ot: i hate computers

16 years ago

My computer has been acting up lately, so my DH said he would take a look at it, and what did I come home to find? All of my wintersowing info for all of my jugs is long gone! UGHHH I am so frustrated! Luckily I have most of it written down as well, but I didn't have a chance to write down the last 8 or so jugs, so now I have no clue what is in them. I don't know if I am more angry at the computer or my DH for not backing things up first! If these containers germinate will you guys help me try to figure out what the heck I have growing? Never again will I trust putting my info onto a computer since the same thing happened to me last year!

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Comments (11)

tansy_moon
16 years ago
One thing I have been doing is saving the planted seed packs in a different pile.

If you do that, you can always look back at that set of seed packs and figure out what's in those containers.

I have my seeds divided into:
- plant now
- plant later in the month
- already planted in WS containers
- planted, but want to plant more of
highalttransplant
16 years ago
Oh no, Gardenluv! I feel your pain! Last summer, our computer got a trojan virus that wiped out everything. We had been keeping all of our family pictures on the computer since we had a digital camera, and ... you guessed it, we hadn't backed anything up in a couple of years. My DH found some software that can recover photos, so after buying a new hard drive, he was able to recover a lot of the missing photos, but I learned my lesson. Everything gets backed up now.

As far as WS record keeping, I think I do it in the reverse order from you. I have a germination chart printed out with everything that is being sowed this year, and blank boxes for the date sown, and date germinated, and as I WS I fill in the blanks. Then when I get a chance, I transfer that information into the same form on the computer. The other thing I do differently is that instead of writing a number on each jug, I write the name of the seeds that I planted. For me, it saves time. That way I'm not spending a lot of time looking up what's in each jug, every time I see a sprout.

I'm sure there are lots of folks here that will be able to help you identify the mystery jugs once you have sprouts though, so don't worry.

Bonnie
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ladychroe
16 years ago
You may be able to get some files back with recovery software. Live and learn... and then back files up often.
agirlsgirl
16 years ago
Ditto ladychroe!
I have not lost anything yet on the computer,but one thing I do is, not trust it with my info first,I write everything in my notebook first and then enter it on my data sheet on the computer last. I am positive you will get help identifying them,thank goodness it was only 8 jugs and not 20!
gardenluv
Original Author
16 years ago
Okay, my neighbor saved me, but I definately learned my lesson. He was able to save it, and I have already written the information down so that I will no longer have to worry about losing it. Phew!
squirrel_girl
16 years ago
Gardenluv,

I'm glad you got your log back. It would be so much work to recreate mine.

With a techno geek hubby that is always messing with the computer, I've learned a few tricks to protect my sanity.

The first trick works for small documents like word and excel files. E-mail it to yourself. If the computer ever fritzes out, Yahoo still has it in their bank. I really only do this with things that I've put hours into or when DH is "fixing" something on the computer.

Second, photos and other image intense documents can be duplicated on an external hard drive and stored at a relatives. It is about $75.00, and about 1/2" by 4" by 6". It works like a flash drive, but can hold everything on your computer. Should you ever have a house fire or a complete meltdown of your computer, this would save your photos.
gardenluv
Original Author
16 years ago
That is a great idea squirrel, why did I not think about emailing it to myself? I am going to do that right now. We have an external hard drive but it is conected to my DH's computer so that's a no-go, but thanks for the ideas!
ronald
16 years ago
Tell hubby to get you a flash drive.
They are less than $10.00 and will store all your WSing files.
Ron
gardenluv
Original Author
16 years ago
Forget asking hubby, I will stop and grab one on my way to work tomorrow! That way I will know that it is taken care of.
dorisl
16 years ago
I write the container # on the packet of leftover seeds.

:)
tansy_moon
16 years ago
I also email myself information I want to keep--made a mailbox just for that. And I also got an external drive, after losing my main drive 3 times! Oye vey!

But for record keeping, I simply write the name of the plant on a foil label and put it in the container. I also write it on the side, though I expect that to fade.

I understand why people want to number--because they are using the containers year-after-year. But for me, I like to see what I've got in my hands, rather than refer to a list. But damn, those foil labels do take a lot of time to make. (I'm getting faster though).

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