Backup your vital files...NOW!

For those two people who follow this blog religiously (my mommy and myself), you may have noticed the lack of updates. This isn't just because working 7 days per week means any free time is spent trying to stay sane, it's also because my Judas Dell has decided to pack it in and die on me. Just when I needed him most.

Actually, that's not quite accurate because my laptop is an extension of my body (I'll be writing a long essays as to why this is so for uni). It's the appendage that allows me to tap into and manipulate my virtual identity. It's a part of me, so when it died, I felt like an amputee. Furthermore, there isn't really a time when I don't need him. At every moment, I need a laptop as much as the moment before. More so because of the invested time in building my virtual identity and creative works on it accumulates.

Unfortunately, it had been a while since a proper backup of my files was completed, so most of my time was spent trying to recover data on the weekend. Though it was a success, I know I've dodged a massive bullet because if I'd lost all the work on my book, it would have probably given up my few remaining slivers of sanity trying to restore those works!

Now days, most of my work is online and stored on servers across the world, instead of being located on my hard-drive. This means that all the work for blogs and blogging is safe. Even the countless draft notes and half-baked ideas are all still waiting for me to complete them, and wait they will!

I'm currently on my trusty old COMPAQ Presario Pentium laptop. A blast from the past, yet it still works utterly perfectly and without fail. I honestly love this laptop, even though it's slow, it does the job reliably.

So the lesson here is to backup not only your files, but also your laptop. Have an old one handy and ready to rock out at a moments notice. You can buy them second hand cheap and the investment is worth it. I paid $1700 for my Compaq back in 1999 and after 11 years, to still be functioning is a massive win for me.

Also portable hard-drives are also made of win. I owe a big thank-you to Gavin for buying me one for my birthday.


-Thomas
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