Imagine that - I haven't died!
Just very possibly died inside a little lot
This weekend I learned a really hard and very expensive lesson. Something that I think is worth sharing with you all here. My laptop started acting up last week and my hard drive occasionally didn't want to read. It kept going into the BIOS mode whenever it switched over to screensaver mode. Never a good sign, but being on the slightly more moronic end of the spectrum, I didn't do what I should have done immediately and BACK UP EVERYTHING externally.
Of course you would have done that if it had been you, right?
And then on Friday, my laptop just wouldn't boot at all. I went into panic mode because apart from ALL of my work documents, my photos and a whole slew of other sensitive documents from identification to correspondence and so on - the part that made me panic most was that my Hive keys were on that hard drive. When I created my account @emma-h, I didn't manually write them down and I didn't have access to a printer at the time, so I saved them. I only saved them on my hard drive.
Fast forward almost a year (my first Hive birthday would have been in August), almost 200 people I converse with almost daily, a reputation of almost 70 and 3000 Hive later - I had no access to my keys or my account. I also, in true moronic fashion (Go Big or Go Home right?) hadn't downloaded my Hive Keychain extension or my password saver. This is how you fail horribly in one fell swoop! So in true ironic fashion - I joined Hive on a weekend and I lost my Hive keys on a weekend too.
Currently my hard drive is sitting with a data recovery company who phoned me a few hours ago and broke the news that my drive is DEAD and non recoverable, along with the access to my Hive account. And that kids, is how you learn lessons the hard and expensive way! I've had a good cry and now I'm picking up the pieces and starting again because I can only blame myself.
I am unfortunately going to do a Hive taboo and tag a whole range of you here so that you know the following:
- I'm not dead 😃
- I haven't deserted Hive or any of you 😁 Sorry for the radio silence
- Missing the #weekend-engagement wasn't fun
- I missed
#TwoTuneTuesday#ThreeTuneTuesday and it sucked - I've missed you all
and most importantly:
Back up your fucking Hive Keys!
Write them down and stick them in a safety deposit box. Save them in multiple places if necessary. Just don't lose them. Trust me, it's not a good feeling.
@galenkp @clareartista @meesterboom @erikah @nonameslefttouse @vincentnijman @grindan @becca-mac @trucklife-family @chrysanthemum @purpleglitter @ablaze @killerwot @cmplxty @riz611 @traciyork @dswigle
𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝑨𝑰 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆. 𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒘𝒏.
Heyy! Nice to hear from you again, thanks to @traciyork for reblogging this.
Sorry to hear about your previous account, I remember seeing you delegating to @ocdb so if you can't access it any longer least I can do is ask our dev to send your future payouts to this account, I know it's not much but it may help and maybe the other curation projects could do the same!
Anyway, giving you a follow on your new account as well!
Hey Acid
Thanks so much for the message and the kind words. I appreciate it. It was quite a tough blow to be honest. I really love Hive and have made so many great friends here, this time away has made me realise just how much I appreciate our community as a whole - I've made friends here that I have missed so much the last few days. It sucks to have lost the account, but the fact that I am back and finding everyone again is what really matters.
Thank you for the support and yes, OCD created my Emma-h account originally and has supported my growth right from the start and for that I am really grateful. You know, it's not all bad. There's now 3000 Hive staked here forever and giving back to the blockchain is so worth it, that I take solace in that.
Have a good one Acid and I appreciate you reaching out
🦋 Em
That's really awesome to hear, the community here really can't be compared to anywhere else online. Hope you make it back in no time, still over a decade or so left of some nice hive inflation but always important to take breaks now and then (speaking of personal experience recently :D).
Also lol, what are the odds, I checked ocdb again and I misremembered the account I was thinking of that delegated to us as it was called @emma-hs, maybe I've been here for too long, lol. But definitely check with @curangel and @ecency if they can re-direct your payouts, no matter how small.
Thank you so much for the support and the vote Acid, it means a lot. I am so grateful to you and everyone here that has been so compassionate and our community really is awesome, there is no way I could throw in the towel.
