digital death

It all began quietly. 

This past Friday morning I was doing email using my Google Gmail account when I was prompted for my password.  This wasn't unusual; Gmail will prompt you for this from time to time for security purposes so I wasn't terribly concerned.  But when I put in my password, it didn't work.  Must have typed it in wrong.  So I typed it in again and it still didn't work.  Hmmm, maybe I should try the other password I always use.  Tried that.  No dice.  Ok, well, I'll just click "I forgot my password" and Google will walk me through some security process so that I can get in.  I did so and Google kindly sent an email with instructions on how to proceed to my secondary email address. 

Secondary email address. 

Hmmm…  I wonder which of my addresses I used in 2005 when I first decided to switch from Microsoft Outlook to Gmail for my personal email? 

So I checked all the ones that I could remember.  Nothing.  Ok, what do I do now?   I learned that I could answer my security question – you know, "Mother's maiden name?" – and Google would allow me back in. 
Except that I have to wait five days.  Five days.  And if I keep trying to get into my Gmail account, it's five days from my last attempt.  So sometime Friday afternoon I stopped trying.  I don't know what time on Wednesday I should check and I'm afraid if I do it too early that it'll kick me out another five days so I decided to try again on Thursday. 

So if my security question and answer doesn't give me access on Thursday 18 October 2007, that's when I'll know that I've been hacked. 

That's the best explanation for my woes that I can come up with, 'cause I've been using the same password on my Gmail account forever.  My problem was so mysterious to me that I had hoped that I would find a news account of scores of thousands of Gmail users suddenly losing access to their email and that Google had recognized the problem and that all of us unhappy Gmail users would soon have blissful access again. 

But, alas, such was not to be.  And, for me, this has been a big problem.

It's a big problem 'cause from my Gmail account I emailed all of the coaches and leaders in my church last week asking them to email me back what workshops they plan to take tonight during our Leadership Development Training Session. 

It's a big problem because all my rental car, hotel, and flight information for an upcoming trip is saved in my Gmail account.

It's a big problem because I keep most of my userids and passwords in my Gmail contacts.

It's a big problem because I have documents that I have kept in Gmail that I need for upcoming work I'm doing.

It's a big problem because I use the Drafts feature to keep notes for upcoming writing I'm doing.

It's a big problem because I have thousands of emails archived in gmail.
 

But the biggest reason it's a big problem is because I didn't back any of this stuff up. 

I should have known better. 

For I used to be a database administrator.  And – if you don't know – database admins live and die by their backups.   It's practically their raison d'être.  What's sad is that in most of my digital life, I'm pretty good at backups.  I daily backup all my data on my personal laptop and do the same thing every day with my data on my USA TODAY laptop.  But, as I recall, my thought was that since Google surely backs up my data, I didn't have anything to worry about.  My fault was one of imagination.  I never imagined that I wouldn't be able to access my own data. 

So beyond my little soap opera, what possible relevance does this have for you?  Just one:  backup your stuff! 

Years ago I read a very wise statement that went something like this:

There are two kinds of people in the world: 

those who one day lose all their data because their hard drive dies

and

those who one day lose all their data because their hard drive dies.   

The lowered cost of information today means that it's easier and easier for us to amass gigabytes of data very cheaply.  But just because it's so easy to collect we still need to remember that it's also important to protect.  Ensuring that you keep all important digital data in at least two places, if not three, with one location being off-site will help you avoid the position that I find myself in today. 

And it's easy to set this up.  There are a number of inexpensive pieces of software you can use, but the one that I've been using for years is Second Copy, which you can try out for free.  My laptop at home fires up in the middle of the night to do an automatic backup and my work laptop backups in just a few minutes every morning. 

Trust me:  it's worth it and you'll be so happy you do this when, 27 months from now, you drop your laptop or it's stolen or your hard drive fails or something else goes boom….

Comments

[Greg Atkinson]

Good word. You kinda freaked me out. I'm a Gmail user.

[stephen shields]

yeah, I got kinda freaked out too. I could do a whole other post on the emotional effect the whole thing has had on me! Really gave me pause ab how reliant I feel on my data and email.

[C]

Yikes what a great word. . . I do backup up but just by downloading Gmail data to my Outlook at home so I have emails but docs and stuff would be gone. . . yikes. . .

I couldn't remember my secondary email either and updated it today.

wow. . .

Good word.
C

[Cynthia]

More social networking sites - a dime a dozen. Great advice - priceless!