We’re very lucky at Mac Outpost because we have so many loyal clients that have dealt with us since the beginning. 23 years now! So many of you know me well from my days on the sales floor or the times I came to your place to fix a problem! But for many newer clients, you’ve never met me because I am stuck behind a desk now! I’m John and along with Peter, I am one of the owners here at Mac Outpost / Outpost2.
Today I am reaching out to share with you my story of data BACKUP (or lack thereof!).
I have 2 Macs that I use personally: an iMac 27” and a MacBook Air 13”. The iMac is my main repository for family photos and all other kinds of important stuff. And I back that up regularly! But my MacBook Air is used daily too and yet I have not been backing that up nearly as much. I figured all my important data was on the iMac. FIRST MISTAKE! All my devices should be backed up. Bad owner!
SECOND MISTAKE: A few weeks ago, the excellent proactive monitoring software MAC OUTPOST SENTINEL which is installed on my MacBook Air sent an alert to Peter about a status failure on my main storage drive. Thank goodness I had Sentinel installed, right?! If I had acted immediately, that would be true! But I was complacent. First, I wasn’t seeing any problem, so why was Peter bothering me?!
I waited 3 days before doing anything, and no, I did not even backup the MacBook Air during those 3 days! YIKES! Then the errors started cropping up. I brought my MacBook Air to the store on Wharncliffe Rd. South and asked Gaven to perform his magic. He managed to save SOME of my data but not all. I discovered too late that I had some old family videos on my MacBook Air that were not backed up. Before Gaven could retrieve any more data, the drive failed entirely and needed to be replaced.
TWO LESSONS: First, don’t feel embarrassed if you don’t have a solid backup solution in place! Second, DON”T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU! Get a backup solution in place for ALL your devices: iPads, iPhones, laptops, iMacs, etc. Don’t lose your important family memories like I did. Our staff know how to help so don’t wait til an expensive data recovery is your only option.
Thanks again for all your business over the years and I hope to see you at either of our stores soon!
John Hauffe