Back-ups

The sad reality is that technology fails on us when we least expect it. And what makes it worse is that nowadays, with the advent of iPhones and iPads and Palm Pilots and such, we put more and more of our crucial information into ONE little electronic device. And how often have we been told a story by a friend or family member recounting how he or she lost everything, either from a crash or because the item was lost or stolen?

Call me old-fashioned, but I have resisted the iPhone craze. I prefer analog, pen-to-paper processes. Remember Dayrunners? The manual equivalent to the iPhone or Palm Pilot. True, those can still be lost or stolen. But the theft-appeal of such items is extremely low, and the likelihood of losing one is also low. They aren't small enough to set down someplace and forget.

So I have a Dayrunner which I have maintained for several years. I rather enjoy writing in it with a nice rollerball pen, entering important information or dates, etc.

Wait ... the point of this post isn't my Dayrunner, it's the failings of modern technology.

Okay. So... Recently, as some of you already know, my laptop computer died. Everything was lost. Thankfully, I had a back-up, but it was a few months old. So while I had most of my files, they were older versions. It has been a pain to recreate the lost versions and update my files. And each day I seem to be finding something else that isn't quite right that needs to be updated or recreated completely. This all takes time that I simply do not have.

Lesson learned?

Oh, yeah. Definitely! Now I have three copies of all my electronic files AT ALL TIMES. I am not going to put myself through this hell again. Something else this experience has done for me is taught me--finally--to be more organized with my electronic filing. It has been a long time coming, but I am glad I have finally reached this destination.

And to think, it has only taken me two dead laptops.