My laptop nightmare!

[Dien Rice]

I recently went through a grueling ordeal. If you use a laptop - let this be a warning to you!

I was working away on my laptop, having a drink - as I often do. When - horror of horrors - tea spilled into my computer!

My computer immediately shut off - and wouldn't turn on again. Oh no! All my important data is in that computer!

Now, normally, I back up my computer. But a few months ago, my backup hard drive was full - and there wasn't enough room for more data. So, I made a mental note to get myself another backup hard drive - then promptly forgot. So - I didn't have a backup!

This computer contained almost all the data I need for my business... Subscriber lists. Financial records. Partially edited issues of the Hidden Business Ideas Letter (a newsletter I produce). In short - if I lost that data - I'd be pretty well "scr*wed".

The next day - the laptop still didn't turn on. So I took it to a laptop service center. (My computer is a MacBook - which I use to run both the Mac operating system as well as Windows XP. Since it's a MacBook, I took it to an authorized Apple Service Store.)

I went through the possible scenarios in my mind. If I was lucky, they could fix it - and it wouldn't cost me too much. If I was partially lucky, the computer might be gone, but hopefully the hard drive was unaffected - so I could still retrieve my data (though I'd still have to replace the laptop). And if things were at their worst - then everything, including the hard drive would be gone. I didn't even want to think about that possibility!

Anyhow, after they looked at it for a day, I found out what happened. I was lucky! And I'm writing this on my MacBook now, after having just retrieved it from the service store earlier today. Luckily, there was no permanent damage done. They just had to clean off the remaining tea (that hadn't yet evaporated) from the logic board - where it was short-circuiting some of the circuits.

Whew!

Soon (probably next week) I'll be getting myself another (larger) external hard drive, to back up some of my data. Meanwhile, some of my most critical stuff I've already backed up on Gmail. (That's one way to put their over 2 Gigabytes of storage space to use! I use it as a backup system by sending emails to myself, and adding important files as attachments.) And, I may even burn some of it to CD or DVD...

So... The lesson is... Back up your data! I had a "near miss" - but I was lucky. Next time, I may not be so lucky. You can "always" get another computer, if your computer dies. But you can't always replace your data!

Dien
(feeling very relieved!)