Have a backup plan. That’s all I’ll say about this whole debacle. I’m no idiot, so of course I had my data backed up. This is not an Apple vs Microsoft rant. However, I can’t stand Apple. I’ve just always used Microsoft stuff and I’ve never really had an issue. And yes…Apple has issues as well. Let’s step back a few days.
Microsoft sends out these “Anniversary” updates. They are usually pretty large updates and will require your puter to restart several times. Monday night, January 8th, is when this began. My puter has been asking me to do this update for a couple months. I don’t usually accept them for a while in case there are any bugs they need to work out. So, Monday night before I went to bed I hit “Install New Updates”. When I woke up Tuesday morning I had the BSOD or “Blue Screen of Death” telling me that updates failed to install. I restarted my puter and that’s when the restart loop began. It’s been a downward spiral ever since. I spent hours on the phone with MS but eventually had to run and get a new laptop. I’ve had this one since 2011, so I have a LOT of stuff on it. All my Army stuff, overseas government work stuff, editing software like Corel and many others, TONS of data from when I owned my CrossFit gym, pictures, personal settings, etc, etc. The same issue happened to my friend and neighbor down the road. Not sure if she’s been able to get her stuff back. This is like the Ebola virus for puters right now!
I do, on occasion, back up certain files to a local external hard drive. I also have had a subscription to Crashplan for my offsite backup. But it all just sucks. The worst of it is I’m out $1100 for a new laptop (I am picky about laptops. They have to have certain specs), I’m out all the money I’ve spent on programs and various software and I’m out all my time. Time is money and my time is very valuable.
What is the takeaway? Make sure you are doing a continuous offsite backup. I am literally sick to my stomach about all this. I know, however, none of this really matters in the big scheme of things. I know I’m gonna be dead someday and everything will be just fine. But I still have to live with this for today. Oh well. The good part about all this is I “know a guy” who used to work for Uncle Sugar and can pull all my data off my drive. I’m no newbie when it comes to puters and I exhausted all I could trying to copy data from my drive to an external backup via DOS command prompt. It’s been a while since I had to use DOS to work through so I had to Google some commands. That’s another skill that comes in handy sometimes. Bottom line? Back up your stuff and don’t be so eager to download those updates.
Hoodlm's Thoughts, Reviews and How-To's 