Data Currupted

In my last post, I said that I had received the data back from my now defunct laptop's hard drive. I tried several times to retrieve the data from the disks...but to no avail: nothing would happen. So I called the Geek Squad back, and the tech suggested that I bring my entire desktop (tower) up to them: and they will directly transfer the data to my hard drive (they still have a copy on their system).

The problem that I have, or should I say, that I don't have: is that I am without transportation right now. Our only car is not working, and so unless I take a bus to the store...I don't have any way to do it; at least not during the week. But today, we are going to rent a car for the weekend, and take the tower up to the Geek Squad to get this transfer done.

Hopefully, once this is all done, I can get everyones data (UID & Etc). One problem that I just thought of though, is that I do not have the passwords to the accounts. So if I have to rebuild your account, I will have to set a temp password: and then I will e-mail that to all the individuals that were effected.

Received Data Back Today...

Just as a follow-up, I just received my back-up disks (dvd-rom) today from the Geek Squad at Best Buy. However, I have been so busy with everything else that has been going on today, that I have yet to view the data. Before I copy the data onto my desktop, I want to prepare the drive by doing a back-up there first; and also by cleaning up things on the harddrive as well.

I hope to get this all done by tomorrow...and should have everything fixed within the next couple days. I had to disable the signup feature, so as to not mess up the databases while I do a migration. Most people won't be able to log in either, as many of the member's log in information was lost with the hack...and I have to rebuild the membership list from my own records...but this will be done manually...so it will take some time.

Please just be patient with me...and I WILL get this fixed as best as I can ASAP.

John ~ Admin

Three Strikes, And Your Out

After being awoken in the middle of the night (3am) due to some very bad pain I was having, I decided to turn on the ole "Boob Tube" to see what was on. As I scanned the channels, I saw my home baseball team was playing (re-broadcast). It was the top of the 8th...and my team was winning 6 - 0. In the 9th inning, the other team actually gained two runs...but when all was said and done: it was not enough.

With each batter, they can only get three strikes, and then they are out. And for the team, after three outs...the side (inning) is retired. This analagy has played in my life as well...particualry with my business dealings. And no where can this be exemplified better, than what has been going on over the past week and a half.

To start off: a little over a week ago, I had left my laptop that I use for all of my business activities running on the cocktail table, running as I made a quick errand out of the house. My wife, though not intending on doing any damage: "somehow" got my LT wet...and blew out the motherboard. STRIKE ONE!!

Although all of my data for all of my sites (including passwords) was on that computer: I had never thought of backing up the computer. STRIKE TWO!! I took the computer to the local Best Buy to have the Geek Squad look at it the very next day: and before I even told the tech what happened; he said that the board had been fried. However, it took a week for me (and my wife) to get the money together to pay the $160 to pay for a back up of the drive onto DVD-ROMs. I should get it back by this Monday (6/16)...at which time I can transfer all of the codes and other data that I do have to my desktop computer.

In the mean time, I had to down load all of my e-mails that were sitting on the various servers onto my desktop. There were at least 3,000+ e-mails that I had to go through. When I finally did, I found an e-mail dated 6/12 that said the following:

For the past 3 weeks I have been noticing an increase in 'load' on our server and have spent MANY hours trying to track down and find what has been causing it.

I forked out a bunch of cash and upgraded the memory in hopes that that would solve the problem, but it didn't seem to do much to improve things. I know most of you didn't notice all this as it didn't slow it down THAT much, but I try and keep a very close eye on the server.

Finally, I gave in this morning and paid a consulting firm to take a look.. ONE DAY earlier would have been nice as a hacker managed to get in and wiped out all of our databases. The security hole has been closed by the 'experts' but that doesn't help any of us at this point does it?

The sites and scripts are safe, but the ONLY way for me to get your site back up and running is to restore your latest backups.

Guess we now find out how many of you keep them up. For those of you that didn't we have a problem. The only databases I have on file in MOST cases is the original setup databases.

I will be forking out MORE money at this point ($50.00 per month) to have the entire system backed up daily, but again, this is to little to late.

Backup??? I didn't know or at least realise that I had to do a back up on their hosted side. Perhaps didn't understand things, but I thought that they maintained this...including backups. STRIKE THREE!! I have notified the host that the first thing we need to do, is to get the site back up and running. After that, I will notify everyone of the situation. I don't know yet what the deal is with the credits, or with the site...but I hope to find out soon.

I also told the host that I am planning on moving the site over to my new host, that I have for one of my other sites. This host allows "unlimited sites"...so I am going to take advantage of that. I will keep everyone aprised to all changes as they come along.

Although I have stuck out this week...the inning is not over...nor is the game. I will keep my efforts focused at getting this site back up and running as quickly as possible. It is only the bottom of the 2nd inning...and we still have far to go.

John ~ Admin