It was a strange noise. I knew it couldn’t be a good thing, but I didn’t want to deal with it at one in the morning. So, I shut the computer down and told myself I’d take care of everything in the morning.

After a relatively good night’s sleep, I picked up the laptop and got set to fire off some emails.

Click. Click. Click.

It wouldn’t start. And it wouldn’t start again until I got it back from the repair shop with my very own brand new hard drive.

I lost everything. I didn’t back up my files. I have to start all over again.

But, I did learn a lesson—a less, I hope, not everyone has to learn they way I did… especially students. Who wants to lose pictures, music, essays, projects or presentations? You could graduate without potential portfolio material.

It’s Cheap

The ironic thing in my situation is that I’ve been eyeing external hard drives for some time now. I didn’t want to spend the money on one, but the cost of an external hard drive is nothing like it used to be. I’ve seen 500G of space for as low as $150. Compare that to the $1,500 the repair shop wanted to retrieve my information, and you’ve got a deal.

It’s Easy

Call me dumb, but I didn’t know that you can set your computer to automatically back itself up everyday. It makes sense—your computer can do everything else on its own. You can download software that will copy whatever specified folders you wish at whatever time of day you prefer.

It’s Online

It’s true… you can find everything online—including space to store all of your files. There are some sites that offer free online storage, but it’s usually limited. If you’re willing to pay for space, you can often get an unlimited amount. You can have your computer automatically back up your files this way, too.

It’s Over

I was told that because I wouldn’t be trying to retrieve any information, I had to send my old hard drive back to the manufacturer in order to get the new one. This is how the warranty works. This seems unfair to me because it’s not my fault that the computer died. Moreover, just because I can’t afford the retrieval now, doesn’t mean I can’t afford it another day. I explained this to the Call Centre, but it was to no avail.

THEN, I read about another blogger who was able to keep her old hard drive, while walking away with a new one. Now I’ve gained back my sense of loss…

Any sad hard drive stories out there?