set I have bought or acquire over the last 4 years. I thought the external harddrive would be suffient backup, BUT...... All my freebies, all my Cute Embroidery designs(when I had the membership) So please Cuties, "feel with me" during this painful period.(he he)I f any one wants to send me a PM please do so. LOVIES

I am so sorry for you! I went through something similar earlier this year, but it was a tech's fault. He cause my computer crash while he was testing it. Part of the drive was recovered, but not all of it, and some of the files are worthless. It is really sad and frustrating. I hope the software works for you.

Marthie, I guess this is a fear of us all. Good luck. Helen

Oh my goodnessk, what an ordeal...maybe Ms Veronika can help you out with your subscription you had up to that date. I am sure she will know when you were paid up to and which designs were up to that time...no harm in asking her. Hope you can survive this and I do feel for you

They are still there, and can be retrieved by an expert. I don't totally understand how it works, but there are resuce discs that can help retrieve info from a corrupt drive. Talk with a computer repair shop. Don't give up yet.

Hi Marthie, I have just been reading your tale of woe again. Have you just lost the backup on your ex hard drive or on your computer as well? If you have just done an ordinary back up, surely you still have all your files on your computer? Just a thought.
We are off to Jhb on Monday to spend Christmas with my daughters and families. I would like to wish you a very happy Christmas. Chat to you in the New Year. Love and hugs Sarah.

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by marthie 10 Dec 2010

Thank you so much Sarah.You see my laptop's hard drive crashed a month or two ago and I never had the time to put designs back on lap top from external hard drive. Hope you have a fantastic festive season with your family.

There are places in the US that do recovery so don't get rid of it. I bet it would be cheaper. I don't know if The Geek Squad can do it or not but check on the internet for them and ask. Good luck, I know how you feel. Hubby's niece is a computer engineer and can do it so she has saved us a couple times but still you never get it all back. Some is gone forever.

I feel your pain. I think many of us have experienced this horrible happening and I have learned a couple of vauable lessons. (1) External hard drives go bad-even the most expensive ones (warranties only give you the cost of the drive not the info) BEWARE of the dreaded "clicking" sound - means you've had it (2) DVD's and CD's have a coating on which info is imprinted - this coating can slide on the disk thereby rendering it unusable (3) jump drives can be erased by mistake in a reformatting autorun, shorted out, viruses, and magnetized very easily - they are limited on how may times they can be re-used, also water damage. I read about the fires and tornadoes - mother nature can really be mean and destroy whatever she wants. I saw the suggestion of swapping out externals - good idea, but again most computers/drives only have a life of 18 months to two years. Biggest problem I've seen is compatability between burning programs and computers so be very careful with what program you use to burn your disks. You get what you pay for. I did all of the suggested things and still lost a ton. In addition I had Mozy to back up files. Unfortunately not all of my files were on back up and then when I did need them after the last crash it took months to get anything useable back and in the end they were very nasty to me when after trying to get their program to back up my computer again their servers weren't "working up to speed and were not expected to be up and operational fully for at least another 30 days". That means when they were overloaded they dropped non commercial accounts, i.e. my "home" account. I now use Carbonite. It checks for changes about every 10 minutes and updates my files on their server. Price is only about 55.00 per year and I finally believe I may have solved my problems, but then I audit what files were backed now. I was lucky in that many of the digitizers I purchased from had copies of my orders and were willing to bail me out, but I still lost years and years worth of tutorials, designs (because I didn't have a record of all of my purchases and some companies just are't around anymore, or finally they just didn't replace them). graphics. and goodness knows what. I don't think we embroiders can take any chances. I believe that we must assume that our systems WILL crash and act accordingly.

Oh goodness, you think you are doing the right things having external drives but sometimes they can die as well..I have now reverted to backing up to DVD's once a month, have put reminder in my outlook calander and it reminds me to do this I don't use memory sticks as they can be faulty to I find DVD's for me the best....Sooooooooooo sorry...still they can do wonders now. my last HD they got everything off it....always live in hope...Sally

This happened to me when I arrived home from USA to Australia & I took my external HD back to the shop where I bought it from & the opened it up & found that the board Had dislodged they put it in correctly & it has now travelled to USA 3 time now. hopefull it is something easy. If a shop tells you you need a new one hold onto your old one & try another 'computer expert'

You may not have lost your files at all. My external drive "died" last year. It was the internal power supply. All I needed was a new hard drive case which cost me $65 including the labor. All of my files were all there.

