Lost all my files on my laptop, what now?

[jenniferlynne]

Well, it finally happened to me!! My laptop bit the dust last night. I was totally ticked last night but am over it now. I was going to get a new one anyway, so it's not the money part that made me mad. It's the hundreds of email addresses that I lost (no, I didn't back them up or print out hard copies). I actually will be able to find most of them, so it's not the end of the world. The only thing I'm mad about is I hadn't backed up my files for February. For those of you that have gone through this, is there anything I can do?

 

[BethCooks4U]

Take it to your computer guy (or find one if you don't have one)!!! You would be surprised what they can pull off of it.

When my computer DIED DEAD my DH (a computer guy) saved EVERYTHING!

All is not lost!

 

[AJPratt]

I was just going to post that! They may just be able to transfer everything from one computer to another. My tech guy at work did that.

 

[jenniferlynne]

Yeah, that is what my husband said too. He said I could probably find someone to retrieve most of the info off it for me. Last night I was so mad I wouldn't listen. Now that I've calmed down I am over it. I'm getting used to losing things. Before I sold PC and had all that stuff to worry about, my husband reformatted our computer two times before I had the chance to get all my stuff off of it You learn to move on. You also learn that all those emails you thought you just had to keep weren't that important anyway.

 

[sailortena]

Your computer may have "died" but I know your hard drive should be salvagable. Take your computer to a repair place or find a friend who is a real tech geek and see if they can get stuff off your HD and back it up somewhere else for you.If you backed up your PP on an external hard drive or a CD you should salvage all your contact info.

 

[dannyzmom]

Oh wow - I am so sorry

 

[tlennhoff]

Hate it when this happens. My desktop died and that is my backup system so for 2 weeks nothing has been backed up. I really should take the desktop to the computer guy as I'm guessing with a reboot floppy (yep you read that right) will get the desktop up and running quickly.

 

[Jilleysue]

Yeah defintely. I have had 10 computers die. They can pull tons of stuff off. But always back up..always put your email addresses in a 2nd place. First thing I do is put my clients in P3 and on my website. We know the website will always have the information....

 

[ange13]

ok, for all you techy people, how do you back up your emails (and addresses)? I have backed up everything else, but can't figure that one out. i use outlook express.

thanks

ange

 

[janetupnorth]

For the above posts, if it wasn't the HD that killed it, you can take the HD out, if you don't have another laptop to put it in, can buy a case for it so it can fit in a regular PC, boot it as the slave drive and get your data.

If it is the HD, there are sometimes still some tricks to get it to spin and boot up enough to get data off...like put it in the bag in the freezer (this cools it and shrinks the components down - that have expanded due to heat) and gets it to spin enough to work temporarily...

 

[janetupnorth]

For backing up Outlook Express go to File then Export and Export your messages and addresses to a file. This can then be imported back in later...

 

[chefmary]

Jennifer:

I feel your pain! That happened to me about 2 years ago and I was in agony, thinking I had lost 4 years worth of customer info! I used a program called Restore2000 Professional (I did a google search) and I was able to recover many of my files. I now back up all my files to an online site called X-Drive and I use Constant Contact to manage my customer email database. If it happens again, I can breath a little easier!

Good luck...it will take time, but you will probably recover quite a bit of your data!

Mary

 

[Chefgirl2]

Jennifer,

I feel your pain! There is a guy in New Albany or Jeff that will find it really reasonably. My Computer Geek is his companies name. Call or email me if you can't find it and I'll find out exactly his number.

We fried ours in Feb and luckily my husband had saved it all to the family computer. The only thing I lost was 8 shows that PC ended up sending me the hard copies, just in case.

Good luck, Elaine