Another day and another phone call
Caller: “My computer went bang last night”.
Me: “Oh dear, what do you mean when you say it went bang?”
Caller: ”I turned it on, there was a bang and nothing happened. So I tentatively turned it off at the wall, turned it back on and still nothing happened”.
Me: ”It sounds as if your power supply might have failed. You could take it to Peter (our local repair shop) and see if he can fix it for you”
Caller: ”The thing is, it’s nearly 6 years old, should I save the money and put it towards a new one?”
We continued chatting. I explained that her hard drive was probably ok so Peter would be able to rescue her documents and photos and he might even be able to put it in a case for her so she can connect it to her new computer. The problem is that all this costs money, she’s on a limited budget and her 10 year old washing machine is also on its last legs.
Why am I telling you all this and what has this to do with backups? Simple – she doesn’t have any backups. None at all. She clearly wants to get the information from her old hard drive onto her new laptop, if at all possible. If she takes it to Peter she will have to pay to have that done, on top of paying for a new laptop. Money she can ill afford right now – with a new washing machine imminent and Christmas approaching (and new baby twin grandchildren to buy for)
I can’t stress often enough just how important backups are. I also can’t stress often enough how wonderful and convenient online backup is. Not only are your documents safely stored off site – but in a situation like my client faces you can access them from anywhere by logging into your online storage area. Until she can afford a new computer of her own she could go to the library or a friend’s house and still have easy access to all her stuff.
Don’t get caught out. Not having backups is a false economy and could be a very expensive and heart wrenching one.