It was during the start of the #coronacrapola that I wrote an article with five things you could do instead of making travel plans. The third thing on the list was:
Make Sure Your Data Is Backed Up
If you’re one who likes to travel, you probably have plenty of pictures from your trips. I’ve lost over a year’s worth of photos before so I’m semi-obsessive about making sure things are backed up, preferably in more than one place.
You’ll never guess what happened to me this week? The hard drive, or more accurately the fusion drive, in my iMac decided to break. Nothing like restarting your computer and seeing a logo like the one from a “No Parking” sign.
Sharon and I are the types of people who like to run our tech into the ground. My computer is from 2013 and it’s the newest one in the house. That’s except for the Chromebook that Sharon bought to use when we’re traveling. I still use the decade-old MacBook Air. Why get a new one if it still works?
When you keep computers until they break, eventually they’ll break. You then have to deal with the consequences. For me, I was thankful I kept a full backup of my computer with Time Machine. I managed to install the operating system on an external drive and then restore my computer from that.
So yes, I’m writing this post from an iMac with a fried hard drive running from an external hard drive. I chatted with an Apple rep about how to get the one in my iMac fixed. He said that since the Apple Stores are currently closed, the nearest authorized repair shop is over an hour drive away in Melbourne. One of my friends warned me about that location as they usually say they don’t have parts in stock and why don’t you just buy a new iMac. Uh, no. that’s why I want to get it repaired.
So what can you learn from this? First of all, always back up your data. Preferably in more than one place. If my Time Machine backup failed I also keep a cloud backup with BackBlaze of my data (pictures, movies and documents.) Secondly, always try to have an extra hard drive around the house. The last time I needed one, I purchased two. Why just buy one when you can get two for twice the price. I was glad I could pull it from the closet instead of having to head to Best Buy in the middle of a pandemic.
So when you’re sitting around the house instead of traveling, make sure to back up your data. I’m sure glad I did.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
