Worst file loss? (Hard drive failure etc.)

[Seriel]

So after the recent loss of my SD Card with all my 3DS data and lots of other things on it, i'm interested in finding out; what is your worst file loss (From a Hrad Drive failure etc.)

For me it would be when my old computer completely packed up and died, and I lost a ton of work, games and all sorts.

This is why I now back things up. (Except Nintendo doesn't let you back up 3DS game data ¬_¬)

So what's yours?

 

[Andar]

I backed up from the very beginning, but that was due to have heard of really crushing problems with lost data from others.


Thing's I heard happened to others without backup:


1) Someone working on a promotion (usually takes five years) to Dr. got his computer stolen one week before the work was about to be turned in, no backups. Made a desperate posting on the university where the computer was stolen to get at least the HDD back anonymously (got it with two days left on the clock).


2) An architect had a harddrive failure with a project for 80.000 DM (around 40K$), after three or four months of work done - no happy end in that case, the work was lost.


There is a reason why I added a point about backups to my starting point tutorial...

 

[Clord]

When professionals who do millions overlook backupping their work it makes one wonder that what the hell are they doing?


I backup my RPG Maker related work almost like a paranoid.

 

[Luminous]

My worst loss data is my IDE Hard disk (the old one) that I can't recover almost all my important data on my PC.

My old project is on there so that force me to stop doing rpg maker vx stuff for almost 5 year. Until Steam bring RM, I decide

to start again from new.

 

[Rikifive]

The worst data loss in my case was losing old photos (overall photos, from vacations etc.) because of issues with computer and formatting.

Well... that's not a big deal, but I don't have any *worse* data loss. =P

Any important files are backuped to my pendrive / uploaded to google drive. =P (I forgot to backup these pictures)

 

[taistelusopuli]

The ones Andar shared were pretty bad given that they are not just urban legends =D both could happen though. All kinds of things can happens when we talk of people...

For me? I have never had a hard drive failure (yes, been that lucky so far) but years ago my little brother tried to install Ubuntu on our computer as a dual boot. A good idea but with bad results. Long story short the computer is totally messed up and needs to be completely formatted and reinstalled. My compositions from my first few years were there. Never got them back.

I still sometimes wonder how my very first compositions sounded like... * gazes to the distance poetically* Since then I've never kept my project files on a system hard drive, always on an external one.

 

[AceOfAces_Mod]

I lost some of my data by hard drive failiure (propably due to how often I did Refresh on my Windows 8.1 laptop).

Good thing I had File History active and saved them on a USB stick.

 

[Ms Littlefish]

I've managed to get through my life without any catastrophic file loses. Trust me, I've had my fair share of machines take a swan dive and I've lost a thing or two, but long before portable storage was as simple as it is now I've been emailing sensitive and important items to my own inbox.

That was how I did it back in the day! Cloud storage these days gives me a lot more peace of mind, and I also make a physical back up, but of course those can fail. I still have my midi files I made all the way back in 2004.

 

[Kes]

I've never had a major file losses, never had a hard drive die on me.  But even so:

email important stuff to my own inbox

use Dropbox for storing current project (new .rar every few days/every major input)

USB sticks for current project, plus other USBs for other personal things.

Backup to an external HD with a program which enables me to select any file from any day for the last couple of years (which is when I began using it)

And you should see what extras I do for my day job!!!!  Which is why I take a multi-approach to my RM work.

I cannot stress strongly enough the need not to rely on just one form of backup.  Everyone should have more than one.

 

[Sharm]

My worst was with my first computer, the case had a flaw in it that caused the power supply to fail, which failed in just the right way to take the motherboard and hard drive with it.  Lost a lot of stuff.

 

[Bastrophian]

somewhat recently.... T_T ....washed my cloths but forgot to take out my flashdrive with ALL my members plus downloads on it from the past year or so....so much sad T_T ... Oh well...

 

[Kyuukon]

Never happened to me. I'm too lazy to do all the work back so I backup like crazy every few hours.

 

[Pine]

I have an AMAZING story. So, I work as an IT Contractor and a few years back they tasked me with the formatting and upgrading of a very important Lawyer in a firm into Windows 7 from XP. 

So, I went in and asked the guy what folders I should backup and he tells me "everything". I was... 19 at the time maybe? And sooooo unexperienced, so I ask him again and try to explain him that the desktop folders, my documents, etc. And the guy says "yes". He looked unsure... So I took his laptop and cloned the HDD using Ghost. I formatted the laptop, installed everything and restored his data from the manual backup.

A few minutes later he walks in and starts yelling at me like a mad person saying I lost his most important information, that he was going to sue me and I'd never work on computers ever again as long as he had life in him. Really nasty threaths.

