I just needed to vent a little. I lost the spreadsheet with all my tested loads saved. The file was corrupted and wouldn’t open. I have the data in hand written note form but that will take some effort to go through and tease out the ideal loads I had saved for the 8 cartridges I reload. Backup your stuff everybody!!
Lost My Spreadsheet With My Tested Loads
- Thread starter DMW1116
- Start date
mcb
Member
That's a bummer. I have copies of my spreadsheet in several locations just in case and a paper backup. Good luck rebuilding your spreadsheet!
MarshallDodge
Member
That's a good reminder. I wonder if there is a way for someone to clean up the file for you.
tightgroup tiger
Member
Can you turn back your computer to a previous time, I've been able to retrieve files from when a restore point was saved.
If your using Windows that is.
Just make sure you copy any other files you want to save to a flash drive if you try this.
If your using Windows that is.
Just make sure you copy any other files you want to save to a flash drive if you try this.
That's a good idea. It seems like ancient technology, but sometimes that works best. I'll try digging through my notebook this weekend and see how much I can recover manually. Theoretically, it should be all of it, but it depends on how well I kept my notes.
FROGO207
Member
After reading the OP's post I am happy that I only keep my data in 3 ringed binders on paper. Sometimes I like being an old fart LOL.
AJC1
Member
If you have autosave turned on there is another copy of that file on your machine
Last edited:
MarshallDodge
Member
I keep my data in the cloud via google drive, and can access it from any of my devices...desktop while at home, phone when at the range, etc., and I share the file with friends when they are needing data.
That said, I don't put 100% trust in anything and have a local backup copy, and I guess I could print out a hard copy as well for the "old fart" binder
Last edited:
FROGO207
Member
Guess that my untrusting spirit is to make sure if I am in some sort of extended emergency situation that a hand press, balance scale, and paper records allow me freedom of the net and power grid. Hope this is never an issue but as I have learned, "be prepared".
Charlie98
Member
When SSD's became the hot ticket, I bought a high dollar one for my OS drive. Not trusting new tech, I also became a backup fanatic, using one internal standard HDD, and 2 external portable HDD's that are backed up every night. Sure as shootin'... about 8 months later the SSD locked up... the controller went bad. Thankfully, with a new SSD installed, and a 30 minute recovery of my data from my backup source, and I was back in business, with less than a 24 hour loss of data. If I was a backup fanatic prior to that, I became a backup madman after that.
Sure, I have my shooting and load data in an Excel spreadsheet... as well as a hard copy (I don't like to read off the computer... I like PAPER!) But I've also got full images of my OS, as well as my actual files themselves copied onto backup drives. I do NOT trust 'cloud' anything... all the cloud is, is someone else's computer, and you are putting your data in someone else's hands... which I have a problem with, given security breaches and such.
My actual load and shooting files are on a thumb drive... I don't have anything 'shooting' related on my internet-connected computer. I plug it in when I need to update something, and unplug it otherwise. It also makes my data portable. Thumb drives, however, are notoriously unreliable.... sooooo... I have a backup for my thumb drive, too.
What the other posters said is correct... if your computer is configured for it, you may very likely be able to roll back and recover your data, but if the corruption is local (your hard drive,) your files may be borked all the way. Corrupt files can also be a sign that your hard drive is on it's way out... something else to consider.
Sure, I have my shooting and load data in an Excel spreadsheet... as well as a hard copy (I don't like to read off the computer... I like PAPER!) But I've also got full images of my OS, as well as my actual files themselves copied onto backup drives. I do NOT trust 'cloud' anything... all the cloud is, is someone else's computer, and you are putting your data in someone else's hands... which I have a problem with, given security breaches and such.
My actual load and shooting files are on a thumb drive... I don't have anything 'shooting' related on my internet-connected computer. I plug it in when I need to update something, and unplug it otherwise. It also makes my data portable. Thumb drives, however, are notoriously unreliable.... sooooo... I have a backup for my thumb drive, too.
