Luckily, I have the current draft of the book and all of my research saved on the pink and black external hard drives and blue flash drive. I was so relieved that I'd recently saved an updated version of my interview transcripts on the flash drive--I would have lost my mind if I had to re-type the five-hour interview with Howard Bloom. I also have hard copies of almost everything. Unfortunately, I lost some new notes that I'd jotted down for the book, but that information was not crucial.
It turns out that I'd acquired a virus that wiped out all of my files. I correctly guessed that the file recovery prompt was also part of the virus, and I took it to a local computer shop. I paid $150 to get Windows 7 re-installed on my laptop. I don't download music, but I was told that I could have received the virus from any website, such as Facebook, which is rampant with viruses, apparently. The technician also gave me a couple other tips based on his experience:
- Don't use Internet Explorer because it increases your chance of getting a virus. Use Google Chrome or Firefox.
- Don't save files to your desktop. Always save them on external hard drives.
Some good things happened, so the week wasn't a total loss. I interviewed Art Erickson, Prince's youth group leader at Park Avenue United Methodist Church! I will post about that interview next week!
I'd also like to give a shout out to Rakabash, one of my readers who passed along some very important content for my book! Thanks so much!
Happy Monday!
Invest in Dropbox (http://db.tt/hdtgQyc) (not much an investment - limited storage is free). It will automatically sync your files between all your computers and the cloud. So, instant backup in multiple places.
ReplyDeleteI got this when I started my thesis, and it has saved me multiple times!
Thanks so much for the tip!
ReplyDelete