Iowan

MOC_January 11- 2020 The Perfect Storm

MOC_January 11- 2020 The Perfect Storm
Iowan, Jan 11, 2021
Description:
January 11: 2020 The Perfect Storm
(528 words)
Weather or Not {Elements} by Paula Kesselring
Weather or Not {Papers} by Paula Kesselring
Weather or Not {Paper Pieces} by Paula Kesselring
Weather or Not {Weather Icons} by Paula Kesselring
In the Pines - Alpha by Paula Kesselring


The Perfect Storm

A perfect storm is a rare combination of events or circumstances creating an unusually bad situation.

My computer is eight years old and it has always been reliable, but two months ago it started slowing down tremendously. e.g., it took 45 seconds for Firefox to open. When saving a page in Photoshop, I could go to the kitchen, make a cup of tea and still be waiting for the process to finish. The computer was definitely on its last legs, kicking and sputtering in its final tasks. So, I finally broke down, sold a kidney, and purchased a new one. It was hard to find a computer with a large two-terabyte hard drive. Most models have a one-terabyte max. Yes, a lightning-fast computer, I’m ready to set sail. It is the same basic computer I have now, a Dell tower, but it has 64 gigs of ram vs.16 gigs on the old one.

Yet, wait a second. Do you hear the rumblings? Is a storm coming? I started the back-up process and my 4T external backup drive-B, for lack of a better name, died. Oh no! I lost several items that were only backed up on that particulardrive. I knew better-lesson relearned. Drat! Yesterday, still in the transfer process, my 4T external backup drive-A died. Unbelievable! Twelve years of unprinted layouts, poof! So, I went back to the old computer, which had not been turned off for over a month. Last time I turned it off, it took two hours and five tries to get it to reboot. The storm continued. The waters were getting choppier. None of the drop-down menus worked. Huh?

I knew I had Crash Plan but I did not have much hope of recovering my stuff. Finally, the stars realigned, I thought. I was so surprised that years ago, I had set Crash Plan to copy my external drive in addition to my computer files. Most of my photos were safe and sound, languishing in the cloud. Hurray! But......Crash Plan showed all the layout folders, but the folders did not contain the large Photoshop files, just a low-resolution jpegs here and there. With a low-hanging cloud overhead, I purchased two more external drives and started the backup process again.

Now that the fog is lifting, here are the morals to my story:

1. Murphy’s Law. If it can go wrong, it will.

2. Make sure you have a working cloud backup.

3. Print your pages

During the past few months, the perfect storm of events, eg., aged computer, two crashed external drives, and an ineffective online backup sullied the waters. I’m hoping for smoother sailing as this voyage continues. I was able to find most of my layouts on an assortment of small older external drives that had been relegated to dead storage. Thus, most of my layouts are safe again, I’ve learned to talk like a sailor, my sanity is restored, but with a colossal effort on the part of this navigator. I found my sea legs and printed two large photo books. Two hundred pages printed and two-thousand to go. Wish me good and favorable winds and smooth sailing.
SeattleSheri likes this.
    • Amson
      I love your journalling - you are a born storyteller. So happy you managed to recover most files and smooth sailing for 2020.
      Iowan likes this.
    • garrynkim
      I love the title. I love the humor in your story and I love that it seems to be working out for you. But most definitely a scary story and a good reminder to double back up things and print your pages!!
      Iowan likes this.
    • flowersgal
      Oh, my, Carol -- what a journey. I, too, surrendered to a new computer early this year and made the wise decision to hire a professional to install and work out the details of moving to it. That calmed the storm for me. He took my old computer and my back-up hard drive + a new larger EHD and said it took the entire weekend to do the whole back-up (I know how to pack a computer!). So sorry for your "storm" and glad you were able to make the recovery you have. Your story was well told and your layout with the big raindrops and many upended umbrellas is delightful.
      Iowan likes this.
    • Saar
      Wow, this is stunning! I love all the details of your layout! Beautiful work.
      Iowan likes this.
    • Karen
      This gave me cold sweat to read. AAAKK!!! I'm so sorry you had to go through that! I'm really glad to hear that you found your layouts at least on older drives. Good grief but you did have a string of bad luck! I snort-laughed when I saw "I learned to talk like a sailor" :rofl
      Iowan likes this.
    • bestcee
      I adore your title work! I'm so glad you were able to recover your photos and layouts! It's always scary when a computer dies, and even worse when hard drives die! I love your "learning to talk like a sailor"! Thanks for playing in my challenge!
      Iowan likes this.
    • HeatherB
      Love the journaling but oh boy, what a difficult situation to be in. Glad you found your layouts in the end. Great title work and love the whole page design!!
      Iowan likes this.
    There are no comments to display.
  • Category:
    Pollywog Team Layouts
    Uploaded By:
    Iowan
    Date:
    Jan 11, 2021
    View Count:
    400
    Comment Count:
    7

    EXIF Data

    File Size:
    248.7 KB
    Mime Type:
    image/jpeg
    Width:
    600px
    Height:
    600px
     

    Note: EXIF data is stored on valid file types when a photo is uploaded. The photo may have been manipulated since upload (rotated, flipped, cropped etc).