Making Matt Proud (I Hope!)

I spent the end of 2009 in a tiny bit of a panic.  After  uploading some pics from my camera I decided to wipe the card.  Only problem,  I didn't properly upload the pictures.  I felt pretty darn close to crying as I realized Desmond's first Christmas had just disappeared!

It being 11pm on New Year's Eve, I figured my brother (who I always turn to with computer problems) would not be available.  I almost gave up, but decided to try Googling the problem instead.

I wasn't too surprised to find I wasn't the first person to make this mistake.  Luckily for me, that meant several solutions!

The first program I downloaded found 47 deleted pictures on my card!  Since I wipe my card regularly, that was far more than  I had lost.  I breathed a sigh of relief and clicked the 'finish' button to download the pics to my hard drive.  Instead of downloading, I was given the option of packages to buy (starting at $39.99)!

I am sure that many people in my position have felt so relieved to see their presumably lost pictures of babies and fun times, that they have paid any amount without a second thought.  I am not so sentimental and much more stingy!  I went to the next program on the list.

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/smartrecovery.html

I was happy to see right away the word 'Freeware'.  It had also received 4 out of 5 stars from the website it was posted on and an average user rating of 5 stars.  There was also a claim that the program contained no adware or spyware.  Having heard all these words from Matt, I figured this was a good choice.

The download took a while, but the results were worth it.  The program found 126 photos, some of which were lost when our last computer crashed!  Almost all of them were in perfect condition, the one up there, of Janet, being the biggest exception.

Such a huge relief, not to mention a much better way to start the new year!  Thank  you computer Jedi Matt,  this paduan is learning.