Man am I in some Hot Water!

[abadk9420]

That really sucks that they were not able to recover your Data, , I feel sad for you and your wife loosing all of those memories but at least it sounds like your family is going to help where they can, and you will have many more memories to catch on camera in the future..I guess from now on you will be burning a lot more stuff to disc so you will always have back ups of all your photos and personal information...it could of happened to any of us, as a matter of fact it happened to me along time ago when a friend of mine who said "he knew what he was doing", deleted the wrong partition, he was able to recover some of the stuff but not all...live and learn I guess, one things for sure if she is any thing like my wife she will never let you forget it, it will be one of those things where she will say remember the time when you? I hate it when my wife dose that to me, but oh well what are you gonna due, what's done is done and you tried your best to fix the problem, and thats all you could do...

 

[godale03]

I am sure it will be something that will be brought up during some argument or serveral arguments. She will probably bring it up the one and only time I am about to win the argument. I will be just about to say "I'm right!" and then she will drop the bomb, and the argument will have been lost. Dropped like the atom bomb!

Well last night I took a trip to Best Buy (my second favorite store) and picked up a new external drive so that we can begin rebuilding the dike. I also have a spindle of DVD's that will get used to back everything up once we finish rebuilding all the finacial data, and restoring what pictures we are able to recover. Then I will backup and archive whenever anything new is added. That DVD will then go to the Fire Safe and maybe another copy over to her parents to keep in their safe. I can't stress enough to everybody out there... backup up your info routinely, and then make backups of your backups.

And always, always remember..... never, ever try to rebuild your PC while watching your baby at the same time!

 

[alpinehyperlite]

. I can't stress enough to everybody out there... backup up your info routinely, and then make backups of your backups.

QUOTE]

I use 3 ways to back up my work stuff. All my car info i have to keep up with, Summons to court, arrest reports, crash reports....... pretty much anything i will need to reference, or anything that i need to use to prove "yes, i think that much force was required" and photo's of everyone i arrest before and after booking, again to protect my ass.

I have 2 4gig thumb drives that I back up everything on, and leave one in my car, and one in my office, have the laptop in the car, and transfer it to my house every night where i then upload it all to a 300gig external.

 

[godale03]

Your right... you have to protect yourself. Most of us have our lives on our computers. That is the double edged sword with electronics. It is just as easy to save your data as it is to loose it. I think Charlestheman said it... that when we used to have to actually develop our film we had an instant hard copy, now that we have everything digital, you can view and save your photos without having to print them out. It is easy and takes less time and money. However technology has made us lazy.. or at least made me lazy and it bit me in the ass. I won't make the same mistake again! I will have some sort of hard copy backup.

 

[HeartBreak]

Your right... you have to protect yourself. Most of us have our lives on our computers. That is the double edged sword with electronics. It is just as easy to save your data as it is to loose it. I think Charlestheman said it... that when we used to have to actually develop our film we had an instant hard copy, now that we have everything digital, you can view and save your photos without having to print them out. It is easy and takes less time and money. However technology has made us lazy.. or at least made me lazy and it bit me in the ass. I won't make the same mistake again! I will have some sort of hard copy backup.

Therein lies an idea to get back in her good graces. One word; scrapbook. Women go ga-ga over that type of thing.

 

[CharliesTheMan]

There's something else that I would do along with what Rolex mentioned. This could be done real soon while waiting to get the album done. This is something that I think more men should do more often, and I don't think it could hurt the situation so there isn't a lot to lose on this one. If I were you, I would sit down and write her a long note. Be completely honest with her, but don't try to kiss up in excess. Just write to her and let her know how hard this is on you, so she doesn't feel like you're just blowing it off. Just write with an honest heart and tell her how much you love her, and how much it hurts you to know that you let her down. Let her know that you're TRULY sorry, and that it was one of your biggest mistakes. Be honest about how bad you're feeling and how much that it's affecting you to lose such precious memories. At least that way she really knows that you care about the stuff just as much as she does. I know that you guys have had some ups and downs in the past, and I really think it could help if you open up to her. Don't make it sound like a pity party, just be honest about how hard it is every second to think of how much she's hurting over this whole ordeal.

 

[MrClean]

There's something else that I would do along with what Rolex mentioned. This could be done real soon while waiting to get the album done. This is something that I think more men should do more often, and I don't think it could hurt the situation so there isn't a lot to lose on this one. If I were you, I would sit down and write her a long note. Be completely honest with her, but don't try to kiss up in excess. Just write to her and let her know how hard this is on you, so she doesn't feel like you're just blowing it off. Just write with an honest heart and tell her how much you love her, and how much it hurts you to know that you let her down. Let her know that you're TRULY sorry, and that it was one of your biggest mistakes. Be honest about how bad you're feeling and how much that it's affecting you to lose such precious memories. At least that way she really knows that you care about the stuff just as much as she does. I know that you guys have had some ups and downs in the past, and I really think it could help if you open up to her. Don't make it sound like a pity party, just be honest about how hard it is every second to think of how much she's hurting over this whole ordeal.

:goodpost:

 

[godale03]

Or I could have Charles write the letter for me! LOL

That would go against every single rule that came with my man card.

Great idea though. I think I might give that a shot. Just don't tell Robmob... he has tried to take my man card before!

 

[CharliesTheMan]

You'll have plenty of time to play the man card while you're sleeping in a one bedroom apartment that still has pizza on the roof from the frat boys before you, while you're wife gets everything in the divorce and lives in your house with the kids, if you keep following the rules of the man card.

