still fucked

[solarbird]

Time Machine won't acknowledge the backup. Migration Utility also won't acknowledge the backup. The sparsebundle is visible, and the package contents can be viewed, but it doesn't mount, reporting "no mountable file systems." Disk Utility says it's not a valid filesystem. Migration Assistant doesn't present it as a source, and neither does Time Machine, including via the "Browse other Time Machine disks..." ctl-click menu option.

The backup was working fine when I didn't fucking need it, or, until the HD on the laptop it was backing up actually crashed.

I'm freaking out a bit here because the only reason this is only a little over a year's worth of lost data so far is because I kept the original 60G HD I replaced in late 2007, and that's still good. So that's only a year's worth of photos and music elements and ideas, and it's a fucking good thing that I at least have some fucking printouts of some of my sheet music that I can type back in, assuming I ever trust any of this crap again ever.

Oh, and in case you think I'm insufficiently paranoid, keeping the old 60G HD around was my third level backup. Time Machine was the first. The second level backup was drag-and-drop of important files to a separate (Windows XP) server with separate harddrive, all on separate hardware, a backup which is also fucked, thanks to that HD developing physical sector errors en masse. (That backup was also old, but WHAT THE FUCK?!)

Good thing I kept four to five copies of everything or I'd really be fucked! More than I am, I mean.

eta: go go gadget finder text wrapping

Comments

[daspatrick.livejournal.com]

re: "The backup was working fine when I didn't fucking need it, or, until the HD on the laptop it was backing up actually crashed."

I think that's just how backups work. On wikipedia it says 'backup' is defined as 'a system that provides the user with a false sense of security that his or her data may be recoverable in the event of an emergency.'

go, finder text wrapping

[solarbird]

Here's the only remotely funny part about any of any of this:

Re: go, finder text wrapping

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

That's great.

Re: go, finder text wrapping

[anna-copperowl.livejournal.com]

OK, this one piece is priceless. And thanks for the cautionary tale. I thought I was being unnecessarily paranoid to have a three-level backup system. I'll arrange to add at least one layer to it all. Then I'll add paper.

Sorry the gremlins gotcha.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

drag :(

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Ow, my sympathies. I had a similar problem while traveling to and from Worldcon. I'd done a complete clone of my hard drive and was carrying the clone with me. I had two laptop computers, both the same model and mechanically interchangable. The main computer had a hard drive failure. No problem, I thought; I'd use the clone. Except the clone wasn't working either! At least the other computer worked after a fashion, but it was going to take some time to get back home and dig through my tools to find out what data I could get off of one or the other hard drives. In the meantime, I fell sufficiently far behind that I missed a credit card payment by one day, with unpleasant financial results.

[covenantscave.livejournal.com]

BTW, check out Mozy.com for future backups. Mandatory. Even if your computer hard drive never went toast, your house could always go up in flames... :P