oh NO NO NO NONOOOoooooo....

[Catty1]

A client had the blue screen of death last night. Brought the tower home and the HD was toast...hooking it up externally brought NO results.

So, I decided to put in a temporary HD - I had a couple of 80g around, the same size as hers - and would see about getting her pictures and documents retrieved by one of two companies.

...........................Her Windows is successfully reinstalled.

Unfortunately, it seems I overwrote her own hard drive WITH HER PICTURES ON IT.

I know lying is NOT good...I just feel sick and don't know what to tell her. I don't feel I should even charge her.

One thing for sure, I am done with being even self-employed. Screwups like this are unforgiveable.

And I was hoping to even make a few dollars on this.

I'm going to go cry now...

[catnapper]

Yikes! My feeling is you saved her computer, and thats worth being paid. It is her fault for never backing up her photos.

[Laura's Babies]

I know how terriable you must feel.. The one thing we don't want to loose is our pictures.. I feel your pain and hers.

[Catty1]

Well..if it is her HD I messed up...at least it is working again with all the drivers in it. I have texted a fellow tech about all this, and I am to call him in a few minutes.

The computer was VERY dusty inside...lucky the motherboard didn't fry!

Anyway...I did message her to ask if she had sent copies of her pics/docs to anyone.

The understanding is now that her original HD is to be checked to see if the files can be retrieved from it.

I was trying to be careful, I really was.

Trust me, friends, your repair people hate screwing up as much as you hate them doing it.

Bottom line....the computer is working. Files may be lost. I'm so sorry!

[Catty1]

Okay...bought a bit of time, and am getting help from a fellow tech who led me to an article on freeware data recovery.

Found a good one...will contact him tomorrow. My current machine will NOT burn stuff to disc...silly thing.

Hope I can find some of her stuff.

Thanks for listening to my rant...

[DJFyrewolf36]

I wish all techs were as nice as you are...a lot of people warn customers that if they didn't back up the files, it isn't the techs problem.

*HUGS* don't beat yourself up...it works now doesn't it?

[Kirsten]

I'm so sorry!!! I would feel as bad about it as you do... and since I'm not a good lyer, I would probably tell her what happened.

But you saved her computer, didn't you? So I guess you could at least charge her for that. Doesn't she have any backup of her data? Everyone should have! (reminds me that I should run another backup, too ).

Kirsten