 

[RC Addict]

You'll have plenty of time to play the man card while you're sleeping in a one bedroom apartment that still has pizza on the roof from the frat boys before you, while you're wife gets everything in the divorce and lives in your house with the kids, if you keep following the rules of the man card.

Damn Charlie, you are deep my friend. My girlfriend wants to marry you...

 

[olds97_lss]

My girlfriend wants to marry you...

She must have seen his avatar...

 

[RC Addict]

She must have seen his avatar...

He He He!!!

 

[WoodiE]

godale,

Why couldn't you try to do the same recovery with either the software of the recovery company using the original HDD, not the external?


-Michael

 

[GrudgE]

I am sorry about your luck man. I believe though it should come as a warning to all of us. I have had Drives just crap out for no reason. I even made the same mistake with formatting and wiping wrong drive. I believe I am gonna check into some of these online back-ups. I am curious the prices and what kid of time it takes to do a back-up.

 

[godale03]

Damn Charlie, you are deep my friend. My girlfriend wants to marry you...

No doubt right! My wife would probably want the same thing!

Charlie is right though. In a marriage being "the man" is a stupid attitude to have and one that will cause more arguments than it will solve. My wife and I are in uncertain waters, and in probably the toughest time our marriage has seen. And this isn't as result of the lost hard drive, that was just a small, small part of it. My wife and I have struggled to communicate, and that is causing all sorts of problems. We used to communicate well, but after preganacy, and now the birth of our daughter, things have deteriorated fast in the last year. The lack of sleep, intimacy, and life outside raising a family has taken its toll. Hell I haven't been able to race one lap this year, and to be honest, I am starting to resent that. Hopefully things will change for the better. Maybe they won't, but Charlie's and Rolex's idea might help to close the gap a little, and maybe give the lack of communication a jump start.

godale,

Why couldn't you try to do the same recovery with either the software of the recovery company using the original HDD, not the external?


-Michael

I actually tried that, and was unable. The original HD has been formatted and rebuilt. I even suggested I send that drive out to CA to see if they could recover anything. Apparently once you perform a long format, recovering data is impossible.

 

[HeartBreak]

Not in all cases, Godale. The way NTFS is, it uses a dual file table. One copy at the beginning, and a shadow copy at the end. It's usually for instances such as this. Try this... Plug in that drive, and type in "fixmbr \Device\HardDisk1".

If that doesn't work, perhaps try something like this software package here:

http://www.ptdd.com/mbr.htm

 

[MrClean]

Tom - I certainly don't know your exact situation and we all have different family lives...etc. But I think I had a similar experience as you're going through now. My wife and were married for 5 years before my daughter was born, so we had built a 'married life' based on the two of us. When my daughter was born, I resented a lot of things, myself, my wife and my daughter. It sounds bad, but it's part of human nature (I think). I wasn't being the best father/husband during the months following the arrival of my daughter. We were having similar issues like you and your wife. My wife finally sat down and wrote a pretty hurtful letter to me stating her feelings. She left it for me to find when she was not there and later told me that she had second thoughts and wanted to take it back, but it was too late, I had already read it. She was right about how I was acting, it was difficult for me to transition from being just a husband to being both a husband and a dad. I didn't like hearing what she was saying, but I knew it was true. We managed to somehow make it through those rough times, I wish I had an answer as to how, but I don't. Just know that it will get better for both of you, if you guys can just stick to together and work through the rough times. We've been married for 16 years now and we love each other more now than we ever have.

I don't want you to think that I'm comparing your life to mine, like I said they're all different. I just wanted you to know that you're not alone in this and that others have had to go through similar life changes. I wish you and your wife the best, you obviously love her and I'm sure the same goes for her. Good luck my friend.

 

[CharliesTheMan]

Not in all cases, Godale. The way NTFS is, it uses a dual file table. One copy at the beginning, and a shadow copy at the end. It's usually for instances such as this. Try this... Plug in that drive, and type in "fixmbr \Device\HardDisk1".

If that doesn't work, perhaps try something like this software package here:

http://www.ptdd.com/mbr.htm

I'm thinking that there is still hope as well, but I don't reccomend trying it on your own again just because things can happen like last time. I would find a VERY qualified computer geek in your local area. You can take the original drive to him and let him just take a look at it, and determine what needs to be done, and if it needs to be sent off, he will have the qualifications to know who to send it to, and how to repair it. I think there's still hope left for the original drive. I'm not at all trying to insult your intelligence, but since this is going to be a one chance deal, I would take it straight to the professionals.

 

[HeartBreak]

I'm thinking that there is still hope as well, but I don't reccomend trying it on your own again just because things can happen like last time. I would find a VERY qualified computer geek in your local area. You can take the original drive to him and let him just take a look at it, and determine what needs to be done, and if it needs to be sent off, he will have the qualifications to know who to send it to, and how to repair it. I think there's still hope left for the original drive. I'm not at all trying to insult your intelligence, but since this is going to be a one chance deal, I would take it straight to the professionals.

Agreed. Look for a place that's closer to you that can do data recovery. See if they can give you a free assessment.

If they can, package that puppy with at least 4 inches of foam rubber on each side of the drive (in a static bag, of course), followed with a couple inches of firmly packed packing peanuts.

Good luck Godale... I really do hope you are able to salvage this drive.