Data backups: Two locations or you are not properly backed up.

It seems that Mister Perfect (me) has violated procedures and must now pay the price. The thing about computer backups is that if you don't have your data backed up in two locations, then you are not properly backed up. I know that. I knew that. And yet, I left a lot of important data backed up solely on my 1.5 TB Seagate FreeAgent external drive. 

Then came the day when I couldn't see my network drive. I came down to my very hot office and found my external drive spinning and spinning, and extremely hot. I powered it down and let it cool off. Since that day, every time I powered it on, it would click 11 times and then shut down. I wasn't too worried. "Probably the read head," I thought, as I prepared it for shipment to CR Data Recovery in Bangkok.

But that was not the case. The verdict was: Not Recoverable. It makes me wonder how hot that drive got for how long before I found it. Did it get hot enough to damage the platters somehow? And it got me started thinking about what was lost.

Off the top of my head, I have lost the following:

• Photos
• Whenever Google Photos and OneDrive maxed out of space, I moved all the photos to my FreeAgent. It was years and years worth of photos.
  
  
• Documents
• The one I miss the most already was a folder named Literature. Monetary value was exactly zero, but the sentimental value was great.
• A modest little story called The Angel of the Tower. As a short story, it was average at best, but it truly captured my time at San Jose State University.
• A tale about a "string girl" and the end of a romantic relationship. I quite liked this one, and I'm my own worst critic.
  20230818 Update: Totally recovered. Thank you, WayBack Machine.
  
  
• Music
• Good-quality digital versions of all my record albums.
• I believe I still have all the albums, so this is not the end of the world.

Of course. a lot more was lost than what's listed above. In 2021, I completed a voluntary Swedish Death Cleaning (döstädning) of my physical objects. Now, by violating proper backup procedures, I have involuntarily completed Swedish Death Cleaning of my digital objects. So be it. I guess I'll be ready when the time comes. But until that day arrives, you can be sure that I will keep my important data properly backed up in two separate locations.