So after some major data storage disasters (5 in the last two years!), I have decided to go the route of cloud-storage. I should have changed my ways when the first flash drive failed in Oct 2010. But no, I bought a new one (exact same brand) and it worked pretty well until I lost it in September 2012. I’m sure I left it at the Rite-Aid when I was printing out pictures for my grandmother, but they claimed to not have it when I went back the next day. But I did buy a 1Tb portable hard drive to replace the 120 Gb drive I purchased 7 years ago (and that still works pretty well.), and began backing up more frequently. But then that drive decided to go on strike this October (on Halloween. Coincidence? I think not.) So back to the flash drive, until that stopped working right before Christmas. And then there was my Fuji camera that I lost on the subway when I went to look at my current abode in Queens.

I took the drives to Tekserve in a desperate attempt to get the data recovered. They could do nothing for the larger drive (Big Mama), but I could send it to some remote place in Montana and pay $1800. The smaller drive they kept for a week, but returned it without success.

At this point, I don’t know what I have and what is missing. I’ve lost any files related to work and design from mid-2010 to 2012, and any photos from Jan 2011- Oct 2012. My trip to Seattle last year is now only a memory. Luckily, I had put up my portfolio on Flickr so I have jpgs of that, but not the original files. Luckily, I don’t delete many emails so I am searching for anything to fill in the gaps. Also luckily, I can download photos from my Facebook page of the last two years.

So for now, I’ll put everything up in the cloud, and hope it doesn’t rain anytime soon. In the process of loading photos, I discovered that I had never kept copies of the band pix I took from 2003-2009. I was so committed to the LGBAC Archives, that I had neglected to attend to my own. Grateful for second chances.

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