I started delegating to curation accounts a few days apart and was planning on delegating to OCD next, I didn't get the opportunity before I lost my drive 😔 but I appreciate the advice, I'll definitely do that, it would help.
Have a splendid day/night and if you need that break you spoke of, you should take it and go somewhere pretty, it makes a huge difference to the mind and soul. 🦋
Haha just got back actually from a much needed break, but you're right. Hope to see you continue posting and being active within the community same as before on the new account!
Thank you very much @traciyork for reblogging my post and for spreading the word, everyone has been really kind even though I probably don't deserve it - it was a very stupid way to learn a hard lesson.
I hope you are well 🔮 🖤
You can stop bashing yourself. You fully deserve everything as you're one of the most genuine Hiver I've ever known. It's hard to find genuine people these days. Most likely you don't know what this amazing community is capable of. Just watch!
Again, it's painful to lose your account but we're here to help.
I really feel for you and I can somewhat relate. My harddisk died two years ago. And then, the next day, my phone fell in the toilet and died. I almost lost thousands of euros in crypto but, eventually managed, to find backups of most of my wallets ( including Hive ). I lost the keys to two alt accounts though and my Exodus wallet.
I saw a notification of this account following me and - for a moment - thought you had started an alt account yourself, for other reasons, then I read this post.
As a plaster on the wound ( as the saying goes in Dutch ), I will send you 50 Hive.
🦖hug!
Hi Vincent
Thank you for writing, gosh I totally feel for what you went through. Losing your harddrive and phone in one go would push me over the edge, I'm so glad you were able to get (most of) your backups!
Lol, I wish it had only been for an alt account, but anyway, I'm back and so glad to be in touch with you and our awesome community again. It feels good.
Thank you for the Hive, I really do appreciate the generosity and support.
Philosoraptor hug to you too
🦋Em
Hi Emma,
You're so welcome :<)
I actually stayed surprisingly calm
or only panicked for a little while.
It's fair to say that I have lost so much money, keys to digital wallets, etc., in 6 years in crypto, that I can take a 'beating', these days.
I trust that everything happens for a reason and works out, in the long ( or short ) run.
Nice to see the response and love that you are getting, these days ( and deservedly so )
and thank you for returning my raptor hug to me, with an added butterfly, as a bonus!
( I love these creatures! )
❤️🦖
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! I am crying right now, what a terrible succession of events!
Since I cannot physically hug you, please have some awesome metal instead. That's basically the same thing, right? This is my current fave from that band, although all their stuff is GREAT! I think you'd dig them!
FRUCK hard drives for only dying at the WORST times. Why must they do this to us?!
Don't beat yourself up too badly, we all make mistakes. I'm so glad you're here. 💚
This made me laugh and is totally the correct answer! 🤣 It is the weirdest thing!!! I found Electric Callboy about two weeks ago and I couldn't stop laughing. Their videos are hilarious and I have no idea how they managed to mix techno and metal, but they got it right. I was so amused. They're in my playlist. Especially Hypa Hypa...I even played it for my niece who broke out some epic break dance moves. Ah Grindan you know me well. Thank you for making me smile today.
I'm moving up and ploughing forward, sending you a metal hug in return too 🖤.
Oooh, @emma-h2 - I am sorry for your hard lesson!! But yes, having everything backed-up in an ongoing fashion is a staple of a healthy digital life - just that no-one reminds us to do that, because we're all so distracted and busy, eh! So it is a very postitive juju karma for you, that you're advising others to remember to back-up, by offering your lesson as a warning.
Blessings to you,,,, and I look forward to connecting with you more, creatively and afresh - sometimes a clean slate can have multiple benefits!
MUCH love and good luck!
Clare.
You're the second today and I hope the last one.
Painful, I don't even have words, to express what I feel, let alone imagine what you must be going through.
You have my full support Emma, 100% upvote on your posts and some more help till you can gain some stake.
Hello Erika
How are you bud? Who was the other person? I hope they are ok. You know, my mom always used to say that these things come in threes. My car battery died two days before my harddrive did and so if we count the one you mentioned - hopefully that's the trifecta and it's now done.
