Losing ones lifes work :(

Watch Ryder

Someone close to me has recently lost her entire lifes work (the book she was writing) via a broken laptop.
The data could not be retrieved and it's lost forever!
She had no back-ups either...

Has anyone else had a devastating blow such as this one?
If so how did one deal with it?
Is it possible to write out a new book from memory alone? Despite 'the muse' / inspiration of it already passing?

Thoughts on this appreciated.

Eliot Rosewater

Are you sure it cant be retrieved? Once the hard drive is intact I wouldnt see the problem.

People have in the past lost works like this and regurgitated it from memory. A few stories of people having their extensive diaries confiscated by police come to mind; I just don't know the names of those involved (or whether it was merely somet5hing I read in a novel).

steps_3314

If the laptop is broke it doesnt necessarily mean the hard drive is broke.

In fact even it the Hard Drive was damaged there are specialist companies that could possible still retrieve the data depending on the extent of the damage to the drive.

I have recovered data from many hard drives in the past but these drives would at least spin up. The drive can be simply removed from the laptop and connected to another working pc.

If you could post more information then maybe we can help you and your friend more.

Denerick

Watch Ryder wrote: »

Someone close to me has recently lost her entire lifes work (the book she was writing) via a broken laptop.
The data could not be retrieved and it's lost forever!
She had no back-ups either...

Has anyone else had a devastating blow such as this one?
If so how did one deal with it?
Is it possible to write out a new book from memory alone? Despite 'the muse' / inspiration of it already passing?

Thoughts on this appreciated.

Thats the kind of thing that gives me nightmares.

Why didn't she have a backup????

Thomas Carlyle once wrote 'The History of the French Revolution', a dramatic account of the great events of those days, complete with orgininal characterisations and furious denunciations with spectacular rhetoric... So he gives it to his mate, John Stuart Mill, the great philosopher. Before Mill gets a chance to read the manuscript, he discovers that his servant had teared it up and thrown it into the fire. The servant thought it was grease paper... And it was all gone.

Carlyle re-wrote the book (Despite being bitter about loosing his inspiration) And it went on to become one of the great bestsellers of the Victorian era.

Funglegunk

Watch Ryder wrote: »

Someone close to me has recently lost her entire lifes work (the book she was writing) via a broken laptop.
The data could not be retrieved and it's lost forever!
She had no back-ups either...

Has anyone else had a devastating blow such as this one?
If so how did one deal with it?
Is it possible to write out a new book from memory alone? Despite 'the muse' / inspiration of it already passing?

Thoughts on this appreciated.

Unless the laptop's hard drive has been on the business end of a hammer or drill, she should still be able to retrieve her data.

http://www.datarecovery.ie/

brianc123

I used a company in the UK called vogon recovery services before for a disk that was badly damaged.....................dropped in water they were able to recover most of the data, not cheap but worth a look

Watch Ryder

Thanks for the feedback, I'll get in touch with her and see if she still has it...

sceptre

I suggest the Creative Writing forum for the coping or the Computers & Technology one for the possible tech recovery advice - you'll most likely get a better discussion from either or both:)

(I'd move this to the appropriate forum depending on which but you're better off restarting I reckon)