It's Gone!

Yes, sadly, the Christmas card address list has been lost to failed hard drives. Earlier this year (or maybe it was even last fall), the hard drive got flaky and failed. I felt secure in the knowledge that I had backed up all documents and data files prior to the crash. New drive in place and files restored, I carried on. Then the new drive got flaky and, already in the habit of backing up every time we added photos or music, I did not panic. Third drive in place and working. At this point, I didn't even bother restoring, figuring I could pick up the files when I needed them. Plus, the thing flaked out before I could even get all the software installed. Finally, I got a new motherboard AND a new hard drive. It has been problem free for months. And plenty of data was still available on the old drives (some kind of boot sector problem or something that prevented booting up, but did not destroy the data), so I was able to call my computer guy and get my tax files back (at least the ones I had backed up). So, when I went to look for my list of addresses, I assumed I would just be able to restore the file since I had not bothered to restore it before. But no, I couldn't find it in the backups. Not in any of them, not even from the oldest backup. That's when I realized, that some of the older backups were not on my external drive. No, they were on one of the hard drives that went bad. I vaguely remember that one day the backup was searching on the C: drive, but never thought about it much. Could I call and have the old drives searched for backup files? Maybe. But at this late date, it would probably be easier to re-create the list than try to find the right drive, if it is even still available. Plus, so many of you have moved and the last backup was probably not from last year's list. I sat down this evening to make a list of names, but at first pass, only came up with thirty of the usual sixty that we send out.
So, if you usually get a card from us, and one does not appear this year, I'm sorry. As long as I get a card from you, there will be one for you next year. And, I just got a bonus late this evening....I found last years Christmas cards. The first true advantage of being a pack rat!
Happy Holidays!