HARD DRIVE CRASH

This was meant to happen. I was few weeks away from buying a second external hard drive. I was waiting to reach the 50% of its storage in order to purchase a new 500GB as a back up. I haven't had this LaCie d2 Quadra examined yet. It could be the cable transfer supply only, but from the few reviews I read online I doubt it. The engine doesn't seem to kick in. It is stuck. It doesn't appear on my screen either. I haven't moved this hard drive from its original place on my desk. I haven't done anything damaging to it. It has just been sitting for 2 years by my computer. No radiators nearby, well...I don't get it. As most specialists would say forget about it and get on with life.

So I would like to inform all my clients that fortunately I backed-up every single wedding on a separate medium ( DVD) to avoid this sort of major trouble. If copies are needed they are still available. I did the same with all my personal works. Unfortunately, they are few folders which are destined to books or layouts that might have disappeared. I still have the originals on a digital format, but it is just time consuming. It is unbelievable how digital makes life so complicated !

All this takes me back to what I have been warning people in my book and on this blog.
DIGITAL IS CONVENIENT BUT IT IS NOT RELIABLE AND IT DOESN'T LAST IN TIME,
it is simply not designed for that purpose.

29th January - News

I went to Micro Anvika where I bought this Hard Drive from. Their customer service has been very kind and spotted the problem in seconds. The power supply was faulty. Which makes sense. The technician showed me that once plugged in the power supply emitted a strange sound. He tried with a spare one and it worked. The sound was more stable and the drive worked. Hourrah !!! My hard drive is back to life and all my folders are safe. In the mean time I bought a small portable USB connection Petit LaCie 320 GB to copy all my my folders once back home. The USB port is obviously slower than my previous Firewire but I think it is wiser to diversify the connection mode. And this new one is easy to carry even though it will be full very soon already.
The trouble with my original 500GB is that it comes with a power supply, which is logical, but there is no switch on it. It is therefore always switched on even if the hard drive is not. And it has been this way for 2 years. No surprise then that it collapsed. The best way from now on is to unplug it after every single use to avoid this kind of trouble.
I have been reading different blogs about possible crashes and if I follow the diagnostics described I should have then gone to a specialist who would have charged me a lot of money to retrieve my datas. The wisest procedure is to try as many alternatives with different computers and to check every single lead. Even if the hard drive is stock and doesn't seem to start, it doesn't mean that it is faulty.
But in any case as I had backed up almost everything on DVDs I was not going mental and tried to use my common sense like if I had to deal with a car engine. There are many online shop where you can get very good deals and nowadays with capacities are really affordable. But I wonder what happens if you get this kind of technical problem. Will they take it back ? Who does the warranty apply to ? The supplier or the maker ? How long does it take for being fixed ? etc...
In the end I was quite glad I purchased my 500GB from a shop with a customer service. It saved me a lot of time, money and stress. In total 3 days and I didn't pay anything. Quite good I think !