Typically, I talk about marketing and PR. While writing about computer recovery may seem a bit off-topic, having a functioning computer is a critical for many entrepreneurs. Let’s face it: if your computer isn’t working, neither is your business. No amount of marketing dollars or PR tactics can overcome the loss of technology. Here’s how I quickly recovered from a crash [in about 8 hours] and how you can avoid making the same mistakes I did.
Whew! I crashed there for a few days. When I woke up Saturday morning after two days of BlogWorld in Vegas, my intention was to post my notes and takeaways. But my computer had other ideas. Treating me to one blue screen after another, it never kicked in and rebooted.
Was it too much blogging? Too many late nights on the Internet? Too many files open at once? What would disable a one-year-old refurbished laptop?
After losing my last laptop in repair hell for 40 days and 40 nights, I wasn’t overly optimistic about having this one back in time for my Blogging 101 for Entreprenuers presentation tomorrow. Thanks to Shane, who blogs at Gorilla Sushi and repairs computer at Circuit
City in
Downers Grove, I was back and running with four hours. Seems I fried the hard drive.
With a new, clean drive, it’s faster. Without all the downloads and files, it’s lighter. Most of the data made it onto two DVDs. This time, I’m not going to copy every file back onto to the hard drive. As it stands now, only a few main files appear in my computer.
What did I learn from all of this? First of all, don’t get too upset. That is, until you know the extent of the loss and damage. And second, prepare for a crash before it happens. Third, prepare a computer recovery plan. Much of this is common sense, but I didn’t get it.
- Buy your computer at a place with a convenient service center so that when you want to use your extended warranty, you’ll be able to get there
- Back up your database online or on a hard drive
- Upload images to Flickr or share them somewhere with friends online
- Keep your install and program discs where you can find them
- Find a really good computer tech that specializes in your system
- Inventory everything on your computer and copy everything that’s precious onto a DVD and an external hard drive
- Minimize the amount of active files on your hard drive – remember the days when almost everything was saved to a floppy?
- Email copies of files to one of your own inboxes so you can retrieve them anytime
- Fung shui your files by having your computer accurately reflect who you are at the moment, think: declutter
- Delete or move files you don’t need as in declutter
- Update your operating system first
- Install your preferred programs next
- Reinstall your computer virus software last
- Think of your blog as your creative archive where you store your stories and files
- Explore an online back up system that keeps your files ready to go whenever
- Consider donating a slower, but still good, computer to a charity organization
Yes, all common sense, but all things I was too busy to do until my computer made the decision for me.
