Every 15 seconds, a hard drive crashes somewhere in the world. This summer, I was fortunate enough to experience it firsthand. Twice. Let's walk through it.
Being of the generation of computers and hard drives, we tend to store large amounts of data digitally, rather than on paper. Everything from music, to movies, documents, pictures, receipts, financial records, e-mail - you get the idea. None of us are alone; according to Symantec, a leading manufacturer of anti-virus software, 90 percent of people store critical information on their computer.
Of course, any computer expert will tell you over and over again to back up your data and do so regularly. Of course, some people heed their advice. But some don't.
July 10: My MacBook's hard drive suffered a catastrophic failure. A gear got loose, physically destroying the rest of the drive. No option of recovery. Therefore, I'm the proud new owner of an expensively wired paperweight.
I wasn't happy, but life went on. An iPod served as an impromptu music backup drive. The most important documents were stored online. But photos from the summer in New York City were gone.
August 18: The desktop computer, which holds the most critical data, suffers a system error and fails. At this point, I'm on the edge, fearing every digital file was completely lost. Nobody likes to rebuild their virtual lives from the motherboard up.
Many of you are the owners of a new computer, whether you purchased it for the first year of college or are simply replacing an older one for the upcoming semester. (Maybe replacing one that failed?) Be warned: of the 90 percent of people who store data of some kind on a computer, only 57 percent actually take the time to back it up. Therefore, data recovery is becoming a booming business in the United States; according to a study by Pepperdine University, data loss costs businesses in the United States an average of $18 million annually. That's not even including the cost people like you would have to pay someone to recover the photos from last Thursday's bar-hopping trip through the Village that are stored on the computer right now.
Then there's the emotional cost. August 18th, I was ready to spill my life story to a shrink. A smart psychiatrist could make a pretty penny dealing with the eminent psychological fallout from coping with the loss of data.
But realistically, we must acknowledge that most hard drives have moving parts. And they age with use. Wear and tear alone can cause stress over time, and eventually, your hard drive will fail. And it will be heartbreaking.
The point of this sad story? To convey the importance of protecting your data.
You know to protect yourself in bed.
You know to buckle up in a car.
You even know not to run with scissors.
But what you should do - protect your digital life. Please, surf safely. Use a backup drive.
Write to Sean at spokey@bsu.edu
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