Oh no, not again!

Yesterday morning I sat down to write my 20 Weeks post and of course had to use my external hard drive to access the picture of Jim and I that I used so I plugged it into the computer, uploaded it to the site, finished the post and closed the computer. I left the external plugged in as I often do and went on to do something else. I went back to the computer a few hours later, however, when I moved the laptop to my lap the external fell about 2 feet and hit the floor! It didn't hit hard by any means, but of course when I attempted to access the external again NOTHING happened! Doesn't show up in the My Computer box as it usually does, although the blue light does come on and I can hear a buzzing kind of noise that lasts for 10 seconds or so and then stops. So, off I go to my parents house and see if it will show up on their computer (as ours is dying and wasn't sure if maybe it was just my USB ports) and still nothing!

My only saving grace in all of this is that luckily I have almost all of the photos on it backed up on my old external hard drive...and this one is only 3 months old so hopefully they will be able to retrieve those 3 months for me. I also luckily found my receipt and my replacement plan for the external so back to Staples I go today in hopes that they can retrieve the photos and replace the external for me. The really crappy part about it is that the only photos I really haven't done anything with are the ones from Christmas! The other ones I know I put in an album for Jim's Dad and in our family calendar so at least I know that not ALL of our family memories from those 3 months are lost.

I am an absolute fanatic about my photos and thankfully will from now on always have 2-3 places that I keep my photos. I had a friend on FB suggest keeping my photos on zip drives as well as the external hard drives. I think my plan is to buy a few smaller ones for the early years and then save all of my photos and documents onto zip drives and put them in my parents safe so that I know that no matter what my memories will never be lost. Then I just have to remember to keep updating everything when I upload my photos so none are ever lost.