Recently, I discovered that my computer’s hard drive had crashed. None of the data stored on its disc could be recovered. It was gone.

The data lost was of priceless personal value. Fortunately, a new hard drive was affordable.

For those few of you who know even less than I do about the black magic that is a computer, I’ll explain a few things.

The following is an inventory of losses associated with my computer crash: I lost my thousands of E-mail in-mails and sent e-mails. Gone! Along with that I lost my hundreds of e-mail contacts’ addresses. Also gone! Hey! If you haven’t heard from me in a while, send an e-mail to me nuthill@glen-net.ca. That way, I’ll have your e-mail address again.

Over the last 20 years I enriched my computers’ spell-check basic vocabulary. I taught the ignorant machine all sorts of obscure geographical names, aviation terminology and terms that I’ve invented for my personal use. Spell-check didn’t even know how to spell ‘Wolochatiuk’, ‘Keesha’ or Lake ‘Kashagawigamog’. It’s memory just disappeared when the computer screen went blank. Even the beautiful landscapes of my screen saver went down the tube. Data, e-mails, e-mail addresses, spell check vocabulary and screen saver all gone.

Fortunately, none of my digital camera’s images were lost because the thousands are still waiting patiently on a dozen or so 2GB cards. I haven’t yet committed to a dedicated storage system. As in other areas, I’m reluctant to commit until I’m sure I’ve found the elusive ‘Right One’.

I could have lost all my data permanently, but fortunately Eric McCauley, my computer guru, had set up an automatic ‘black box’ back-up system. To my great amazement, relief and pleasure, all the basic text was retrieved intact. Whew!

Give this some thought: what would happen if your computer and the back-up system was to be destroyed by fire, pulverized by a falling meteorite or hauled away by a burglar? I’ve heard of several types of data back-up systems. The most basic is making a hard copy of everything. To copy all my works, reference material and correspondence would create a stack of paper taller than the CN Tower, so that’s out. Besides, everything would then have to be re-entered. Storage data on a hosting website is another possibility. What happens if that service goes the way of Nortel or hundreds of General Motors dealerships?

Geographic separation is another option. On a regular basis, someone does a back-up of your programs and data on another computer and takes it somewhere down the road. It’s quite unlikely that some fire, falling meteorite or burglar would strike both sites.

Do a back-up on CDs? Ever heard of ‘disc rot’ or ‘CD rot’? Check it out on the WWW.

It seems that computers are like everything else: nothing lasts forever. Theologians are still debating the longevity, perhaps eternity, of the human being. Well, almost nothing lasts forever. One exception is the resentment of the heavy-handed destruction of almost all the artifacts related to the Avro CF-105 Arrow program. A second is the memory of a true love. A third is the loss of one’s child. Kodak recently announced that production of their classic Kodachrome slide film is being terminated. Therefore a fourth thing that will last forever is older photographers’ respect for the stability and superb image quality of Kodachrome.

Needless to say, but I’ll say it anyway, for any of you who have never had a dog as a companion. A dog has unconditional and eternal love and admiration for its master. If only I could be as great as my LWD thinks I am.