Unlucky, Lucky & One Scary, Expensive Lesson

I've never considered myself "lucky"... in the sense of winning things or having especially good fortune, but at the same time I never thought I was "unlucky," that is until this past week.

One year and two months ago, I decided that I wanted a computer that could handle design software and was high quality so it would last a long time. I did my research and invested in a MacBook Pro, that came with Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office and a bunch of other packaged software. For one year and two months I have been very happy with decision. My computer has been lightning fast and had no problems...that is until this past week.

I was in the middle of my normal routine: stats, a few breaks to surf the net, checking email, etc. when all of the sudden my computer starts running SUPER slow and everything freezes up. I try all the shortcut commands to try and close everything down...nothing works. So I power it off. When I go to turn my computer back on, I get a blank blue screen. I do some research and find out that I can start it in safe mode. It works and I'm so relieved.


We call Apple to get some help, but of course, my Apple Care expired two months ago. They cannot help but tell me to reinstall the Snow Leopard disk. We try, but it fails. We call back, they tell us our hard drive has failed. I cry because I was planning on backing up all my photos and videos this weekend. Too late, they said. Don't know if anything can be saved.


I do some more research, visit ExperCom and talk to some computer genius friends. we get mixed messages... we can't save your software, who knows if we can save your data, it's going to be REALLY expensive, tough luck should have backed up your data, maybe there's a chance to save things, no promises. All of these messages made we want to throw up.


One year, two months of pictures, videos, poetry, more than $2,500 worth of software, school work, digital scrapbooking, projects... so many important and priceless things may be destroyed in a matter of 5 minutes. I was devastated, but still had a small ray of hope.


Then after my sadness, I felt so angry. How could such an expensive computer FAIL in such a short time? Christopher has Dell's cheapest computer, that's at least five years old and it's still running strong! ExperCom said the average MacBook hard drive lasts 3-5 years. How was I so unlucky to receive a MacBook that lasted barely 1? After trying to blame other people I kept coming back to...Why didn't I back up my data??


After some consultations, we decided to take it to the IT department on campus (best decision ever.) Long story short, he installed a new hard drive, was able to save all my pictures, videos and files, but said our software wouldn't transfer due to corruption of the drive. I was sad, but relieved because software (though ridiculously expensive) can be replaced but photos cannot.


The moral of the story is... BACK UP YOUR DATA! (Especially if you take pictures). Even though it may be a pain, it's totally worth it. You never know when your computer will break or hard drive may fail. It was one of the worst feelings to think I lost so many things that were so important to me...things I could never get back.

And now for a surprise happy ending... by some miracle, when Christopher reinstalled the Snow Leopard disk, my Adobe and Microsoft software worked!! The tech said they wouldn't open, but somehow they did and they work! I could hardly believe it!  Some of the other software has been lost, but I don't even care because I'm so excited that my favorite, most-used software transferred. I feel like one [very grateful] lucky girl.


$120 later... I've definitely learned my lesson.