Gerry Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 As you may know I had an external drive at my office die on me a couple of weeks ago, taking all of my "Nightcallers" work with it. I had a vague notion I had backed it up but couldn't find it anywhere. Finally I had to admit to myself that the imagined "backup" was just wishful thinking. The drive is currently at a data recovery place and I'm waiting to hear. If they do recover files, and if I'm satisfied about their condition, it will be some major bucks. (At any point I can decline the recovery and there's no charge.) It had both personal work and company work on it, and while *most* of the work files were backed up on the server, most if not all of the animation source files weren't. So yesterday I got a lead for an animation contest in the Czech Republic and I was putting together the materials last night to enter the music video. I needed a cd envelope or something for the disk I was sending so started poking around on a shelf in my home studio where I throw a bunch of discs, installers, snapshots, notes, etc. and it's not filed or organized at all. While looking I found a backup I'd made months ago of ALL my AM tutorials and I thought, well if I backed up this stuff, what else is on that shelf? A few seconds later I found a dvd where I had backed up all my "Nightcallers" files a year ago July. That may sound like a long time, but I've hardly done anything on it for the last year at least because I was busy with the music video, so really, the files are pretty current. Amazing, just dumb luck. In just another few days I would have needed to make a decision about spending money on the data recovery, and then some day in the future I'd run across the backup disk and spend a few days kicking myself. Now, no kicking necessary! When I told my boss about the dead drive last week, I offered to split the cost of data recovery. Now I can tell her that if she wants her work files, the spending decision is hers. It's like Christmas in December. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted December 13, 2011 Hash Fellow Share Posted December 13, 2011 That's good to hear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildsided Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Booyah! Yay for backups! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
largento Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 That's great news, Gerry! I type as I scramble for a blank DVD to back up my stuff... :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Rodney Posted December 13, 2011 Admin Share Posted December 13, 2011 Awesome news Gerry! But now of course you also know... you've got to show us some more of that Nightcallers material! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry Posted December 13, 2011 Author Share Posted December 13, 2011 Gee, no pressure or anything! I'm working on the Colfax model and I *guess* it's still a tutorial though I've progressed the new model with no more steps on the blog. But my intent was always to take it all the way from modeling through rigging and texturing, so skipping a few steps at this stage will seem minor in the big picture I hope. But with the animating experience from "Cicak" I may do some test animations with my Nightcallers characters that will be less tentative and more confident than what I've done so far. What I need is a little scene for them to all be in. I find that I'm better when working on a live project than just doing "practice" animation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UNGLAUBLICHUSA Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Gerry - I know how you felt. I lost a shitload of stuff to a Trojan just after I discarded my back up disc thinking "I will do another this week end". Some stuff was just lost forever. Let it be a lesson to all - back-up every time on another drive or disc and then back-up your back up in another seperate location like a portable drive. I have had some attacks since the Trojan from hell (and I don't mean condom) but was able to recover painlessly from one or more of my back-up locations. Did I mention to back things up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ilidrake Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 Good to hear Gerry!!! I've got a small batch file I run after I shut down for the day that backs up all my files to an external drive and a jumpdrive. Maybe I should consider online storage as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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