Last Wednesday, I updated my blog, checked my email, did all the usual computer things, and at the end of the day, I logged off and went to bed, as usual. Thursday morning when I turned on the computer…everything had gone missing. By which I mean, the machine still ran, but it behaved as if it was a brand-spanking-new-fresh-from-the-box machine, complete with setting up stuff like Internet Explorer that I set up when I bought the thing five years ago.
Considerable poking around and a visit to the Geek Squad later, the problem appears to be a corrupt profile file. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be an easy way to put everything back the way it was. The data seems to all still be there, but I have to dig through the file trees and/or the backup in order to find it (at present, I still haven’t located my email files, but I think it’s just a matter of figuring out where the program keeps its data files. I hope it is, anyway. I think I’ve found pretty much everything else.)
In other words, reconstructing the computer setup – the address lists, the bookmarks, the calendar, various non-standard datafile locations – is possible, but it’s going to take me quite a while. I am SO glad this didn’t happen in the middle of Hell Month (when I’d have been scrambling to find the copy-edit and get it back to the publisher in time) or next month (when I’m going to be frantically trying to get various obscure tax documents filed in the two-week window that the government allows for them).
Which is a long-winded explanation for why you’re not getting the usual blog post on writing this morning. I’m hoping to be back on schedule by Wednesday. In the meantime, have a nice relaxing holiday!
I’m glad the files all still exist somewhere. May the new year be less fraught with troubles than the last.
My computer did this EXACT same thing. Then, when I had finally restored everything, guess what? Yep, it did it AGAIN. My computer did this three times before I finally gave up. Because they could never isolate which file was corrupt, I apparently kept restoring the corrupt file to the new profile. Annoying to say the least. That computer now has multiple issues and will just shut down whenever it feels like it (at one point it was shutting down about five times a day, and then shutting down before I even did anything on it at all). So … I finally put it to its rest and am now happily using my hubby’s computer. I miss my computer, but I’m glad I backed everything up, including my writing. I hope your computer story has a happier ending than mine did. Good luck!
What a horror story! Best of luck on getting it all back with minimal hair-tearing.
Your blog is such a help, both for practical advice and for motivation. I hope Wednesday’s post has good news.