On 1/10/2020 12:35 PM, Adam Hyman wrote:
First, to help others before they run into this, there are several
general rules before updating an Operating System.
1. Always backup everything to an external hard drive
2. Always backup everything to a second external hard drive
I was going to reply similarly, but did not want to seem obnoxious about
it. I second, third, and fourth Adam's comments. Perhaps these warnings
will benefit others, though I thought everyone knew to back up by now.
It has been known for decades that hard drives can fail unexpectedly and
unpredictably. All hard drives. I actually have four complete physical
backups, on multiple exterma; hard drives, and they are divided into two
different locations, in case of burglary or fire. Also consider
additional cloud backup. I used to have that, and am planning to add it
again. One should never depend on a single computer for data.
Similarly, I no longer accept "my computer crashed" (the modern
equivalent of the old "The dog ate my homework") from students. My
syllabi now required backing up assignments to a cloud service while you
work. In a crash, go to a library computer and continue. If there is a
massive failure of, say, a Microsoft cloud backup, yes, I will accept
that as an excuse.
In Dominic's case, though, could the files still exist, and just not be
readable by this new "insanely great" trash-the-past OS?
I have never used Apple. I really loathe Apple, but will spare you the
reasons here. But there is also a lesson from the PC world, going back
25 years to Windows95: it can be unsafe to switch a computer to a new
OS. Therefore, I have never done this. The reasons make sense; a new OS
changes a lot of things, and there might even be hardware
incompatabilities. Wait until you get a new computer with a new OS.
Fred Camper
Chicago
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