Tuesday, August 29, 2006
This week's random reason to back up...
This is a true story, and a great reason to make sure your data is backed up - right now. A friend mine just had his laptop computer (it actually belonged to his girlfriend, significantly complicating things) run over by a car. RUN OVER BY A CAR.
He and his girlfriend were visiting from out of town. As they arrived from the airport, my buddy assumed the role of gentlemanly Sherpa and loaded up nearly every bag in sight on his way in the house. Chivalry is apparently not completely dead - yet. Coming across the driveway, his hosts shouted down and welcomed him after spying him through the second floor window. They actually launched directly into a conversation through the window, and after a sentence or two he put down a couple of the bags and stepped forward.
Cue the theme music from Jaws...
The neighbors use the same driveway. As they spoke, my friend had the sensation that something wrong was happening, but couldn't quite tell what. Then he realized that an SUV was backing down the path. He turned and tried to flag down the driver, but she was looking over he shoulder as she backed up -- only stopping when she heard his voice and an awful crunching sound (the sound of an LCD display being crushed under 3500 pounds of steel). We're still trying to see if the disk can be recovered, but fortunately the data was securely backed up an a separate hard drive - he thinks. He has to check when he gets home (and until then he's out of luck - yet another reason that online backup and storage is superior to other methods). He is, needless to say, a recent convert to the religion of ElephantDrive and our newest herd member.
This sort of stuff really happens. Back it up. Right now.
He and his girlfriend were visiting from out of town. As they arrived from the airport, my buddy assumed the role of gentlemanly Sherpa and loaded up nearly every bag in sight on his way in the house. Chivalry is apparently not completely dead - yet. Coming across the driveway, his hosts shouted down and welcomed him after spying him through the second floor window. They actually launched directly into a conversation through the window, and after a sentence or two he put down a couple of the bags and stepped forward.
Cue the theme music from Jaws...
The neighbors use the same driveway. As they spoke, my friend had the sensation that something wrong was happening, but couldn't quite tell what. Then he realized that an SUV was backing down the path. He turned and tried to flag down the driver, but she was looking over he shoulder as she backed up -- only stopping when she heard his voice and an awful crunching sound (the sound of an LCD display being crushed under 3500 pounds of steel). We're still trying to see if the disk can be recovered, but fortunately the data was securely backed up an a separate hard drive - he thinks. He has to check when he gets home (and until then he's out of luck - yet another reason that online backup and storage is superior to other methods). He is, needless to say, a recent convert to the religion of ElephantDrive and our newest herd member.
This sort of stuff really happens. Back it up. Right now.
