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June 13, 2008

huh

Reminder: always, always back up before shipping to AppleCare

Posted Jun. 13, ’08, 2:40 PM PT by David Dahlquist
Category | Apple » Huh?

applecare.jpgHello class, today we’re going to talk about data backup. Data backup is an important part of a well-rounded computer user’s regimen, and we all know why. What some of us might not know, is that it is always, always important to back up all remotely important data before you ship your Mac off to AppleCare for whatever reason.

This is because more often than not, AppleCare will format your hard drive, often without any warning, even if your original problem had nothing at all to do with hard drive or operating system issues.

Take the case of my room mate last semester. She’s far from a computer geek, but I’d say she possesses the tech savvyness of a typical 20-something college student. That is to say, when her 12” iBook’s power adapter started acting up, and a replacement one didn’t solve the issue, she shipped her Mac off to AppleCare without even thinking about backing up her data. After all, it wasn’t a hard drive issue, it was a power issue. Plus, the Apple Care rep didn’t mention anything about backing up data. And really, even if Apple did have to resort to the drastic measure of wiping her entire hard drive clean, they’d at least give her a call and let her know what was up; maybe give her an option to save her data or what not, right?

Wrong. She received her iBook a few days later, as good as new. Literally. She booted up, and was greeted with a freshly installed OS X asking for all her basic information. All her photos from study abroad, gone. All her coursework, gone. She wasn’t stoked. Granted, she should have backed up her stuff, but really, I think most of us are guilty of slacking on backups at least to some extent.

You may think that this post is uncalled for; that every idiot knows they should back up their hard drive before shipping their computer out to be serviced. Well I say, if it could happen to a bright UC Berkeley grad, it could happen to any of us. So remember kids: back it up before you pack it up.


4 Comments

Goobi said:

Actually I think you still got it wrong. The rule is: Always backup no matter what! :D

One would be stupid to send something for servicing without getting a proper backup...

June 14, 2008 3:47 AM
TechGuy said:

I work in the computer tech area and this is what I have to say: just girl (and the writer, are not really smart when comes to computers. First of all, who in their right mind don't have a back up these days, especially college students who have lots of important documents for school? The excuse "-Oh I didn't know about backup" is lame and retarded, only a moron living under a rock would say that. Second, you need to be fucking stupid to send your computer to a repair center and not expect something like that happen. Give her a call? Why not ask her how's the weather? They deal with thousands of units every day and if they encounter barriers for their troubleshooting (such as the girl didn't give her password to log on to her computer) they don't waste time and wipe it clean so they can test it. Finally, it's CLEAR on the AppleCare terms and conditions that it is possible that could happen to her drive.
I'm surprise the blogger on this site are so misinformed and have the worst attitude towards technicians about backup.

You two are example of we called the retarded customer, who knows what to do, does not do it and complain when something goes wrong.

tsc tsc tsc

June 14, 2008 10:48 AM
Ben said:

Actually my system backs up every night to two different external drives. But, what I would suggest is to back up the computer drive and erase it before sending it in for repair, or for anyone to look at.

June 14, 2008 6:54 PM
lar3ry said:

The comments here make a lot of assumptions. If the power connector on the iBook wasn't working, then how was the girl going to be able to back up her data? It's difficult to back up a computer that doesn't have power.

Perhaps she was expected to remove the hard drive (have you ever tried to remove an iBook hard drive?), place it into another iBook or some other computer with an available connector, and do the backup, but this is a college student.

The only thing I can fault her for was not having a "current" backup (heck, with Leopard, setting up Time Machine is a snap!).

I think the basic message of this entry is fair; you never know what will happen when you send your unit in for repair.

Of course, you should always back up. If it's something you will find difficult or impossible to replace if your media goes bad, then it should be available at a secondary location. Don't bother backing up your copy of Finder or iWorks, those can be reinstalled as long as you have your original media. But DO make sure your home directory and those important documents, flash drives, SD cards, etc. can be restored at any point.

June 17, 2008 7:30 AM

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