I have been using a USB stick to save my collections and then transfer them to my folders on a laptop and back them up once a month or so. But due to work study and family commitments i didnt get time to transfer any completed collections for about 6 months or back up anything. Yesterday i noticed that i couldnt access my USB stick which has been left in the comp for quite some time. it keeps comming up insert disk the comp recognises its there but wont open at all not even in another comp. So i have lost all my collections and limited time free alphas etc over the last 6 mths. Im not even sure of all that was on the drive to try and retreive them i can remember some and have started to make a list and visit sites to check the design pages and see wat is still available. I have managed to get up to date on about 3 that are still there or on my d/l page. So please dont trust just a USB its the first time that one has done this to me in all the years i have used them and this one wasnt that old either. beware my friends and back everything up to save u the tears...

Thanks for the warning! *4u

All my Yahoo groups files were on there too inc all the xmas lap quilt panels that were released weekly were on there too:( it just gets worse all alphas as well.

I think I'm going to try Carbonite--It's $55/year, and automatically backs up your files to an off-site. It comes highly recommended by Kim Komando (she has weekly radio show) For pictures, I try to upload them to Kodak, and long as you order something at least once a year, they store them for you for free--of course I still make my own disks.

I think I'm going to try Carbonite--It's $55/year, and automatically backs up your files to an off-site. It comes highly recommended by Kim Komando (she has weekly radio show) For pictures, I try to upload them to Kodak, and long as you order something at least once a year, they store them for you for free--of course I still make my own disks.

All is not lost till the computer Geek says it's impossible to get anything. I hope u do give swomeone a chance to try & recover some for you. Sorry it had to happen. *4U

sorry to hear this Ash, I sometimes burn a cd with the designs when I got too much on my pc.hope you will soon have many designs again.hugs gerry

Some sites give the option of emailing the designs to yourself. I do that and I keep a folder in my email for them. Stitchery mall is one of them.

1 comment

by nurselilly 17 Oct 2009

i was lucky enough to get them as they were in my d/l section :)

Same thing happened to me this week!! Had ALL my designs by sick on the stick & I got the same message you got! AGGGG! Had backed up some of them. Now I see external drives go, I know from experience you can lose things on CD's & floppy disks. And the computer crashed a couple weeks ago. What to do! I don't have the space to back up things 4 or 5 times! Am thinking about a second external drive to back up my external drive! I don't put a lot on the computer, mainly on going alphas, unzipped things, etc. on the desktop. Hope someone can recover your files from the stick. Let us know if they can.

Oh, Ash, I'm so sorry! I've never trusted electronic stuff, that's why I get batty about backing up to CD or DVD. It's the most 'physical' kind of backup there is, rather than just magnetic like on a USB, hard drive, floppy, etc. Everything in these computers can be messed up by a strong magnetic field, a power surge, or power supply failure; look what happened to Debbie's external hard drive! Silly thing quit! Luckily that was fixable by giving it a different "house" to live in. Any one of these media can fail for different reasons, that's why several backups is a good idea. The only thing truly safe would probably be carving it into stone, and those darn stones are a devil to get into that CD door! I am so so sorry, I do hope there is something a computer guru can do for you. I'm too old, I just get amazed when people start talking about "gigs" of information on those tiny little sticks! As I said, I don't trust electronics, and certainly not something I paid ten bucks for to store important things permanently. I hope you can recover your designs! Big hugs and sympathy, Marji

2 comments

by marjialexa 17 Oct 2009

Oh, drat! Sorry for the duplication. See what I mean about electronics? Hee hee hee

by daisy530 17 Oct 2009

Marji--that's not a duplication--it's a BACKUP! :)

Oh, Ash, I'm so sorry! I've never trusted electronic stuff, that's why I get batty about backing up to CD or DVD. It's the most 'physical' kind of backup there is, rather than just magnetic like on a USB, hard drive, floppy, etc. Everything in these computers can be messed up by a strong magnetic field, a power surge, or power supply failure; look what happened to Debbie's external hard drive! Silly thing quit! Luckily that was fixable by giving it a different "house" to live in. Any one of these media can fail for different reasons, that's why several backups is a good idea. The only thing truly safe would probably be carving it into stone, and those darn stones are a devil to get into that CD door! I am so so sorry, I do hope there is something a computer guru can do for you. I'm too old, I just get amazed when people start talking about "gigs" of information on those tiny little sticks! As I said, I don't trust electronics, and certainly not something I paid ten bucks for to store important things permanently. I hope you can recover your designs! Big hugs and sympathy, Marji

Oh no. That is horrible. I use the USB sticks only for transfers and back up my files on an external hard drive. I think backing them up onto CDs or DVDs as well might be a good idea. I hope you are successful getting most of your files back.

I keep mine backed up on a USB drive. Thanks so much for the warning! I think I will need to burn them to a CD...it's deffinately safer!

SO sorry to hear about your loss, just imagine how much time you've been busy to collect all the designs. I will backup on CD's now too. Thansk for the warning.

Sorry, it is hard to lose 6 months of data!!!! Laura

Yup, I had a USB stick that died on me too...seems they don't make them like they used to. Now I only used the stick to transfer to my embroidery machine.
I save the files I download on a master file on the computer, it automatically gets archived in the backup system, which is separate from the computer tower. Once a month I back up to a CD. This way I have at least 3 copies of the files and if all 3 go, then I guess I will give up embroidery..ha ha ha.

Modern technology might seem time saving, but it sure makes for more work...most of the time.

Hope you can retrieve your files.

I'm so sorry for you Ash. I wish you have read my post months ago, when wrote that I lost all my designs I have saved in USB sticks. I don't trust them ever since. I was devastated! Sending a big hug for you.
Love, Yoriko

I can only imagine how you feel, but I'd be more devistated if I lost all my photos!! Ever since I got a digital camera all my photos are on the computer, about 10 years worth!!

Hope you can somehow still recover. I have my son visiting now, and he has just backed up all my files on CD's and DVD discs. I am very bad with computers and need to rely on him visiting, to do my backups. Now I can breath again.

1 comment

by marjialexa 17 Oct 2009

Marietta, even if you are bad with computers, believe me, you can learn to copy files to a CD or DVD. It's just like copying a file to another folder, you just have to make the choice of the CD drive instead of the hard drive. You CAN do it, honest, please let your son show you how, and tell him to be patient with you, you'll understand how. Write it down or have him take a screen shot to show you what your choices should look like. If you can run your embroidery machine, you can do this, really, I have faith in us 'grandmas' learning this eqipment! As long as you remember "copy" is the word to use, not 'move', you'll be ok. Big hugs for you, and your son, Marji

There are recovery software programs available that will recover the files for you. I have had this problem a couple of times. Make sure the USB is inserted into the computer when you turn it on so that it recognizes it as another harddrive. This might help.

1 comment

by nurselilly 17 Oct 2009

HI annie the comp does recognise the usb stick wen i insert it but wen i try and open it it comes up saying insert disk into drive E all the time and i cant view anything on it:( any ideas how i can???