Normally I wouldn't post about this but everyone needs to know. I woke up today to find out that one of my hard drives has died. The hard drive in question (I have three of them) contains all of my story files: the research, the compiled workups on characters, groups, etc, and the story files themselves.
Fortunately, I can at least retrieve copies of the story files and some of the compiled data from Gmail. I've sent copies to my editors so they have a better overall picture of the backstories and such and can help with any inconsistencies in the story line. I rarely delete emails in Gmail (prefer to archive) and this is one time I'm glad they offer that option. However, I'll have to start over on the chapters I've been working on.
My biggest qualm with this is the loss of my music. Almost 90 gigs. My last backup of music was almost 3 years ago. I've accumulated a lot since then. I listen to music while writing, while drawing, while... well everything. So, that is a big loss to me.
I'm already looking to replace the drive and any donations or help anyone is willing to offer is welcome.
For those tech savy people out there, here's what I've done and why I've come to the conclusion that the drive has died...
When I woke up and got on my computer, I had indicators that something was wrong with the drive. Normally, I run my computer all the time. So, I go to explorer and the drive wasn't even listed. I tried to do a normal restart but the computer locked up while the windows logo was displayed. The BIOS listed the drive as connected. I attempted to run windows repair disc but again the system locked up at the windows logo. I removed the drive and restarted the computer. It's working normally. I have external SATA-2-USB cable set which includes power (I've used it on other drives successfully), so I connected the drive to the computer that way and got no response at all. Currently the drive is sitting in the Freezer (just put it there about an hour before this post). I'm planning on leaving it there overnight and try to connect it externally again tomorrow. Other suggestions are welcome.
Drive specs: Western Digital model WD5000AACS. SATA connection, 500.0 GB, LBA 976773168