Thank you so much for the kindness and support, I really do appreciate it. It's been a rough few days to be brutally honest and also finding out Galen has been ill too 😟
At least now this account is backed up all over the place and I know I won't make the same stupid mistake again.
And yes, our community is a fucking thing of beauty! I was seriously jonesing when I couldn't get onto Hive 🤣 I don't think it's a bad thing lol. I hope you are well. Sending you a big hug.
Oh no! so many problems! I hope you can sort the car out soon and without paying a fortune for it. These things can be pretty expensive.
Your new Hive account is on the right track, so enjoy blogging again :)
Sending you a big hug as well :)
I got a new battery so that's sorted thankfully, it just sucked that it all happened in one go, but hey, onwards and upwards right? I really do appreciate all the help and the delegations and upvotes from you and everyone else who read my tale of woe lol, these things only make us stronger personally and as a community and it shows how Hive really is full of amazing people.
Have a beautiful day Erika and find some special moments in it. Hugs, Em x
Ah I have this annoying thing on PeakD where if I’ve not interacted with an account I don’t get a notification for things like a tag. I didn’t see this, dubbya tee eff!
I just powered up 50 hive to you, to hopefully help get you back on your feet! Looks like I have to do a few HSBI units as well to get that started :D
I wouldn’t go too hard on yourself, it happens to us all! It’s a lesson and the ones we remember the most are the painful ones.
Good to see you back, I will edit my post about snakes right now and fix the tag!
One of the things I did a few years ago when I thought I was dying (unfortunately not an exaggeration lol, story for another day) I wrote down all the stuff for my wife. I just have to update it since I’ve added a few accounts since then but a piece of paper with the important stuff on it is great to have!
Also - one thing I’m thinking of doing is creating an alt account and sending an encrypted memo to that account with just the active key as the text so that it can be a little insurance if something goes awry, at least you have the memo and the transaction to refer back to so you can power down and change over. Might be easier to just keep it on a piece of paper lol
Hey @cmplxty, Thanks so much, I appreciate it. I felt such such a moron 🤦♀ but yes, these things happen and I've made sure it won't happen again. I've now changed my recovery account as well, written out my keys numerous times and stored them in various places.
You thought you were dying? That's scary. I've actually had to get all my affairs in order like that previously as well, where there was a chance I could have died so I get it. It's not a nice feeling to have to do it, but it's better to be pragmatic about these things. It also gives us a new lease on life when we don't die, so that's a positive.
I'm happy I'm back in the saddle, it just feels right 😊
Hey Emma, so sorry to hear that all this has happened.
When I first signed up on here, I was told how important it is to have a few copies of your keys at least one in writing. Which I have had to resort back to, as my laptop crashed a while back.
Look at it as a new beginning.
Really glad you're back xxxxx
Hey Aishlin
You are wise and I wish I had done the same. I'm just so grateful I was able to get my laptop up and running again and I could start again. You know the saying - fall 7 times, rise 8 times.
I hope you are well and looking forward to the weekend
Hugs, Em xx
Holy crap. I didn't recognize the new account name at first. My mush brain didn't allow it to sink in. So sorry to hear about losing all that data, especially your keys. Yep, sometimes lessons are learned hard, but that is okay. You will build your account back up rather quickly I am sure.
It was the most face palmy day of the last year I tell you, but no worries, it's now history and I'm moving forward. When I'm feeling really stupid, I go onto YouTube and watch gun safety fails and feel instantly not so annoyingly dumb afterwards 🤣
So sorry to hear this. It is one of my biggest fears. Maybe try another company for hard disk recovery there may be another technique they have not tried. A least hang on to the drive as maybe in the future there may be a way to get your data back. I hope this doesn't break your spirit.
It is not pleasant but now I've put it behind me and I'm moving forward. I'll go fetch the hard drive in the next couple days and you do have a good point, but the way the guy explained it to me doesn't sound like it would be recoverable by anyone - it has one point of failure and that's what failed.
My spirit isn't broken, just a bit dented. I'm finding everyone again and that's what's important. Thanks for the comment Dan, I hope you are doing well.
I'm so sorry, Emma :( And what a frustration!
