'm joking.

There is one other alternative, professed by some I know: never keep any data worth so much effort. Keep your life simple. Food for thought.