Who would have guessed!

Who would have thought that in just a few days since writing my last blog I would have become victim to a faulty computer!

That lovely shiny sexy new netbook I got as an early Christmas present less than a month ago developed a glitch.  I thought the power pack had failed on Wednesday night, just in time for my trip to Birmingham today.  Very unlikely I could get it replaced and even less likely that I could carry out the work on the train that I had planned.

Anyway, off I toddled to the shop where I bought it, and lo and behold there wasn't a single power adaptor in the shop that would fit that particular model.  Just my luck.  Then, and this was very lucky for me, one of the guys with some IT experience pointed out it wasn't the power pack at fault, it was my lovely shiny sexy new netbook.  The power pack was fine till it went near the netbook which shorted it out.  

Okay, so they had sold out of the netbook and couldn't do a simple exchange, they could send the old one back for repair, or they could sell me a new netbook but the only ones that met my requirement for an 8 hour battery cost more money.

So I am now the proud owner of a new new netbook with a 9 hour battery! (At a negotiated price!).

Anyway, what you really want to know is what has this got to do with my last blog?

Well you remember I told you all about backing up files, using SugarSync etc.  Well it meant that when I left my old netbook in the shop I didn't need to retrieve any data from it.  Not a jot.  They can wipe the hard drive before returning it and I won't have lost anything.  They seemed rather surprised at this, not sure if it's just because I am a woman, or more likely they are so used to people not ensuring their data is safely backed up.

The end result is that yes I did have to reinstall some software on my netbook, but I downloaded my SugarSync and now all the files are happily syncing with my laptop again.

I am also having a quick look at Live Mesh as well, as suggested by Mike Knight in the comments on my last blog.

Now how stupid would I have looked, extolling the virtues of backup to you guys earlier this week and not doing it myself, and how glad am I that I do backup.  Who would have suspected that a netbook less than a month old would fail on me.  But these things happen, and its even more reason to backup your files safely.

So no, it's not a traditional follow Friday blog this week, it's a reminder to not leave it any longer before sorting out your backups.

There are several ideas mentioned in the comments on the previous blog and for these I would like to thank @micahelmknight, @mattchedit and @creditmandotnet for the time they took to share their knowledge with you, and for commenting on my blog.

So what are you waiting for - Christmas? It's nearly here, don't delay backup today!!