The hard drive on my computer went totally belly up last week. I had all nine months of my granddaughter's life downloaded on it, plus all my stained glass and quilt pictures. Throughout the past couple months, I kept telling myself that, "one of these days I'll copy everything to disks." {The thumping sound you may hear is me repeatedly pounding my head on my desk} My husband is a computer geek who works on computers all day long, and so far he can't retrieve anything. So, whoever has that stick, please pass it over 'cuz I really need it.

Sorry Ducky, wore mine out years ago!

Ninnie

OH so sorry

Sorry Ducky, I keep mine for beating docs with. If DH can't retrieve the photos, I'll bet Momma and other aunties etc. can replace most of them. Good luck!

Oh no Ducky! That's horrible!
I know EXACTLY what you mean! Been there done that and I think I broke that stick!

Ducky, you can store your photos on line with Picassa or flikr and it is free! That is what I do!


Ninnie

I bit the bullet and got a portable hard drive. I got it for a REALLY good price. Now, before my computer decided to act up, I need to get everything moved over to it.
I used to use thumb drives because I could pick them up really cheap or people would just give me theirs because they would go out and buy the hard drives, so I decided that instead of all these little things hanging out on my desk, I needed something that wouldn't get lost as easily.

Our computer did the same thing a while back. We took it to our computer person and she was able to recover all my pictures as well as various other things. Don't give up!

Ducky--I am so sorry!!!! I know that horrible sickening feeling in the pit of your stomach when you realize what has happened. :shock: My son in law WAS able to retrieve everything off of my daughter's computer when the same thing happened to her so I will keep my fingers crossed for you that your husband will be able to find yours too.

How about investing in an external hard drive for photo storage in the future? They are not that expensive and can be a life saver. Is this suggestion the same as "closing the barn door after the horse is out?"

I have a lot of stuff on my laptop, but I would say most of it is in my 'cloud'.....ie being stored up in the intangible world of the internet....all my important documents are with Google via Gmail.....all my important photos are with flickr, and I do all my financial dealings online too. I could drop my laptop into the sea and still be able to access everything I need as long as I could get to the web. And it costs nothing and is all super secure. Well, Flickr costs about 12 quid a year, which is nothing.

Sorry to hear you lost all those precious pics though Ducky, that happened to my bro last year, he's an IT guy too and couldn't get them back. DOn't be too hard on your self, we've all done it!

Yes, GaiGai, I thought the same thing. I've already put requests to DIL and her mother and my daughter to email me photos. My husband said he will buy me an external hard drive for my photos. I'll have to check out those sites, Ninnie. Thanks. Darn it all! I had some really great photos, too. Well, I keep telling myself that there are certainly more devastating things in this life than losing photos.

Ducky ... I know you don't need insult to injury, so I won't send you the stupid stick. Maybe there will be a chance, since so many other people were able to retrieve thiers.

I am going to save some of mine onto a disk today. I have it backed up, but you never know.

I have an external hard drive that I back my things onto. I also burn a CD of my stuff so I have it 3 ways.
:-o
Who knows when a computer will crash!
K

oh I'm sorry Ducky! I hope you get your pics back one way or another. I'm NOT going to beat you with a stupid stick though - bloomin computers SHOULDN'T crash!

K x

That's horrible Ducky! I feel really bad for you. That is so sad.


But you did remind me I need to copy everything to a disk. I hope you don't have to bring out the stupid stick for me.

My computer hard drive died not too long ago, but I had not erased my photos off the little disk, so I didn't lose the current ones! Now I just have to figure out how to retrieve the old ones from a disk that isn't reading right now! :?

That same thing happened to me. I got a computer guru to save all the files on a flash drive. Yippee. Now I'm pretty emphatic about getting things onto a disc for permanent use or a flash to keep manipulating data. Worth a try!

We have a separate hard drive that the whole family downloads into now and then. We havn't transferred anything from this main computer in a while. Maybe we had better do that soon before.........
I'm sorry you lost it all, how you can somehow retrieve it again.