My dear Marthie - i feel your pain - I went through something like this several times - luckily - I was able to retreive the biggest share of my designs - I have an external now - but have had some trouble with it as well - so I bought an extra drive on my pc - just for my embroidery files - I use the external - but also have a copy on that other drive - I do a backup weekly and hopefully - you have as well - one that can be brought back up. You must be sick over this - I will be praying for you dear.

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by 1ladyb 09 Dec 2010

I thought it was silly to have an extra drive on my computer but have found that it is a blessing.Between the 2 internal hard drives and the external I hope that does it.

by marthie 10 Dec 2010

Oh ladies I still want to cry. Four years of collecting is a lot to loose.

I would check it out with a computer specialist they may just be hiding somewhere. Good luck

I i'm sorry... Because already I passed because of this!

So sorry,yes it is devastating to lose them all (been there done that). Some of the sites we buy from keep a history on us and will let you dl again, this is a wonderful feature wish all sites had it.

I am so sorry for you! When my internal hard drive went BAD the computer guy I call to replace it wasn't sure if he could get anything off it or not. (Most of the files were on other computers or on memory sticks so there wasn't a lot I need but a little.) What he told me he did to recover files was to freeze the drive then try to retreve it. I think he put it in his freezer for 24 to 36 hours. You might try this, what have you got to loose. I haven't tried doing this. *$U.
Mary

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by emily16838 09 Dec 2010

Oh you are making my heart ache. This is my worst nightmare. I hope you can find some on your computer. I so sorry

A lost of any kind is never easy! I feel your pain! It's just as when someone has a fire, all of their lovely memories are gone. I think I will backup my designs to several machines. Much hugs 4u *2U

so sorry for you.hope some computer expert can find something back. But fist try to enjoy the trip, hugs Gerry

I feel so bad for you. I don't think a flower will heal your hurt but I will give you one anyway. I have the designs on my laptop and backup to a hard drive every 2 weeks. After reading your post I think I will burn CD's as well.

I am so sorry!! I would be horrible to loose all the embroidery!

Now days I am better at saving things. I have an external hard drive at home and one in the bank deposit box. I swap them around about once a month. But they don't last for ever..

We lost our house in a tornado 2 years ago so I learned the hard way...

Hope you have a good time in England!

Lena

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by lenamae 09 Dec 2010

Hi Lena I am Lena Mae nice to know some one else has my name.

Thank you dear Cuties. I took the ext harddrive to a computor shop and their recommendation was to take to an expert(in SA) and apparantly the cost will be around R3000($450/300 pound stirling) Very expensive experience

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by lenamae 09 Dec 2010

Martine I feel so bad for you .I lost all my pictures when I had my computer redone I thought I had them on a CD but they were not there.
Lena mae

by lenamae 09 Dec 2010

sory put the wrong name in

Oh marthie that is so sad:(:(:(carolyn

I think that is all of our biggest nightmare. You spent so much time collecting them and to lose them in a swoop is a crying experience. Take it to the computer store they can probably recover a lot of it for you for a fee. Good luck I pray you get them back. Suzanne

I thought I lost all on a hard drive as my computer said no files. Tried it later on a different computer and they were all there. Now it is again working on the frst one. Also as others have said if all else fals take it to a computer expert for recovery.

Oh! it is real tragedy, people not involved in this maybe do not understand it but we do, we all know what it means to you. The ones you bought the sites keeps an account.So,so so sorry. Like others cuties have said go to an expert may be he/she could do something about it. Meanwhile go to UK try to relax and enjoy your trip.

Wow, so sorry to hear that! I would be crying! I saved all of mine onto usb sticks and then had my son burn me a CD which I promptly left at his house but I know I have my designs, and 95% of mine were freebies that I could probably find again if I had to. Good luck dear.
Debra

Oh Marthie, I feel for you. Maybe there is still something that can be done. Try not to worry about it now. Enjoy your holiday, and sort it out when you get back home. Hugs and Love Yvonne

I know how this feels because it happened to me when my PC crashed. Please let somone try to recover the data on ExtHD.
I use DVD to backup my stuff and make one every 3mths ( problem I had when reload I went overboard and reloaded all of them, Did I have a job!! I just found another file with doubles He.. HE..
Wish you the Best for your trip 'be safe'
From Bev

I agree with all that has been said, when in the UK go to PC world, they are great guys who will do all to try and recover. GOOD LUCK

OMG!! I would be in a heap on the floor crying about now. Many times all (or most) of the info on a screwed up hard drive can be retrieved. My cousin does this for me. Went to Washington DC a few years ago with my daughter's JR ROTC group, lots of pictures and memories. A few weeks later my hard drive went capuut, thought I lost everything. Thank God for Raymond. He went in a recovered all my pics. He found them all!! He was a godsend. Take yours to someone that can do this. They may be able to recover them for you. Best of luck.

