The hard drive on my computer decided to call it quits early this September and boy, was I relieved.
For the less tech-savvy readers the hard drive basically stores all the data on the computer, which in our case includes advertisements, current and past articles, back and current issues, graphics, photos, etc. – basically everything a publisher needs to produce a magazine. In addition, the hard drive stores the application programs – the tools actually needed for the layout and design of this magazine. Hard drives are not invincible and can cause catastrophic results when they break down. Data is irretrievably lost, production schedules grind to a halt, and the machine is rendered virtually useless.
So, why the relief and not outright panic? Well, first of all, if the hard drive is going to give up the ghost, the best time of the month for us is the first week – after the magazine has been laid out and sent to the printer. We then actually have a short lull which we use to do billing and other end-of-month chores not involving the production computer. Not to say we weren’t inconvenienced. Once you begin to depend on these machines for your living it is humbling to learn just how dependant you have become.
Now, we work on a Macintosh (Apple) computer, which is the industry standard for print media. But there are no Mac repair techs anywhere in Chaffee County, nor in any of our surrounding counties for that matter. Macs sure are great computers but can be hell for rural users. Not only did the hard drive konk out, it did so just before the Labor Day weekend, so I got on the phone to the nearest Mac repair shop I knew of, Voelker Research in Colorado Springs, nearly a two hour drive from here. After explaining the symptoms over the phone we all determined the problem. If I shipped the machine for repair it might be as long as ten days before I’d have it back in my office and functioning. It was decided I’d drive it up to the Springs first thing on the Tuesday morning after Labor Day and they could send me home that day with a functioning machine.
Let me take a moment to mention the concept of file backup. Eventually all computer users, Mac or PC, will lose a hard drive, often with disastrous results. All photos and documents stored on the computer are gone, kaput, vanished into thin air. Not only that, if you have an onboard e-mail program, chances are you will lose all your records as well as contact info. Those precious vacation or baby photos? Toast, unless you are extremely lucky and are able to have some of that information retrieved off your damaged hard drive by a technician – at a price. But even then there is no guarantee of your data not being corrupted. Counting on data retrieval is not a safe backup method.
Soon after I began publishing Colorado Central I purchased an external backup hard drive for my computer. All my apps and files are automatically copied to that external source using a Mac program fittingly called Time Machine. The app ran the day before the big shutdown and as a result I was able to save nearly everything I had produced till that point. That was the second relief.
Another relief was that the problem with the computer was not insurmountable, and I found myself happily driving back along the Arkansas River later that afternoon with a functioning Mac riding shotgun thanks to the friendly and sharp techs at Voelker. They treated my machine with the same care as you’d expect from your veterinarian (without the shots).
I made it back around 6 p.m., plugged the machine into the backup drive, turned on the computer and went home and had dinner while all my data was migrating back into the machine. Later that night I returned and went right back to work. I then began thinking, what if this had happened last week, during production? That was yet another relief; it is almost as if the machine knew it needed to hang on for just one more issue, otherwise I would have lost several days of production, with little or no recourse, right at the height of our production schedule. Now I’m thinking we had better get another computer in the house for the next time when we might not be quite so lucky.
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With the November elections looming we asked Salida Library Director Jeff Donlan for his take on the Colorado ballot initiatives; Amendments 60 and 61 and Proposition 101. These budget-busting proposals are gaining nearly unanimous opposition from cities, school boards and municipalities throughout Colorado and we wanted to provide readers with some of the scenarios that may occur if this legislation is passed.
We also have an article about Salida School Bond 3A, also on the ballot this fall, which would help fund a new high school in Salida.
– Mike Rosso
