Backup your source!

[zehd]

Backup your source! This almost goes without saying - something we're all already doing, right?

The unthinkable has happened and I'm quite devastated. One of my hard drives died today, and most of my ZTools source code has dissolved into nothingness. My backups are either incomplete or nonexistent.

I'm currently running a deep data recovery software, with a fairly powerful tool. (GetDataBack) The first pass of inspection should take 12-18 hours on the 300 G drive. The drive is making a horrendous sound, and from my previous experiences, I would guess I will not be successful.

As I try to find something good to come out of this, I think that I may pass this on, and remind others to backup their source and not assume that a few-months-old drive is 'gonna be ok for now'...

[sub]

Bugger

I hope you manage to get the important stuff back.

[whurlston]

Ouch.. good luck zehd. I feel your pain man.

[idkpmiller]

I am one of the masses, even after I lost a hard drive less than two months ago (luckily recovered 80% of the stuff) I still have "not got around to it" backing up that is, so your pain is going to help at least one person. As I am going to setup my source directory to be synchronised to another PC, RIGHT NOW!

Sorry for your pain but thanks for the reminder!

[bgowland]

The thought of that makes my teeth hurt. :eek:

I realised a few days ago that I hadn't backed up my current solution for about a month - it's easy to get caught up in the development side of things and forget about the mundane things such as backups. I put a copy on my other 2 HDDs plus I burnt 2 CDROM backups. One of these day's I'll set up an automated copy/backup with RoboCopy or similar.

Sorry to hear about it - I hope the recovery operation gets enough back.

Cheers,
Brian

[Smoker]

Backup your source!

Another good reason to make everything public

[madcat]

If it doesn't work - this might be a myth, but I met more than one IT guy to suggest it: put HDD in freezer (in a tight zip-lock bag), for few hours. then use it immediately after (trying to keep it cool, maybe outside the PC case).

I don't know if it is the operating under lower temps, or the time it is cool that moves "something" inside, but - if you've got nothing to loose...

Good luck.

[nitrogen_widget]

If it doesn't work - this might be a myth, but I met more than one IT guy to suggest it: put HDD in freezer (in a tight zip-lock bag), for few hours. then use it immediately after (trying to keep it cool, maybe outside the PC case).

I don't know if it is the operating under lower temps, or the time it is cool that moves "something" inside, but - if you've got nothing to loose...

Good luck.

I've done this before.
It doesn't work for those drives that are so dead they lock up the bios or fail to spin up, but it has worked twice for me on drives that rattled & gave errors.

However i've probably tried it 6 or 7 times so it's more or less a roll of the dice.

[HydroChronic]

I hear you zehd. I haven't backed up my source code since I started development. I would like to setup a tool to automatically copy my source folders to a dated folder on my hard drive everytime I plug in the thumb drive I store my source on, but that takes time to find a program like that and I have been kinda busy. I'll be backing up today though, so your troubles have made an impression.

[groover km]

I don't have source code to back up, and I never really bothered with backups until it dawned on me that just about ALL of our family pictures and movies are on HDD....

The thought of losing all that filled me with dread; everything else can be replaced, even the house, but (call me a sentimentalist) that would be gone for good.

So I went out and bought TWO external drives, spreading the backups over both of them, I use retrospect to run a backup once a week, and then burn DVDs once a quarter. I even store some stuff online. Maybe a bit overkill just for a family PC, but worth the peace of mind. The trick is to automate it so that you don;t have to think about it; if you have to think about it you won't do it.

Good luck with the recovery...