Bloody Hard Disk Failed

Just to add to my problems a few days ago the hard disk I used to store all mail - going back 10 years of more - for the PNI ORG UK charity failed completely. It had some of my mail on it but my main concern is the charity data which is a massive loss!!

This is why I have not written for a day or two, I was trying to sort out my PC as its crash corrupted my OS too

It is my fault as at a normal time I would have realized and backed up ail the data on it . But since this HIV thing with Barry and I, I have not been functioning properly or using my PC for anything but updating my blog and the basics of what I have to do.

So my PC kept reporting hard disk failure and I ignored it as any other disk but the one I use for PNI data would not really have mattered and I really could not be bothered to do anything about it right now!!

But I did back up some of the data on it a week or so ago but never finished it as I was really in too much of a sate to remember to do it. So at the end of last week the disk I hold a lot of the PNI stuff just ceased to work - it is terminal, I am good at getting lost data back but this disk was an old one - at least 7 years old that I have always held PNI stuff on and it has had its chips!! I knew it was old and I should replace it but it was where the PNI data was so I just never got round to it. Anyway this means I have lost even moderators details - I have the trustees as their details are on the charities database anyway and also stored elsewhere.

I do have some of the stuff from the disk backed up - but older stuff I did not get around to the newer.

So I have located a hard disk failure data recovery firm who I have to post the disk off to and they assure me that will be able to get most of what was on it back. This will cost about £200 and take about 10 to 28 days. Which I will pay and it is a lot less than most others who wanted £350 to £900 which I could never afford and the charity certainly could not.

I feel it is my fault for not backing it up regularly In the meantime I will not have access to many of the contacts and addresses I once had. I feel I have to get that data back as it was years of emails, posts and information about PNI that I felt was so valuable.

But it also lost recent requests for support from PNI sufferers and it is my worry that they are out there desperately waiting for a response and will feel we have let them down as none will come because I do not have their email to reply to and sort out email support for them.

The other data is - years of women's stories with PNI and what women who actually suffer this awful thing feel honestly about it and their experiences and symptoms - I have never really known what to do with it but always felt that one day I would find a way to use it for the benefit of those with PNI and research into finding a way to alleviate how women suffer with PNI and to raise awareness.

So pretty gutted that this has happened right now - it was the last thing I needed. But hard disks are only guaranteed for 2 or 3 years and this one was over 5 years old - probably older - so I should have backed it up and bought a new one I am just about to post it off to this data retrieval company and they have given me a special price due to up being a charity as it usually costs much more for businesses