A CAUTIONARY TALE

It all started with the click of a button, or should I say, it didn't start. At issue is my ongoing battle with technology, which many or us, myself included, have become dependant on. As I set about to start my computer (PC) last week, I pushed the button and nothing happened. Like a bad starter, the computer was simply not going to co-operate. After a series of phone calls, the culprit was diagnosed, the mother board fried and the power supply had simply given up on our aged computer. The "experts" concluded that the repair would far exceed the value of the old PC and buying a new one would simply be smarter and more economical.

At this point, I wasn't too worried, though a bit anxious as I had just last week, backed up my important data to my external hard drive. We went out and bought a new PC tower and set about getting it up and running, when the gliches began to appear. The new PC runs on Windows 7, all our old stone age software is just obsolete, so off to buy new software. At this point, I am still more annoyed than worried. We now set about installing all the necessary software and low and behold, all would seem to be fine. My primary concern at this point is to move all my documents, data and misc. picture files to the new computer, I attach the external hard drive to the new PC and "what to my wondering eyes should appear", well actually, nothing! Since the external HD was a different operating system, there was nothing there, or rather the new refused to acknowledge the old (ain't that the way!). Now I am worried. I have a wide array of articles,hundreds of pages of notes about pottery and paintigs, my blog notes and posts, all of my Trocadero descriptions and pictures and a variety of other data that is irreplacable.

I scramble and make some more phone calls, more like desperate pleas and am told, for a tidy price (per hour) all of my HD data can be retrieved, but it is a techy and tricky process. In the midst of this debacle, we find our way to S-Mart (Shop smart, shop S-Mart) and out of the set-in desperation I feel, I decide to query the electronics guy about my situation. Turns out, he is rather computer literate and tells me, the fix is simple, go to a particular big electronics store and buy a hard drive docking station and provided the HD is fine, you can retrieve all of the data. Off to the electronics store to buy the last eSATA+ USB 2.0 docking station. It is a simple device, with even simpler set-up and as soon as I push the button, the HD whirls and whines to life and our new PC reads it as an external HD. Several hours later, all of my data is retrieved, with a new back up on the original external HD.

I realize for most people, this computer stuff is rudimentary and even rather simple, but for a guy who spends his days working with clay and experimenting with glaze alchemy, this was somewhat daunting to say the least. I wrote this to act as a cautionary tale, when even backing things up routinely isn't always enough. My new back-up regiment will also include burning important documents and files to data dvds once a week as well. I guess at the end of the day, alls well that ends well.

"It is a good thing to learn caution from the misfortune of others." Publilius Syrus (Lived during the First century B.C.)