Memories - Gone, part of me gets "formatted" !

Why I detest New Years Eve – Loss of Memories! Data Recovery in Need
Happy 2008 to all of you. I guess I should be saying how great the beginning of each year is and insisting on the optimistic side of life. I won’t. Personally NYE bring along some unpleasant surprises when it arrives.
This year though my bad luck had no precedent. As a careful kind of guy that I am I have 2 external Hard drives connected to my laptop where I can keep all my non essential data. I want my laptop clean and light so all my setup files, music, movies and photos are stored in these 2 hard disks. Since I moved to Japan though I had to buy 2 new ones since for weight reasons I left the ones I had in Greece.
Back to the 31st of December of 2007. Before I left for the two parties last night I left my computer downloading stuff from the internet. I won’t delve into details of how the parties were. My return to my apartment had a really nasty surprise stored for me. My laptop was full with warning like WINDOWS WRITING DELAY(or something like that) and letting me know that my data on my H had drive was lost. In the beginning I got a bit frustrated but said ok it is nothing I will re-download them, it will just take more time. My brain hadn’t yet registered the fact that the messages were referring to the drive itself and not any specific data. Instead of panicking at 5.30 AM and doing something irrational (like reformatting the hard drive on the spot) I took the prudent action of sleeping in order to clear my head.
Unfortunately when I woke up and thought about the issue at hand again I realized the situation was graver than I had initially calculated. Yes data is not important as long as it can be re-acquired. BUT, there is a big BUT that changes the equation. While Music and video and other related content is freely available on the web my personal life isn’t. My photos and videos are what can define me. My memories are mine and for me to enjoy. How can you enjoy life if you cannot ook back at the path you walked. Photos and videos capture the moment for eternity it is the pathway to the past and a way to connect with others.
Personally I didn’t want to upload my private life on sites like picasa and facebook since it only concerned me. Right now I regret tenfold not having shared my pics with my friends online. I have spent the whole morning of 1st January 2008 searching for solutions to this catastrophe of biblical proportions. If the worst comes to the worst I will send this hard drive to world’s best Data recovery labs. My memories include my family, my friends. My trips! Anything I worked for. There is no price tag to one’s life.
So yes 2008 didn’t welcome me the way I expected. Instead of gaining new experiences and memories I lost the ones I had in 2006 and 2007. That’s a hefty toll don’t you think. I hope to all of you to avoid this dreadful fate. Basically keep a copy/back up of your most important data. The one that cannot be restored if lost. So yes no party no fun for me on the 1st of 2008. UPDATE I have copies of my life memories until the Middle of March + Insead Graduation. What I have lost (other than tons of music and movies) are my trip to spain(*Found on Facebook), my vacations in Greece with my friends( nowhere to be found), my trip to London for the INSEAD reunion my trip to china and last months in Singapore (*nowhere to be found) and unfortunately all of Japan experience: My work, my work parties, my new Japanese friends and the experiences we shared here, the brunches, the meetings. All of it is gone but not yet in my head. Let’s see if Data recovery software works.

Comments

[athina]

Happpy happy 2008!

well not a nice thing to happen on a festive day. but i share the feeling since 3 days ago i had all my baggages with my memories and much more inside stolen from inside my car.

sooo, bottom line.life is sometimes a mess, but there is always a way through. and there is always an alternative point of view.

here is a quota i appreciate. "Loss creates a vacuum into which something greater always flows."

it's physics, baby :)

the best memories are those who will come!

[Maren]

Sounds horrible, really horrible. Well done for keeping your head and remaining phlegmatic about it, though - most people would have a nervous breakdown. Look at it this way - things can only get better.
Maren, www.find-mba.com

[Vincent]

Hey Stefanos,

Happy new Year man from your Corsican INSEAD friend.
Listen I had the same problem, and after trying everything with lots of different sources and companies, I found one (that charges quite a lot) but that against ALL ODDS (all the other companies had analyzd my Hard Drive and said it was unsavable) managed to recover 95% of my data.

These guys have an office in SINGAPORE and their name is IBAS. Check out their website, they are among the only ones to deal with EXTREME data loss situation.

All the best. By the way I am still in Malaysia but ttavelling quite a lot in the region for my job.

Best of luck Greeko-Nippon dodegball fanatic!

V.