I have the keys backed up on a couple of devices, but I think it's time for me to print them out on paper and save them.
I hope a miracle happens and someone can recover the information from the disk. For now, I'll follow you on this account.
Thanks @coquicoin it was such a shock when I realised what it meant. I was beside myself. Definitely print them out and keep them somewhere safe. Maybe more than one copy too, that's what I'm doing now.
Everyone has been so amazing and I've got this account now, so hey, it's looking up, I'll always take whatever positive side to a situation that there is.
How are you doing?
:(
Indeed 😔
You know I'll never make that stupid mistake again.
Hope you and the smallsteps fam are well.
The picture here caught my attention, then I was like "who's this emma-h2?", is she related emma-h? Because you're the only Emma I know on Hive.
Then I started reading, and well, I guess the rest is history. Is there absolutely no way to retrieve the keys? I think I know the answer to that, but I wish that we could come up with some solution. Well, this is one of the cons of WEB3 and decentralization I guess.
But you better keep your chin up, lil missy, because at least you're here, starting from scratch again. Who knows what I or any other user would've done if something similar had happened.
NOW, LET'S START AGAIN. IT'S GRIND TIME. 🔥🖤
Hey Riz. Oh man, I've missed how much you make me laugh. Those Gifs get me every time. Yeah it's one of those things I'm afraid. I went through all of my documents I have on all of my external drives. I went through my email account. I searched through all of my writing note pads and multiple times too...to no avail. It is indeed history. All good though, I've come to terms with it and the only way now is forward.
How are things on your end? You still doing ok?
I figured, that there'll be no way back. Yet, let's get going again, create some new memories. 🔥
Yup, I'm doing quite alright. I've been busy with work mostly, but now it's Eid time, so I'm just relaxing during my Eid break.
I'm glad to read you are well. Hope you enjoy your break, sounds like you've been very busy workwise so it's well deserved. Eid Mubarak to you! 🌙
Yes, I'm working on a completely new project, so I'm still getting used to it.
Eid Mubarak, Emma. Much love. 🖤✨
Oh no Em! I'm so sorry this has happened to you my friend 🥺 I looked for your participation over the weekend and when I didn't see you I even thought about writing to you. I thought: what would happen? Then I thought to myself: maybe she is at work or she will be a little sick 🤔.
I really put myself in your shoes and the feeling must be really bad Em. But I'm so glad to see how you've been supported with nice encouraging comments so you can start again and keep going 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻😉 You're not alone.
Here I leave you a very bad joke, I don't know if they are like yours 😄 but I hope at least it brings a smile to your face.
What is the happiness of a snail? Riding on a turtle! Woohoo!!! 😸😸😸😸 (Don't mute me please 😂).
Thank you, it's ok, I'm back and have found everyone again so that's what matters. I have been frantically trying to catch up on work so it's kept my mind occupied and being productive is a driving force forwards 😊
Lol, I was trying to picture a snail riding on a turtle and the happy look on it's face. I think I need to draw that. I wouldn't mute you, it did bring a smile to my face. Thank you for connecting with me, I hope you are well Big hugs, x Em 🦋
I'm so sorry my dearest friend @emma-h2. I did keep wondering why I was no longer seeing you around. Must have been a painful experience to live through but I'm glad you're alright. I wish I had more to offer you than just kind words but I'm always here to help in whatever capacity I can. Love you dear. Stay strong.💕
Hi Treasure
Thank you so much for the comforting words, they really do help. This certainly isn't an experience I would recommend to anyone lol. Sigh, this is how I learn - the hard way hahaha.
Everyone has been so supportive and understanding which is what Hive is all about - community and friendship and it really shows. I am just so glad to be back.
Big hugs to you, thank you for finding me and reaching out 🦋
Wow, what happened to you was hard, no one would want to live that experience, thanks for the good advice you give everyone.
It is a good lesson for me, one that I will never repeat and hopefully if I've helped save one person's account from a similar fate, then this was somehow worth it I guess.
That's so sad to hear.
I'm saving my keys now. Thank you for the reminder.
I'm glad that it's prompted you to save them, if I've helped at least one person through all of this, then at least the lesson is being put to good use.
