“Back that Thang up” has a whole new meaning to me nowadays. A few months ago I was working on some of my writing and I noticed my USB Flash Drive was a little wiggly. I think I was applying too much pressure to the drive. When I took out my drive and plugged it back in, my computer would not read my drive. Slowly the color drained from my face as I saw the storage meter on the side of drive dwindle down and fade away. My USB Flash Drive had broken down.
Immediately I rushed to Best Buy to see if the Geek Squad could resuscitate my Flash Drive but to no avail. The Geek Squad doesn’t specialize in this kind of repair. I called around to a few local computer repair shops asking if they repaired USB Flash Drives and the answer was a resounding no. One store recommended I go online and look up some mail-in flash drive repair sites.
I scavenged the Internet for one and finally settled for a company called Data Retrieval. This is where things got oh so ugly. First I had to pay $99.00 for a standard diagnosis. This was the cheapest diagnosis out of the five they offered. I submitted my diagnosis payment on November 29, 2011 and received a “diagnosis” on December 2, 2011. The diagnosis was my USB Flash Drive was damaged. Hmm…really? I didn’t know that! And for just an additional $500 my USB Flash Drive MIGHT be able to be fixed. No guarantees. The buck stopped there-literally. There was no way I would fork over another $500 for the possibility of my data not even being guaranteed to be re-covered. It’s not like I spilled coffee on the flash drive or anything. Something was loose and I needed someone with flash drive repairing hands to work a little magic.
After picking up my jaw from off the floor I wrote back to Data Retrieval declining to proceed with their “repair service” and requested they send back my flash drive. I didn’t hear back from my POC for another week who then says he will try to work out a special promotion price. Ok, I’ll see what they can counteroffer. Their counteroffer was nothing and I still had not received my flash drive back.
My case was then handed over to another account manager who sent me a form to authorize my flash drive for release to be shipped back for $25.00. Jeez, these people can’t stop asking for money! I replied to the account manager saying wouldn’t it be easier to pick my flash drive up from their DC location instead of having to pay even more fees? The account manager said that would work but ever since I have been trying to fax this form to authorize release but I only have a local fax and no scanner/printer. The account manager wasn’t willing to work with a USPS mailed version of the form. Picky picky.
I then ventured to my local library to fax this form on February 6, 2012. By February 17, 2012 I had FINALLY received my damaged goods back. Even though my flash drive still isn’t fixed, I feel better knowing I can sometime invest in the gazillion dollars necessary in order to get back those files I still hold dear.
Moral of the story kids? Back up your information on both your desktop computer in addition to your flash drive. And in addition to that, back up your computer files on a separate hard drive. You can never have enough places to save your information. Since my ordeal I have bought a new flash drive. Thank you to Amazon.com for having a Deal of the Day featuring the Sandisk Cruzer 32GB USB Flash Drive for $26.09 (regular price $73.09). Umm, yes please! Ahhh, Amazon.com’s Deal of the Day; the gift that keeps on giving. This flash drive is still on sale for this price by the way, so definitely take advantage of this sale :-p.
Back that thang up kids. Back it up. If you’ve experience a similar series of misfortune events feel free to sound off below. Let your ROAR be heard!
