A Warning......

[Bayla]

.........to all those that don't back up their images & other important files.

My oldest nephew was working on the PC two weeks ago in the midst of a thunderstorm. Suddenly there was a flash of lightning followed by a big bang & smoke coming out of the CPU:eek:

The insurance company said 'Don't worry, it's covered' & the PC was duly sent off to see whether it could be repaired & for the data on the HD to be retrieved. Two days later came the phone call - 'The good news is that you are going to get a brand new computer......the bad news is that the motherboard took a direct hit & the data is irretrievable'

My sister is very organised and had downloaded or printed off all her photos although she did lose a data base with hundreds of names on for a company she works for. My youngest nephew is devastated - he had thousands of photos on the computer, none of them backed up. The computer company also said that if my nephew had had his hand on the CPU at the time of the lightning strike, he might not be here to tell the tale.....

Bayla


(I know they say that lightning never strikes twice, but I'm off to buy an external HD this morning)

[msbrad]

Thank you Bayla.
Definitely a wake up call to back things up!
So glad your nephew wasn't injured.
m

[Cmcburnett]

Oh my goodness, that's terrible. I learned the same lesson many years ago, so I have all my photos and documents backed up but I still worry about loosing programs on my hard drive. I guess mother nature just has her way sometimes no matter what precautions we take. I have 2 surge protectors on my computer but I could still get hit.

[Wendy]

Hi Bayla ...

Oh what a terrible thing to happen :(

I am sure that you won't regret getting an external haerd drive as they really do make backing up simple ..

Wendy

[grammom]

I'm glad everyone is okay.
Important lesson. I live in Florida--lightning capital of the world. My Dad repairs computers around here and I can't tell you how many times he has repairs due to power surges. It's also important to remember that they don't necessarily come from your electrical outlet. You should always unplug your phone line from your computer too. Just to be safe here--everything gets unplugged from my computers during a thunderstorm.

[winwintoo]

Backing things up is always a good move.

So is unplugging the computer in bad weather! A computer that's unplugged can't be hit by a power surge.

You say the motherboard took a direct hit - the motherboard isn't where data is stored. Did you or can you get the old hard drive back? It's possible that your data is safe and sound on the hard drive.

A few months ago, I did something really idiotic and deleted my whole iPhoto library. I was frantic, but knew enough not to use the computer until I could find a way to get the photos back.

I found an online business that was able - remotely - to salvage all but a handful of my images. The cost was about $150 but the relief of having those images back was priceless. Among the images were the last taken of my Mother who passed away shortly before this happened.

Margaret

[Punkinsmom]

Yes, lightning is deadly and should be taken seriously, I know from experience, my father was killed by that very thing on mother's day in 1959. He was only 29. So glad your nephew is ok but so sorry he lost all of his photos. I guess I'm paranoid. I have 3 back-up devices!

[jo]

Do you use a surge protector? I do, and I wonder if it's really the protection I think it is.

[annc]

I came so near it while I was away, when Cautley House was struck by lightning. I now unplug the mains and the modem when away or it is stormy.

I'm using an external hard disk backup with SyncToy.