The Death of a Hard Drive

Last week the hard drive of one of our customers died. It wasn’t a surprise. The drive actually had a warning system built into it and it had been telling the customer for a while that failure was imminent, please back up the drive and replace it. The customer decided to replace the 8 year computer with a new one, a good decision. But when we went to move the data from the old drive to the new computer, the old drive died. Not just a software on the drive problem, a physical parts failure. We are working hard to perform a small miracle and recover their data, but the anguish and stress this situation has created is intense. The customer has suggested that Mr. Tech Support was at fault for their data loss. While we care deeply about our customers and their computers, we do not and never have taken responsibility for the viability of their files. Even when we transfer data from drives we know are healthy, the customer is responsible for having a backup. In trying to make me feel bad for the dead hard drive, the customer went on and on about how important the files were on the drive. But in 8 years they had never backed up these “critically, important” files. We think in the long run most of the files will be restored, but please save yourself from this drama. In my January 4 newsletter I strongly encouraged all of our readers to back up their data. At the risk of repeating myself to the point you will stop listening to me, PLEASE back up your files today. If you need help, give us a call.