This week I’m writing from a foreign country.
Or at least it feels that way. I’m writing from a foreign computer, which is like a whole different world. I feel completely displaced, somewhat ignorant, and definitely alien. I probably deserve this exile, but I’m glad to know it’s only temporary. You see, I’ve written and spoken literally for years about the need for secure backup of computer records. I’ve continually offered our customers pearls of wisdom like these:“As you hopefully know, it’s never a question of IF your hard drive will fail. It’s only a matter of WHEN. ALL hard drives eventually fail. Will yours be today? Next week? Next year?”
or this one:“If you aren’t performing regular backups, you are PLANNING to lose all your data.”
I’ve even gone so far as to insist that our AcuGraph system offer MULTIPLE ways to securely back up your data–including our secure offsite backup service that guarantees your data integrity against fire, theft, disaster, malfunction, and any of a host of unfortunate events. Yes, I’ve preached, cajoled, shouted, and otherwise done all I could to convince you. Well those chickens, as they say, have come home to roost. Yesterday morning my computer refused to turn on. It was just dead. No amount of telephone support helped, so it was a trip to the computer store for me and my sick laptop. This is never a pleasant thought; that laptop holds my entire “life”–business, personal, past, present, and in many ways future. Pictures of my childrens’ first day of school. The family budget. My daily journal. 6 years of business records. The list of important items is nearly endless. I’ve heard of people running back into burning houses to snatch computers out of the flames, and I understand why. The thought of losing all that is troubling, to say the least. Even more troubling was the prospect of signing my “life” away when I turned over the computer. I had to sign an agreement that the computer store might lose all my data, might have to replace or erase my hard drive, and that all they promised was a working computer when they were done. Whether my data was on it was a matter of chance.