No more pictures

The Windows 10 debacle has left me in despair. Thousands of photos from years of travel have all gone. I backed them up before deleting Windows 10 and when I went to copy them back the files were there. I copied all my backup files back to the laptop but when I checked tonight my main photo files weren’t there. The external hard drive doesn’t have them either – just a series of corrupt files.

Years of photos of Tasmania – all gone! France and Italy – all gone! New Zealand – a few left. USA – maybe 20% left.

I feel totally gutted. I want to wail and cry and bang my fists against the wall. I know they’re only digital images – it’s not like I’ve lost an arm , a friend, a family member. But it feels a bit that way. All those images carefully framed , pored over, painted from – all gone.

I’m going to bed and I just might not get up tomorrow!

Responses

skybright1

February 20, 2016

oh dear! I’m so sorry for you! Can understand a little of what you feel because I lost some precious things when my old computer was retired and the laptop would not accept some of my programs and some of my pics were lost too. I still miss them, but your loss sounds so completely well, complete almost. ..Hope you feel better tomorrow and I know you will get up! Hugs!

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lindywhitton

February 20, 2016

I might not! But thanks for your sympathy – I might need to get some of your NZ shots sometime.

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Dormis Aeternitas

February 20, 2016

well before you do any further damage – have a professional look at your laptop and external drive. Most likely the files are still there – you just cannot get to them. Local PC fixit shop would be well worth the money. Record exactly what you did and in what order – and let them know. Good luck. Too late now but always have a 2nd copy of your photos on a Thumb drive or the cloud. Make it fail safe. New OS is notorious for these kind of problems – translation have two backups first. Microsoft should be ashamed of their new paradigm but looks like they are quite proud. sorry for your disaster – really is sad.

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1. lindywhitton
  
  February 21, 2016
  
  Thanks for your advice. I’ve already packed it up to take into IT tomorrow. I naively thought one backup would be enough but this has made me reassess – my husband is busily making a 2nd backup of all his now so lesson learned. I’m not allowed to use the cloud in my house due to snarling the download speed into a NY gridlock kind of speed but will double ext hard drive back up from now on. Anyway – life is more important than photos and I’ve got lot’s of travel yet so will just focus on getting a new and better collection together!
  
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  1. Dormis Aeternitas
    
    February 21, 2016
    
    1st backups frequently fail because they are either incomplete (not a Full system backup) or software does not run on new O/S. hence to a large thumb drive, Terabyte External drive, etc as second copy will always be a safe bet. I hate the cloud and do not trust it to be non-hacked but it is easy, convenient way to backup for some folks. Good luck! I use Acronis – nothing else for my backup to external drives.
    
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Claudette

February 20, 2016

Oh, how terrible, and how frustrating. We trust computers to do what they say, and then they don’t and it is devastating. Is there no way an IT person can recover them maybe? Big Hugs (and try not to hit the IT Geek when he says”I told you not to do it”.

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1. lindywhitton
  
  February 21, 2016
  
  Well the IT Geek has shown quite a lot of restraint – if not actual sympathy then at least he’s refrained from using the “m” word. ( Moron)
  I’ll see what the IT shop can do and then just get on with starting a new collection!
  
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Osyth

February 22, 2016

I am so so sorry. I can’t imagine how heartwrenching it is. I know it’s not a person and I know that the memories are erased from your mind but that isn’t the point. the only positive I can come up with is that you are now forced to travel some more to get some more wonderful shots ….

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Brian Lageose

February 23, 2016

Ugh, I know this feeling well, having lost things a number of times. To be fair, the last incident was my own fault, mostly. I was looking through my phone, innocently trying to find a certain picture among the hundreds in my gallery. I have no idea what I hit (full confession: I sometimes have focus issues) when a message popped up – “Are you sure you want to do this?” I didn’t know what the prompt was all about, but I stupidly said yes. Two seconds later, those hundreds of images, including trips to Cozumel and New Orleans, completely vaporized. Even the techs at Samsung couldn’t figure out what the hell I had done.

Lesson finally learned. I now have a cloud account and two portable external drives for triple protection Most importantly, any time a program or system asks about my sureness, I always say “no” the first time and make myself re-do the activity to confirm, because it’s getting harder and harder to remember what I was trying to do just two seconds ago… 😉

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1. lindywhitton
  
  February 23, 2016
  
  I have got a lot of them back courtesy of the local IT shop. They’re still working on getting my US and NZ photos but I’ve come to terms with it they can’t. I’ve learned that I should never hit Scan and Fix , that I should double ( or triple) backup , and that I’m not to be trusted with a keyboard!!!
  
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laura lecce

February 23, 2016

Hi Lindy,
Nice to see you more positive by the end of your comments. I’m so glad that they were able to recover some of them (the thought of losing all my photos makes me hyperventilate). Hope you have many more opportunities to take a million more photos!

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1. lindywhitton
  
  February 24, 2016
  
  I’m going to make a start on a 5 week trip to Italy in May. Lucky me!
  
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  1. laura lecce
    
    February 24, 2016
    
    That’s awesome, I hope you get some great inspiration for your paintings!
    
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Ellen is a Bookie

March 23, 2016

Lindy, I had an email debacle courtesy of my ISP. They deleted ALL my sent messages over 30 days old (think 6 -8 years). After 3 weeks of battling the war is over and they are gone. I organize and facilitate book groups so many of the messages contain the group’s history. It is wonderful that you recovered so many photos. Is there one particular photo you know is lost that you have imprinted in your memory? if yes, what is it about it that is so memorable?

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1. lindywhitton
  
  March 24, 2016
  
  Hi Ellen, That sounds a similarly devastating loss. I feel your pain.I do have one photo that I know is lost -it was a shot of a storm rolling in over the mountains to the west of the Grand Tetons. There was a small farm in the distance and a silver river snaking through the grassland. It ws so memorable because of the light and also because my husband had been longing to see the Tetons in full sunshine and for our 3 days there the clouds rolled in and over the mountains the whole time. He did however discover the joys of Yellowstone and how storms can transform the landscape so the experience was saved. The photo inspired this painting so I fortunately have a visual reminder.
  
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