Omg that is sooo hard! Hope you’re able to get some help transferring some hive and then open a new account to access again. (If that works, I’m not technical about these things 😅)
We too have lost passwords and accounts in the past as well as get scammed!
The saddest one I’ve lost was my cryptokitties! First generation 😭😭 stupid wallet malfunctioned and then we can’t access the keys anymore!!
Getting scammed lost thousands as well.. and it happened within a few seconds!! 😩😩
You have such a great community here and connection I’m sure you’ll be able to get back on your feet soon!! Xx
Thanks @vincy, this is my new account. My old account is not accessible and I've put it behind me.
Cryptokitties? I am assuming this was an NFT? That's really sad, I'm sorry. This is why it's so important to keep everything safe, secure and backed up, so I totally understand how you must feel.
Thank you for the thoughtful and kind comment, it helps. Have a good day 🌻
Oh I see sorry I must have misread the account name. I haven’t been around for a while so don’t know many of the new names. Glad you have so much support!!
Thank you for your kind words xx
That's ok, I understood what you meant. It's a better and brighter day, so let's all do something awesome with it. Have a good one 😊
I remember my first time being here in Hive wherein the information are oberwhelming and I was too excited to absorb it all that I forgot where I had saved my Hive Keys. It's just my luck that I haven't even started posting there on my first account. It's true, we must backup our account. Now I'm reminded again, that I should save copies of it on my other notepads.
It's a good reminder and I hope you do. Save them offline as well in a physical format. It was stressed to me when I started, but I didn't do it until it was too late and I couldn't. Time machines haven't been invented yet lol. Thanks for your comment and coming by. Have a great day.
Not only one, we should keep atleast a few backups!
$WINE
So true! That's what I'm doing this time around 😌
Aw man, that is brutal. So so bad, I feel for ya. Have you not even got hivesigner set up so that you might have a password on a browser?
Hey Boomy, I can't say I'm particularly fond of myself at this moment. I had Hivesigner but because everything on that hard drive died, the browser info went with it. I have my Hivesigner password, but that doesn't help me because there's no history for it to work from.
Looking on the brighter side (if that's even remotely possible lol), I've done better this time and saved everything manually, printed it out and I have digital copies in more than one location. This time, nuclear apocalypse will come first I reckon.
Hope you are well Boomy. It's nice to be in contact again, I was having Hive withdrawal symptoms 🤣
Crikey, I forgot hivesigner isn't cloudy and keeps everything local.
It's nice to hear from you too!! That's utter baws, hopefully you get support and get right back up there with all the hives. Sprints decentralisation sucks don't it!
Thanks Boomy, these things happen, I'll live - at least it was only 11 months worth of Hiving, it could have been worse. Appreciate the vote and follow, I'm going to have some work cut out for me to get back into the saddle, but at least I'm here 😁
Have a good one, if I could, I'd buy you a pint 🍻
I will have a beer and raise it to your good health and positivity!! :OD
That is such a horrible thing to happen to you :( it's a shame you didn't save any of your passwords in Google, I always go into settings to find my stuff when I forgot something.
I have my passwords saved in a folder on my laptop, pc and this reminds me, I've been meaning to print a few physical copies to leave in a few places.
I'm so sorry this happened to you, and I wish there was some way to break into your account.
I don't know what I'd do if I lost everything, to be fair, you're doing great, at least you're jumping back in the saddle rather than just giving up and walking away.
!PIMP !LUV !HUG
Hey bud, thanks for the kind and understanding words. I use Brave and when I signed up originally it wasn't through Ecency, I think it was through PeakD. I looked through my emails but they weren't there. Maybe I need to trawl through them again just in case, but I'm pretty sure they aren't.
Lol breaking into my account 🤣 made me laugh. At least we know that it's freaking secure as fuck in that regard. Just thinking optimistically, in five years I'll probably look at that account and go oh well, I've done better the second time around. Here's to hoping. I'm no quitter and I enjoy Hive way too much to just walk away, I would miss you all way too much.
It would be amazing to have an ethical hacker on call for these types of emergencies.
