Wednesday 13 June 2018

WOYWW 471

The only change in my studio and office this week is more chaos, I’m afraid. Some of my wools have been put away because I’ve finished the socks (not yet blocked). No change on my main desk area, so no photo of that this week.

I can’t get near my office desk at present for clutter. There are also a lot of computer cables on the floor.

After the death of my old laptop I’ve been trying to sort out my various external hard drives and in the process, managed, at a single key-stroke, to delete all the back-ups from my other old laptop that died – this was totally devastating because it was the sum total of many years’ work and accumulation of my entire music library… until I thought to do a google search into data retrieval, and for a sum I’d have preferred not to spend, have downloaded a truly excellent program called EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, and I’ve got it all back, despite it being “permanently deleted” from the drive!! It just goes to show that when you think you have safely deleted something, it is still there to be retrieved, so if you are disposing of an old computer, it is best to trash the hard drive with a sledgehammer because that way, no unscrupulous people could retrieve your precious and confidential data with a data retrieval program.

When I told my hubby I’d had to buy the program, he said, “Would you have been prepared to spend a pound for each of the files you’d lost?” and I had to admit that yes, I probably would – and what I paid for the program was a tiny fraction of the total of £1 per file!! He does have a knack of making me feel better!

So I’m mightily relieved, but there’s a huge amount of work to be done! Not only has it retrieved the back-up I deleted, but it’s retrieved a whole lot of other stuff as well which had been lurking underneath and which a “deep scan” found – and there’s some excellent stuff there. Most of it is duplicated but it needs to be checked. I’m amazed at how much stuff has been layered onto this drive, and that any of it can be retrieved. Isn’t technology wonderful?

My work is cut out for the foreseeable future, sorting everything out. I’m backing everything up onto a new 2 TB drive so all the back-ups will be together and easier to manage, and I’m going to store all my media files on another external hard drive (also backed up) so these will be accessible from all my computers.

My new iPhone is now up and running – the SIM card arrived very quickly – and yesterday I sent my first text, and I got the terse reply from my hubby in confirmation, “Got it.” Nuff said! His texts are as terse as his emails lol!

Kitties

Great excitement. I knew we’d got a pair of very intelligent kitties, but I never thought they would learn how to use the cat flap all on their own! Since letting them out into the garden we’ve been fixing it open with masking tape so they get the idea there’s a hole in the door to go in and out through, but when it was shut, it appeared to be as much a barrier to them as ever. A couple of days ago, though, Lily came out on her own, soon to be followed by Ruby. Yesterday I managed to get a really sweet video of them going out – still struggling a bit with it, but they’ve definitely got the idea! Look out for the bit where Lily appears to be telling Ruby what to do!

Before I grabbed the camera, there was a moment when they both had their heads up against the cat flap, and I thought they were both trying to get out at the same time!

We are still locking them in at night after they’ve come in for their supper, but soon they will be coming and going as they please. Lily has got over whatever fright she had that made her scared to go out for a couple of days, and we have a job getting either of them in in the evening! They absolutely love it out there.

Here’s another clip of them playing in the garden yesterday afternoon.

Not sure when I’m going to be able to get back in the studio, with everything else that’s going on at the moment. I’m still trying to catch up with a backlog of stuff from when I was ill as well.

12 comments:

  1. I was told to use the delete at least seven times if you want to get rid of your old computer with the hard drive still in it. Now I think the sledgehammer is a better idea. SO glad you were able to find a way to retrieve your files.

    I really enjoyed seeing the kitties in action, too. They are SO adorable. Happy WOYWW from # 6.

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  2. Hi Shoshi, so glad you managed to retrieve your stuff. It is very true that despite deleting and even overwriting, most files are actually still there- as a number of people have found out to their cost when taking machines in to be repaired. That is how so many paedophiles have been caught.
    You can also store a backup on Googles Cloud drive, so you have a copy entirely separate from your own system.
    Loved the kitty videos. Love to you both, Shaz #8 XxX

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  3. well what a godsend that programme was... does make you wary though. I stil have my old pc tower sat on the table next to the new one, I keep meaning to take it apart so I can use the inside bits and bobs in mixed media projects... that should stop anyone harvesting my information!! Have a good week - hope you do get some crafty time soon! Helen #2

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  4. Aah, sweet! Well done Ruby and Lily! They look so happy in your garden - the perfect place for them. I love their stripy pajamas - I was like "no, don't get them dirty"! We always lock Oreo up for the night, so we don't have to worry about him. He doesn't mind because he's used to it. So glad you managed to get your data back. My husband accidentally erased our hard drive many years ago and we lost the first three months of baby photos - we only have the ones that we printed out. I was so annoyed! I'm not sure these retrieval programmers existed back then, but we never tried. Good to know this can be done! Happy #471! Glad you could join! xx

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  5. Evening Shoshi. Sounds like you have your hands full at the moment - what with one thing and another!!! Trust you get everything sorted.
    Take care. God bless.
    Margaret #1

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  6. Love your adorable little kitties. Looks as if you've got quite a lot of sorting to do, but it's obvious that behind all the clutter there's been lots going on. Thanks for sharing today - Hazel, WOYWW 472 xx

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  7. Hi Shoshi, good job you're not crafting so much as the kitties completely distract me they are so sweet. Have a great woyww and happy crafting, Angela x18x

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  8. Your husband is so right.. there is no cost too great to recover some memories.. especially when you have to recycle them for the rest of your life.

    I hope that you find a lot of treasures during your second tidy up of files :)

    Sumbunneh hugs x
    Erika #13

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  9. Your kitties are gorgeous! So sweet. What an amazing space you have - it must be wonderful when you have a chance to tidy it and start again. Caro #37

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  10. Thanks for visit Shoshi! I thought you might be interested in this video by Annie Hamman - she used lots of postage stamps in her art here: https://vimeo.com/269868000

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  11. Happy Belated WOYWW. Great to hear that you managed to recover all that data. My craft room pc refused to work again after trying to restart it on Wednesday. Searching on Google it seems that it was a common problem after all the various Microsoft updates that we have had recently. However, it was also a problem that was difficult to sort out. I found a brilliant website that talked through the various possible fixes, and after about 1 hour I managed to get it going again. Such a relief. I have now started doing a complete digital declutter and clean up, which includes checking that my back ups to Dropbox and my EHD are all up to date. This led to getting the hoover out and starting to give my craft room a thorough 'summer clean', so now there are piles of stuff waiting to go into new homes. Eventually it will all be sorted! I remember training Milky to use her catflap (it was originally one of those that works on their microchip, so the farm cats and other passing cats couldn't get in - but that stopped working over a year ago and now we just use it as a normal catflap. It is normally set so she cannot get back in - she was bringing in dead and live prey all the time! - and now we have the constant job of letting her back in, as well as out if she wants to get to a different side of the house to her catflap!). I still chuckle when I see Lily's and Ruby's names together. Our 3rd granddaughter is called Saffron, if you ever wanted to get a 3rd pet! (We have a grandson due in August too - so our Christmas shopping list gets ever longer.) Great to read about you being so busy - make sure you get plenty of rest too! Ali x #11

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  12. Oh Shoshi, thank goodness you found a way to retrieve all those files. at least you have the program now just in case in the future. Lily and Ruby's antics with the cat flap made me laugh, meow to them both. Have a good week and good luck with the rest of your sorting. Sarah #16

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