Back that PDA up
By Erica Hill
CNN Headline News
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(CNN) -- For years as a technology reporter, I reminded readers and viewers to "back it up." I did a good job of practicing what I preach, until two weeks ago.
If you're a regular "HotWired" reader, you know I love my PDA, and not only because I can play Tetris on it. That little guy has years of contacts packed neatly into a slim case. It holds the birthdays of my family, addresses of my friends' parents from high school and college -- a sure way to track someone down -- and years worth of business contacts.
When I left San Francisco in January, I printed out a full copy of the address book stored on my Handspring Visor and copied the file to a disk. I wanted to make sure I had a backup. The original was on the laptop I used at my last job, which of course did not make the move to Atlanta.
Once in Georgia, I found out I couldn't put my Palm software on my PC at work. I was reluctant to fire it up at home because our only computer was my boyfriend's work laptop. "No worries," I thought. "I'll just use the travel charger to keep the juice flowing." I figured once I had a personal PC at home, I'd install the software, hit the sync button and be done.
If only things had gone that smoothly.
For months I dutifully checked the battery life on my Visor. One Friday a few weeks ago, I turned it on to get a phone number and was warned that the battery was low. I made a mental note to plug it into the charger that night when I got home. The note got lost in the shuffle. On Monday, I was looking for the number of a professional contact for an article. I tried to turn on my PDA, but it was dead.
I got home that night, plugged it into the charger, and to my horror, everything -- including Tetris -- was gone.
Sure, you're thinking, "Hey, Erica, no problem – you backed it up! You have it on disk and you have a hard copy. Good thinking!"
Yeah, great thinking, as long as you can find at least one of the two. I can't.
I've searched high and low, and rummaged through the two boxes remaining from the move what seems like a dozen times. I still can't find either one. I couldn't find the numbers for Sumi and Alona to wish them happy birthdays, and that professional contact sheet is nowhere to be found.
I do still have the Palm software, so I can start over, but that's not what I was hoping for.
The moral? Back it up, but remember where you put the backup. Without it, you're stuck trying to reassemble years of information and left with nothing to play but a little solitaire on the computer.
The good news is that we have a new personal computer at home, and it seems to get along well with the Visor. If only I'd fostered the relationship earlier.