Yeah, that's the spirit, being able to jump back in and start over is a good attitude to have and realistically, you'll fly up now knowing everything you do, I imagine you'll be back where you were in no time. The community is great and I'm sure you'll get plenty of support from everyone, you aren't the first to be in this situation and I'm sure you won't he the last.
Thank you for the delegation too, it's hugely helpful in getting up and running again especially in terms of voting and RC 🦋
Oh don't mention it, it's the least I could do to get you back on your feet.
Yeah, I noticed that you had less than half resource credits so figured I'd give you that little boost.
Hahaha, well that would be something but I wouldn't even know where to start looking for one 🤣
It's not something that I would wish on anyone to be honest, even my worst enemy I don't think I'd curse that bad, but hey, I'm back and I'll just build from scratch. Appreciate your kind thoughts, it helps a lot.
Big hugs to you, your lady and the little one too 🦋
Aw man @killerwot, you are out of PIMP to slap people.
Go Stake some more and increase your PIMP power.
(We will not send this error message for 24 hours).
Read about some PIMP Shit or Look for the PIMP District
I sent 1.0 HUG on behalf of @killerwot.
(1/2)
We missed you too emma! Good to see you back. Indeed it’s worth sharing lesson to be well aware. And you presented it amazingly!
Best Wishes!
Thanks bud, it's a harsh one for sure, but lesson learned! Feels good to be back 🦋
I read this early this morning and wasn't able to comment.
Please know that I am so sorry to read this,I can only imagine how it has been for you. I am happy to see many stepping forward, it feels just like the Hive I have grown to know and love.
I wouldn't be so hard on you, it happens and I am happy that you have put the best spin on it, leaving it to the blockchain to grow. Good luck on your way back up.
This sucks plenty, but, I don't think it will take you 11 months to get back up there. If you need anything... 💕
Actually, when I signed up on Ecency I received an email with all my keys in a PDF, is there any chance you were emailed your keys back them when you signed up?
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Hey!! Sometimes I think about saving the keys in some other place, and for some reason I don’t do it. Thanks for this post!! I’m glad you are ok and you are currently on Hive again!!
Oh that's so sad🥺🥺I perfectly understand how it feels when you lost something very valuable.
Funnily enough saving it in your hard drive wasn't a bad idea because you thought it better there.
It's reminds me of how I lost my wedding pictures and videos because my hard drive was corrupt, I don't even have those pictures or videos backed up anywhere, am only left with few in my phone and that which I saved on cloud. It hurt so much that I cried😥.
Welcome back am glad you learnt from this.
Greetings, first I must say that I really loved the cover photo you used, it's a beautiful sunset, honestly I came into this post because of that image that captivated my attention....
On the other hand, it is sad to know that you can no longer access or recover your previous account, it must be very hard to be in that position when you have invested a lot of time and have grown with that account.
I hope you get back on your feet soon, good luck with your new account. 🙏🏻
Thanks for the kind comment and compliment on my sunset photo, I appreciate it. Sunsets are one of my favourite things to shoot, when I get the opportunity.
It was unfortunate but if you read my second post on my new account, you'll see that it did have a silver lining. My feet are firmly planted again so it's all good. Thanks for coming round. I hope you made sure your keys were backed up after reading it. Have a great day/night ahead.
You have nothing to thank me for, it was inevitable to ignore that beautiful image.
I haven't read it, but thanks for inviting me, I'll take a look at it in a while, but I'm glad to know your attitude towards this situation, we have to move on, let what happened be an experience and a learning experience.
Of course I do, I've had my keys backed up everywhere for a long time! 🙏🏻😓
Super
Hello, greetings from Venezuela.
I went through the same thing last year and luckily I was able to recover my data, there are some tools that could help you.
If you want to write me on discord or another way to see if I can help you.
Hi @gilliatt
Thanks for the comment and offer to help. Unfortunately I was told that there is no way to get that harddrive back. I took it to one of the best data recovery places and they tried. They said it only had one point of failure and that's where it failed. You did however remind me to go collect it which I'll do this week just for safe keeping.
Hope you are having a good Monday :)