So, I call my supervisor and he talks to the guy... It turns out his most important files on cases that were EXTREMELY sensitive, he saved them on the desktop, renamed the file extension into .DAT and moved them into system32/DAT FILES. He did this because he was scared of having this data stolen.

Luckily, I cloned his HDD and restored this directory from that.... and then I got fired because I cloned his HDD.

 

[Misty]

I have never lost any data besides a four(4) paragraph essay that got corrupted and I had to type it again, but I did remember it all and type it in 10 minutes.

I back up all my files on external harddrives and I use Mega cloud with 50 GB of Free storage. Adrive had 50 GB too and others have unlimited storage, but you got to log in every 2 months. Their names escape me because I don't use them. I got the names listed in my encrypted files though.

Also, you can use Recuva to locate stuff you recently deleted and restore it.

 

[Clord]

I have an AMAZING story. So, I work as an IT Contractor and a few years back they tasked me with the formatting and upgrading of a very important Lawyer in a firm into Windows 7 from XP. 


So, I went in and asked the guy what folders I should backup and he tells me "everything". I was... 19 at the time maybe? And sooooo unexperienced, so I ask him again and try to explain him that the desktop folders, my documents, etc. And the guy says "yes". He looked unsure... So I took his laptop and cloned the HDD using Ghost. I formatted the laptop, installed everything and restored his data from the manual backup.


A few minutes later he walks in and starts yelling at me like a mad person saying I lost his most important information, that he was going to sue me and I'd never work on computers ever again as long as he had life in him. Really nasty threaths.


So, I call my supervisor and he talks to the guy... It turns out his most important files on cases that were EXTREMELY sensitive, he saved them on the desktop, renamed the file extension into .DAT and moved them into system32/DAT FILES. He did this because he was scared of having this data stolen.


Luckily, I cloned his HDD and restored this directory from that.... and then I got fired because I cloned his HDD.

I would understand getting fired over messing it up, but being fired over restoring the important data? I love how some people blindly follow the law instead of caring about the end result.


If I was a boss, I would probably have let you get away with your "cloning" as long you erase the data afterwards.

 

[Pine]

I would understand getting fired over messing it up, but being fired over restoring the important data? I love how some people blindly follow the law instead of caring about the end result.

If I was a boss, I would probably have let you get away with your "cloning" as long you erase the data afterwards.

The thing is the cloned, or rather, imaged, HDD file (a .GHO file) was saved in a server on their premises. As a standard practice, we'd set up Ghost servers for this purpose, so if I had to restore his system I could do a network boot and this is where the cloned image was. I didn't ever put it on an eHDD or anything risking their Information Security guidelines.

He just took it personal and wanted me out. I swear that if this was some other contractor from the same company he would've lost everything. His saving method was pathetic and high risk.

 

[Rikifive]

I have an AMAZING story. So, I work as an IT Contractor and a few years back they tasked me with the formatting and upgrading of a very important Lawyer in a firm into Windows 7 from XP. 

So, I went in and asked the guy what folders I should backup and he tells me "everything". I was... 19 at the time maybe? And sooooo unexperienced, so I ask him again and try to explain him that the desktop folders, my documents, etc. And the guy says "yes". He looked unsure... So I took his laptop and cloned the HDD using Ghost. I formatted the laptop, installed everything and restored his data from the manual backup.

A few minutes later he walks in and starts yelling at me like a mad person saying I lost his most important information, that he was going to sue me and I'd never work on computers ever again as long as he had life in him. Really nasty threaths.

So, I call my supervisor and he talks to the guy... It turns out his most important files on cases that were EXTREMELY sensitive, he saved them on the desktop, renamed the file extension into .DAT and moved them into system32/DAT FILES. He did this because he was scared of having this data stolen.

Luckily, I cloned his HDD and restored this directory from that.... and then I got fired because I cloned his HDD.

I must admit - this is really amazing story indeed...

 

[Triple Gemini]

I try to back up my files as offten as possible with either my external hard drive or UBS. I probably have 6 usb's with a lot of my files. The worse file I would say I that I lost due to my old desktop's motherboard frying, has to be my music file. I had hundred's of songs in a folder that I have collected over the years. If I had to guess how many song, I'd say close to 300 or 350, maybe even more.

I was so bummed and I don't even remember all the songs I had so I can't just get 'em back, either.

 

[Tsukihime]

I have a 3TB external for backup of various things that I've collected from the internet and I don't have a backup of that one yet. And there's some pretty old things in there like MMO game clients that are no longer available to download.


If it dies, there goes about 3 TB of data


I regularly have backups for things that are small in size, but I have no idea what to do with large files.

 

[9tkitsune]

hmm... when I found out the PS Vita I had bought online had still some other dude ( previous owner ) registered and the only way to change the registration was to format the damn thing - WITH all game saves and everything I had so far. 
there were games on it I had already beaten with high scores and great characters and stuff x__x it was insane.