Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Lost and found

February has been a really good month for me, and I thought today might be the day to try to recover some lost data. See, my laptop was stolen last month, which wouldn't have been so bad if I had been better about backing up my data-- but I haven't been.

I have an external hard drive, and I used to use it to back up my stuff. But last summer, I transferred all the backups back to my laptop so my brothers could use it to transfer files. I always meant to do another backup, but I didn't. And although I started moving my old backups back to the external hard drive, I never finished. Long story short, I lost a lot: all my dissertation work, all my BYU teaching stuff, years of photos, letters, journals, personal records, fiction writing, etc.

It's sucky, but I'm dealing. I mean, I wish I hadn't lost it, and I pray every day that a miracle would happen and I would get my laptop back. Actually, I pray that I will get my bag back, because it also had my scriptures in it, which I have had since my mission. Also a scarf and hat that my mom knitted for me for Christmas. January was a real loser month for me. But it's okay. I've rebooted my dissertation with a new topic, and it's rising like a phoenix from the ashes. Awesome!

So anyway, today I downloaded four or five free data recovery programs and went through the external hard drive with a fine-toothed comb. It was a lot of work, and it didn't go quickly, but I got some of my stuff back and that felt great. Mostly it was old pictures, but but I also got some dissertation notes and some records. So it's not like the stuff itself was super-awesome, but it just felt so sweet to get something back after all that loss.

--S.P. DAVIDSON

9 comments:

Linda said...

I'm glad you got something back. I can't imagine loosing all that data. It's been a rough month for you :(

squirrelyearl said...

Congrats, that's pretty awesome. I'm sad you lost all of your BYU teaching stuff. I always looked forward to your classes.

the House of Payne said...

Linda,

January was a rough month. February has been great. I got my dissertation re-booted, I presented a paper at a conference, I got to spend a week with my good friend Marc D, my dad made it through the first round of chemo and is feeling lots better, and I've had lots of positive social interactions. I'm even down a couple of pounds. :)

the House of Payne said...

Scott,

I always looked forward to those classes, too. And I'm sure next time I teach will also be fun. In fact, it might be even more fun since I won't be repeating myself and feeling like things are getting stale. Silver lining! Bam! How do you like me now, dark cloud? Yeah, that's what I thought...

Edje said...

Congratulations on getting a little bit back.

the House of Payne said...

Thanks!

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Aleigh said...

I'm so glad you were able to recover some of the info, and I'm happy to hear that February has been a much better month for you. There are other great things on the horizon for you. I'm just sure of it. :)

PS thanks for sharing your blog with me.

the House of Payne said...

Thanks, Aleigh! Thanks, spambots!