So everything just kinda.... exploded

Yeah, life, right? I was away from here for a bit because I have a lot of projects, and everything kinda went KABOOM at the same time, culminating in me hovering a finger over the big RESET button right now. If people are nice, I may tell the story of my insane last few years, but for now, I will TRY to focus.

So late last year, my webhost decided to flush its entire brain and remaining morals out the drain, demanding weird payments for things never ordered and then forcing everyone to buy something in order to change servers. There was an EU ruling involved or something, safe to say the entire thing made me move my online stuff. Then they didn’t release my domain names and blocked me from shutting them down myself. I just got EmbassyOfTime.com back this month. Yay to that, and my new hosts seem real nice!

I forgot I was using my website as a backup depository. Yesterday, my laptop reminded me by dying on me. Unless I can retrieve the hard drive myself (oh, the tension…), I lost everything but my personal photos and vids (which tbh are most important to me, so again, yay?). Writing, coding, animation, webdesign, all bye bye.

But maybe this is a sign. A sadistic, ruthless sign from dark, dark powers, that I should press RESET and do the dance one more time, from the top. I now contemplate this.

I am keen to know if anyone has experiences, ideas, trinkets of wisdom to share on such matters? I will post more as I get my head on right, but I am doing this by phone, as budget demands I wait till the end of the month to get a replacement computer. Gonna try a refurb, I think…

Also, I just buried the third cat this year from my rescue, so I may not be 100% grounded and rational for a bit. Rest in snacks, sweet Ursula.

Sorry to hear about all of this, but is there a reason you do not utilize something like an external hard-drive or SSD drive for backups (as opposed to potentially unreliable online only backup)?

I use the external hard-drive method. No reliance on internet connections and I can grab it and take it in the (rather small but still possible) case of a fire or a tornado.

3 Likes

i certainly have had to hit the big RESET a couple of times in my life… it’s both daunting, and liberating in it’s own ways. you’ve already learned the how & how not the first time around, so this can be viewed as an extreme spring cleaning to start fresh, clean, with new ideas and the previous knowledge. :slight_smile:

that said, back up next time. lol.

and on the cat, i’m very sorry to hear that… we just lost our 2nd oldest at 19 years old a couple of weeks ago, so i feel your pain. at least we gave them the best life they could have while they were here with us. :slight_smile:

4 Likes

External drives have gotten cheaper too, get a couple of them so you have multiple backups. Sorry to hear about your issues.

2 Likes

I did a fair bit of backup on external drives, but I have no computer right now and cannot check what is in there. Mostly I lost some (a ton of) writing, because I got lazy and just used quick FTP to back it up. I forgot that in the vortex of chaos that is mu life. Also, I suspect I may secretly be kind of dumb.

Oh man, so sorry to read that. I had Ursula for three and a half years, she was an old girl known for over two years by the local teain teacks. She basically crawled into the box when I got her, but she blossomed here and was the sweetest thing. But age, infection, and a sudden burst of treatment resistant fless did her in. She was lively until the end and finally died resting on the kutchen table by the window she lived.

Yeah, crying now. I miss her so badly…

2 Likes

First luckily you still have the personal stuff so that is a big win.

The HD sould still be ok, being a laptop it could be a little more complicated but it should be possible to plug it into a working system somehow and retreive your data.

If the worst comes to the worst its lost but take a deep breath and life goes on.

I have lost some material things that were very important to me in my life, well you just have to carry on if they are gone so be it.

Loosing a cat or a loved one is the worst part of all this, rest in peace Ursula. Grief is part of love, it is hard but love you have shared is worth it.

2 Likes

Retrieval attempts are planned, but the gear is not here till early nect month. So the reset option came to mind. Just trying to work out how.

Ursula is the big thing, yes. It hurts, badly. Also, March 29. I lost Whiskey, who was here for nearly five years, to the cancer she had from the start. So there is no lack of sorrow. But yes, life goes on for the rest of us. Just trying to work out how…

2 Likes

I bought myself another hard drive some months ago because I came to the realisation that I only had one back-up drive that I have been using for years now. It has happened that internal hard drives have failed me, which did lose me years of old work.

It really sucks when this happens, but you just have to suck it up and learn from the experience.

1 Like

Wow, I should have returned sooner, the support is great! Thanks! Anyway, I will try to reawaken my long slumbering Youtube channel, too. For now, just fireside junk till I find something more visually appealing. Did some mumbling here, do not watch unless massively bored! It goes down when I find some footing again…

Never put the responsibility on random people you don’t even know to back up your data online. Buy and use your own physical storage devices for backup, such as USB sticks and external hard drives.

I am deeply sorry for your loss, pets like cats and dogs are much more intelligent and aware than many people could possibly imagine, and we have a very strong bond with them, and they with us. It’s a terrible thing to lose them.

1 Like

So I was sitting there in my home studio/workshop, which has a concrete pad, working away on a client’s design. The table my laptop, with ALL my design valuables … including a ton of precious fonts … was made of steel with steel feet.

Lighting struck a massive tree no more than 10 feet from my house.

Up from the concrete pad, up through the steel legs into the steel tabletop … this amazing amount of energy zapped my arms which were on the table top and hands which were busy on the laptop’s keyboard!

Instantly … I was jolted back!

Laptop was fried!!!

Data recovery firm here in town was able to extract some of the files and most the fonts.

Lesson learned … Power Surge Bar, ha!

3 Likes

and remote (as in removables in another room, not innertubes) backups. lol :smiley:

working in radio, we get strikes to our tower on a fairly regular basis, and even with all the lightning protection on it, every once in awhile some gets through and fries something in the transmitter shed below. needless to say, we pay quite a bit to keep all of that insured for just that reason, even with all the protection.

2 Likes

I’ve also had to bury 3 cats this year. RIP Gizmo, Beauregard, and Oskar.

The first two had some lingering health issues that caused a gradual decline, but poor lil’ oskar the boxcar got a bladder tumor that was blocking his urethra. He went from struggling to pee to being euthanized on our laps in 2 weeks. Much too sudden and too soon.

The pain is proportional to the joy they brought you, so I’m glad they brought you such joy.

RIP Ursula.

1 Like

Your stories and warnings have inspired me to do the right thing and get an external back up drive. Thank you!

3 Likes

you have my sympathies as well. this one was pretty fast, a stroke paralyzing him within a couple minutes. :frowning: we’ve been expecting our 22 year old to have more major issues by now, but so far she’s doing alright. arthritic, and has some issues after eating, but she’s still happy and cuddly. we have 3 other indoor cats, and one in/out semi-feral, but they are all younger.

2 Likes

But keep some form of backup remote! I have my remote backup in the cloud because I’m lazy but you could also deposit a drive at a friends/family’s place.

1 Like

Holy… crap… Now THAT is a story worth telling!!

1 Like

Oh no… Oh god I feel so sad for you. And my childhood cat was named Oskar, so it even hits on that account. I feel so, so bad for you and your wonderful animals. I had one develop a MASSIVE bladder stone back three years ago. Couldn’t pee, got catheder, did not solve it. Got surgery, solved it but he srarted cramping badly weeks later. More medicine, then a specialist for better kidney diet. He survived and is the love of my life, but I live in fear of a relapse. Again, I am so, so sorry for your liss!

1 Like

A kitten with some inbreeding did the same here a few years back. Happy, happy, collapsed gasping, then dead. So sorry you had to experience that, I hope the others, young and old, live long lives!

1 Like