I know this, of course, but didn't. After all, my computer was only 15 months of age. I had plenty of time yet to back it up, right? Wrong.
Lost everything. One morning it was working, then later that day it was making a constant clicking noise. I have never had a hard drive fail at such a young age, so truly wasn't expecting this. My last laptop lasted me about 6 years and although I had replaced one of the HD's, I had backed it up first.
Especially back it up before the warranty expires! I know this too, did I pay attention that morning when the pop-up that my warranty had expired and did I want to buy an extended warranty? No, I simply went on about my business and thought, maybe when I get back from xxx I will do something about this. Too late, when I got back the computer did not have an operating system anymore because it didn't have a hard drive anymore.
So I was without a computer for a couple of weeks or so. Yes, I might send it out for recovery and I might not. I can still re-install all the software I had on it. But some of the files (mostly soap recipes) are gone, although I do have my handwritten copies in my notebook. Now I have a Solid State Drive which I had professionally installed and it has great warranty. But once I get most of the software loaded, I plan to back it up asap. Just to save myself future headaches. Then I need to implement a regular back-up regime. I used to do that when I had tiny storage (remember before hard drives?), don't know why I stopped doing it when the HDs kept getting bigger and bigger.
Luckily all my photos are backed up somewhere, and those are what's most important to me anyway. So sending it out for recovery doesn't make a whole lot of sense cost wise.
Re-creating my browser favorites will be a pain, but that's another thing I used to back up periodically and don't anymore, so it's my own fault. Oh, well. It's not that tough to start from scratch all over again.
One thing I have to say about a Solid State Drive is this: My laptop never gets warm now! In fact in the morning, it's downright COLD to the touch. That takes some getting used to!
Lost everything. One morning it was working, then later that day it was making a constant clicking noise. I have never had a hard drive fail at such a young age, so truly wasn't expecting this. My last laptop lasted me about 6 years and although I had replaced one of the HD's, I had backed it up first.
Especially back it up before the warranty expires! I know this too, did I pay attention that morning when the pop-up that my warranty had expired and did I want to buy an extended warranty? No, I simply went on about my business and thought, maybe when I get back from xxx I will do something about this. Too late, when I got back the computer did not have an operating system anymore because it didn't have a hard drive anymore.
So I was without a computer for a couple of weeks or so. Yes, I might send it out for recovery and I might not. I can still re-install all the software I had on it. But some of the files (mostly soap recipes) are gone, although I do have my handwritten copies in my notebook. Now I have a Solid State Drive which I had professionally installed and it has great warranty. But once I get most of the software loaded, I plan to back it up asap. Just to save myself future headaches. Then I need to implement a regular back-up regime. I used to do that when I had tiny storage (remember before hard drives?), don't know why I stopped doing it when the HDs kept getting bigger and bigger.
Luckily all my photos are backed up somewhere, and those are what's most important to me anyway. So sending it out for recovery doesn't make a whole lot of sense cost wise.
Re-creating my browser favorites will be a pain, but that's another thing I used to back up periodically and don't anymore, so it's my own fault. Oh, well. It's not that tough to start from scratch all over again.
One thing I have to say about a Solid State Drive is this: My laptop never gets warm now! In fact in the morning, it's downright COLD to the touch. That takes some getting used to!
I am old school after loosing a ton of pictures from my trip to German 
I have three in my computer room that need fixing, don't want to fix them or get rid of them. I went out and purchased a new one a year ago.
