System Crash

I recently suffered a nasty hard drive crash of which I'm still trying to recover from. The day I was going to backup data, I woke from my slumber and decided do the same to my Mac. However, it seemed to freeze. After a restart, the computer could not find the system. I suspect the thunderstorm the night before had something to do with the data loss even though I do use a surge protector. So I stupidly used disk recovery software that was incompatible (yes, I did know better but was too tired to remember) with the current Mac OS (10.4) and further damaged the b-tree structure of the drive. Not only did I damage the data, but damaged the majority of it to the point of unusability (as I found out after later recovering it all but not being able to open most of it), forcing me to reformat the entire 120 GB drive, reinstall the operating system, all of my applications, and personal data.

My last 'proper' backup was in March, so needless to say, I've lost a few months of calendar data, e-mails, projects, and updated contact information. This is not the first time to happen to me, and like other computer users, it's as frustrating, if not moreso when it happens again. I've got 3 other hard drives but they're all full with other project files. The last two weeks have been time I would have much rather spent on current projects instead of unsuccessfully trying to recover my files.

So if you happen to be reading this, I urge to you stop and perform a backup on your system now. At least on your most critical data. You never know when a crash can occur and it will save you weeks of fruitlessly trying to recover your precious projects and personal information.

Aside from that nasty incident, I recently completed the Set Etiquette and Protocol 1 course at Mount Royal College (a requirement for some Film and Stage unions), spent some time with my good friend, Dr. Michael Ryan of Palaeoblog during his time uncovering dinosaur bones in the great badlands of Alberta, editing/writing for the other blogs I collaborate on (see the sidebar), and filming a few weddings. I have yet to finish the wedding video editing, personal paperwork, tackle a few graphic design projects (including rebuilding one lost in the crash), re-scan images also lost, and start the research on a few new projects, but I suspect I'll get through it all.

I also just enjoyed a relaxing weekend out at some friends' lake lot where we watched the annual Perseid meteor shower. Though I've previously seen more meteors in one night, I've never witnessed streaks as bright or as long as a few of those this past weekend! It was great to get away from the technological disasters and into a more 'natural' setting. Truly amazing.