The Importance of Backing Up

'Fire and Ice'            8x10             pastel        ©Karen Margulis
sold

I'm back from a relaxing vacation. There is nothing like an ocean voyage on a half- full ship to fill you up. I actually got a lot of work done on my IAPS presentations. Having a week with nothing to do allowed me to really focus. I came home today ready to turn the computer on and get caught up.

Only when I turned on my computer it was oddly different. It looked new. Where was my screen saver? My photos? My documents? Everything was gone!!  How could that have happened?

I had a small moment of panic tinged with total disbelief.  I had over 30,000 photos. I had too many documents, lesson plans, emails to count. What about my contacts?  Can you imagine if everything on your computer....things you rely on for daily life and  business was gone in a blink of an eye?  What would you do if your computer was wiped clean and everything you always assume would be there was gone?

I took a deep breath. I knew I had a backup hard drive and my Mac was set to automatically back up everything. So it should all be there.....somewhere.  Not having experience with this kind of technical drama I decided to bring it to the Genius Bar at the Apple store. I got an appointment and got out my computer box ready to pack it up. When I tried to shut the computer down it dawned on me...I was not logged in under my name. Someone had signed in as a guest and forgot to log out so none of my files and 'stuff' was visible. So very simple. I would have felt so silly at the Genius Bar! But oh what a relief! I was back in business!!

'Gentle Morning'           8x10         pastel          $95

I am sharing this story for two reasons.....First, if you haven't backed up your computer lately or ever....Do it TODAY!  I have heard that it isn't a matter of IF your computer will crash but WHEN it will crash. Luckily this wasn't my time but I did have a backup just in case.  Don't wait for disaster to strike!

Also, if you have a Mac and ever let someone log in as a guest, make sure they log out and you log back in. It was a new experience for me and so I wasn't aware that a guest screen looks like your computer is brand new! Lesson learned and shared!

I am happy to be home and can't wait to get back to the easel! Today I am sharing a couple of winter paintings from last winter. Oldies but goodies!