Donna

Marthie, I am so sorry to hear about your loss of designs. Your best advice from others is also mine. If you are comfortable using a free piece of recover software I would do that. Other wise I would take your drive to someone you trust and have them try to retrieve designs.
Cindy B.

Marthie, I am so very sorry to hear this. I thought that hard drives were the best way to go for storing data etc. I still do my embroidery back up on a CD, which I thought was a bit old fashioned - now I am not so sure. When you are back from overseas I am sure that all us Cuties will do our best to help you. Much love Sarah.

I certainly do "feel for you". How dreadful!

It may be recoverable - you should get some expert advice before you give up completely!
Pack lots of warm clothes if you are coming to England!

here is the link for recuva

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by airyfairy 09 Dec 2010

Thank you Alice for this information. I have made a note of the web site. Hope I never have to need it. Sarah.

by jayce 09 Dec 2010

Good to know thanks Alice

by moyed 10 Dec 2010

Need to the care with recuva because it can recover files that are corrupt and not good for the computer. I deleted files with bugs in them and after using this program and it put the bugs back on my computer.
helen

by fannyfurkin 12 Dec 2010

Helen, you are correct, you can recover corrupt files and the reason is that when you format a drive or delete files they don't actually get deleted, the computer sees them as writable so if you write something over it it will become corrupt or unusable, this is not the same as a bug or virus, it is just a file that is no good. If you have deleted files with a virus in it and you run the recuva it will bring that file back because it brings back everything it can find. i would recommend restoring the files to a different drive into a separate folder and then selecting the files that you want to keep and moving those files to where you want to keep them, then once you are finished delete the folder with the unwanted files.
Alice

Marthie, go to google and search for a program called recuva it is free, it can recover lots of stuff from your drive, I don't know if it will get designs back but it definitely works for photos and documents. I think I have used it for designs too. Good luck.
Alice.

I am so sorry to hear of this. You said it was on your external hard drive that you lost everything. Is it still on your computer? If so, you will be able to reload on to your external harddrive and then maybe make disks as well. Hope it all works out for you. Hugs, Mary

The saddest that can happen!Feel really bad for you. I would be devastated if i were in your place and mine is only 2 years.Definatly some one would come along who can help you.Hold on tightly.
love you.

How terrible for you. I have most of my designs saved on disks and external harddives but not all of them. I get to busy and let them build up on my computer and I constantly worry that I will lose them as my computer is getting so old. I do hope you'll be able to replace them.

There are companies who can retrieve data from a harddrive. Here in the UK PC world will do it for about £100. After suffering 1 computer and 1 backup drive failure in the past year I must admit I have copies of my designs everywhere, on discs, on a "passport" external and even in a file on my husbands desktop which is automatically backed up to yet another external drive.
I hope you can download any designs you have paid for. A lot of sites will let you do this.
No doubt if you had some favourite freebees someone here on Cute will be able to help with a link. Just ask. Hugs from a very cold UK!

Let someonn look at you harddisk. We had a problem at the beginning of the year and the could save a lot and most of the time they can find a lot back. For the rest lots of bought you can redownload as others already told you if you remember it. Good luck I know how it feels and happy to have it back, Yvonne

OH Marthie how devastating,nothing worse than losing all your designs,sending you cyber hugs all the way from Australia.(( ))....
I have burnt all my designs on discs and have saved them on two external harddrives.See goes to show the external harddrives are not reliable either.****

well embroidery library has history you can re-download and I am sure many others do also....I am sorry to hear this...

Dear Marthie,

My heart bleeds for you. I can't believe you have lost everything - there must be some way that you can find them - usually they are somewhere within the
"bowels" of computers. Maybe reinstating the harddrive to the day before etc. etc. etc. I do hope there are some Technical savvy people on here who can help you out.

Love and blessings Chris.

P.S. Tonight on tele they showed us a place in Edinburgh where snow fell off a roof (like an avalanche) and I immediately thought of you there.

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