Same thing happened to me and now I put all my pictures on a site called SNAPFISH. As soon as I download them from the camera! When it crashed and I had it fixed went to Snapfish and ordered the CD. Now they back on there.
Storage is free and unlimited on Snapfish except for a fee or ordering at least one time a year. I bought several dollars worth when they had a sale for 8 cents a copy so now I just pay postage for a while!
Mary

Snapfish stores and prints photos? I didn't know that. My husband is checking out the prices of external hard drives.

Ducky, dear, let me tell you what stupid really is.

stupid is when you tell the computer to delete all of the contents of a drive, and when it asks you if you're sure you say "yes" ... AND when the drive in question is your own primary hard drive.

and REALLY stupid is when you do the same thing a second time just a few months later!!!

don't ask me how i know. :roll: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Okay, Patrice. That one hurt just to read. Ouch. I'm not sharing my stick, though.

So sorry. I have been there myself. My stupid stick is all worn out.

Sound advice.

Been there too. That's a painful lesson. Sorry that I can't part with my stupid stick, but it is required regularly on the premises. lol

Were they digital? Did you keep the camera card without erasing them? You can upload them again.

I just had to replace a defective hard drive on my desktop. I have the little stick memory things going everywhere but I'm going to get an external hard drive. I'm scared it will happen to me again.

My stick got shredded in self-beatings to long ago to share. I'm sorry it's hurtful to know we delay and then loose the things that mean so much to us.
Sharon

OK, "Shelley the Bookkeeper" here....

If you put your stuff on an external hard drive, or thumb drive, and don't put it into a fire proof/water proof safe EACH AND EVERY TIME, you are still at risk.

I started using an online automatic backup. It backs up everything, not just pictures. It's cheap, around $50.00 per year, and worth every penny. I don't have to think about backing things up, it happens without any effort from me.

For those of you in areas prone to tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, house fires, theft, stupid-spouses-who-crash-your-hard-drive - I think you get the picture - it can happen to anyone!!!

There are several out there, I've been using Carbonite. Not related, just a very happy customer, and I do recommend it to my bookkeeping clients. If you use another company, make sure there are no limits to the amount of space you use. Some charge for amount over 1 gig, and we all know that can be used up in no time at all.

FWIW!!!

Join Carbonite right now! It backs up everything on your computer and you can retrieve it anytime on any computer. It's a life saver.


http://www.carbonite.com/

I had the same thought about losing photos so thought it best to go out and get an external hard drive..i suppose it works even though it is still in the box and not plugged in??!! its the thought that counts right? :lol:

Yep Snapfish is a life saver for me! You can fix up albums, correct photos, and order prints. Unlimited storage. For an extra charge (not much) you can download videos too.
I download from my camera, do any touch up (with about 4 programs I have---haven't learnt all the things I could do yet with these programs-still learning) and then download them to Snapfish!
The prints come back really good (even on scanned photos) and they have sales I got prints locked in at 8 cents a piece. I realy do like it.

been there done that so many times , my poor stick wore out :x

Lol! Mine's getting pretty good use these days!

Does anyone know where I can buy the Stupid Sticks? Think I need a "gross"!!!!!!!!!!! :lol: :lol:

Hope someone can locate your precious items!!!!

Good Luck!

LOL, Aunt Doggie. Suppose Costco sells in bulk?

Hey Ducky!! I have to go to Sam's Club this afternoon for shopping for work...
I will check and get back to you if they carry! Want a gross also? :lol: :lol: :lol:

Does your daughter/son have this info so you can collect it again?

Aunt Doggie, I won't be needing a full gross of the stupid sticks....just a few will do, thanks. :lol:

My husband took my hard drive to work yesterday and was able to get all my music and photos retrieved!!!!! You have no idea what a relief it is to have it all back. I could live without all the music (though, I had quite the collection), but I was so upset about the pictures. I'm lucky to love a geek.

Here are a couple of reasons I wanted my pictures back...

Great pictures, Ducky. :lol: