My plan for this blog was a series of tips, tricks and suggestions for good practices in using the various pieces of technology I work with on a daily basis as well as my thoughts on using those to support good practices in science. Well, today I have a few tips not just on the technology side, but also on the social side, all inspired by an email I got this morning (loosely translated and anonymized) :
Now the person in question is a passing acquaintance, who worked as the student assistant for a workgroup on the same floor as mine where a few of my friends work, and the computer in question is a personal machine. Finally, I'm not actually in terms of my contract an IT person, I was just more or less drafted into it because I can do it and generally enjoy working with computers.
So that's the baseline information. Now on to what we can learn from all this. I'm going to discuss:
Good Morning [my name misspelled],
I'm turning to you, because I don't know where else to go. I somehow -- I really don't know how -- managed to delete my pictures folder, and no, I don't have a TimeMachine Backup...[everything is gone, list of important events whose pictures are gone]
I tried the trial version of Data Rescue 3 and saw that the pictures are still "there", but the trial version will only rescue a small amount of data. I really can't afford the 50€ to buy the program at the moment, and who knows, how often you [impersonal -- this is clear in the original] really need it. I'll definitely start using TimeMachine now!
I've asked around and don't know anybody who has such a program. Can you help me?
It would be really great if you could, because those are really unique and precious memories for me. I'll gladly make sure that you get good, strong coffee this month and next. [This last part sounded better in the original, but the literal meaning is correct.]
Best,
Anna [name changed]
Now the person in question is a passing acquaintance, who worked as the student assistant for a workgroup on the same floor as mine where a few of my friends work, and the computer in question is a personal machine. Finally, I'm not actually in terms of my contract an IT person, I was just more or less drafted into it because I can do it and generally enjoy working with computers.
So that's the baseline information. Now on to what we can learn from all this. I'm going to discuss:
- How deletion works and why programs like Data Rescue 3 can (sometimes) undelete
- What this means if you find yourself needing such a program
- Why you should still be using real backup software and a few recommendations on that front (i.e. there is no excuse for not backing up given the utilities built in modern OSes)
- What we can learn from Anna's experience in terms of dealing with your IT guy (and for the IT guys: how to not come off as a jerk yet not get abused by coworkers)
This is clearly going to be a long one…