What the other posters said is correct... if your computer is configured for it, you may very likely be able to roll back and recover your data, but if the corruption is local (your hard drive,) your files may be borked all the way. Corrupt files can also be a sign that your hard drive is on it's way out... something else to consider.
dh1633pm
Contributing Member
I keep one copy of everything on my network SAN. Backup can be as simple as a USB drive. But you have to do it. It won't always save you. You could have added a bunch of data just after your last backup and then loose your file. My daughter had her entire school project (Masters Program) on her disk get corrupted. I was able to recover with some disk tools. Now she too uses the our home SAN. Goggle Drive and other cloud services like it are fine. I like to keep control of my files instead of them being stored in a cloud somewhere (cloud = someone else's computer). I am the opposite of so many here. I like the electronic copies of everything. Even books.
An IT guy told me years ago that if you don’t have it saved in three different places, you don’t own it. That was after I had fussed about losing something.
I save my reloading log in more than three places on three different computers one of which has three exterior drives connected. One spot is an external drive in the safe that gets updated from time to time. The others get updated every time I make even the smallest change.
DustyRusty
Member
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2020
- Messages
- 291
I feal, yo pain.
Decades ago it was a spiral bound note book. Now its a three ring binder on the bench.
Here, most is built on the PC, then printed for the binder. (The Legacy)
If you’re so inclined, a subscription to Microsoft 365, gets you all the office software, (Including Excel) plus a bunch of other stuff.
The price is much cheaper than buying the software outright.
They keep the software updated for you automatically.
This includes calling & speaking to USA based support folks about any problems. Like help with a corrupted or lost file.
Luck to you!
Decades ago it was a spiral bound note book. Now its a three ring binder on the bench.
Here, most is built on the PC, then printed for the binder. (The Legacy)
If you’re so inclined, a subscription to Microsoft 365, gets you all the office software, (Including Excel) plus a bunch of other stuff.
The price is much cheaper than buying the software outright.
They keep the software updated for you automatically.
This includes calling & speaking to USA based support folks about any problems. Like help with a corrupted or lost file.
Luck to you!
Charlie98
Member
Just like firearms... one is none, and two is one...
I'm trying to get away from Microsoft as much as I can, so I'm making the transition to LibreOffice... which is open source and free. No, it's not quite as polished as Excel, but I won't get obsoleted and forced to pay to upgrade, or worse, be roped into a perpetual user fee (subscription, like 365.)
GeoDudeFlorida
Member
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2020
- Messages
- 11,081
Flashback!
Last year the roof over my store room was damaged and collapsed soaking all of my reloading notebooks. I lost everything.
Even paper needs a backup. Fortunately, my box labels have the loading data, but not the Vavg, Vmax/min, ES, SD, or any other results data. Just bullet wt., charge, COAL and caliber. Also fortunately I am a scatterbrained horder who keeps scribble notes in my loading manuals so I do have some tests written down… somewhere.
Haven't lost any data, yet. But I believe I'd be OK if my computer crashed. I record my loads on my computer, nuttin fancy just in document form. I will print out the data and save it in a 3-ring binder in my shop (along with sample targets). I have binders going back to mid '90s beginning with hand written notes. Sometimes I'll even transfer data to a disc...
doubleh
Member
Being an analog person living in a digital age I have continued with the notebook and lead pencil method of keeping files and have never lost anything. Due to being lazy and not backing up a bunch of pictures to an old external hard drive I lost all of them to a fried hard drive a couple of years ago. Now they go automatically into the cloud. The same would have happened to any reloading files I would have had.
Now that hi-cap flash drives are available at reasonable prices are external hard drives even available anymore?
Now that hi-cap flash drives are available at reasonable prices are external hard drives even available anymore?
I'm with you on subscription based apps. Not my cup of tea.
That said, I do recommend purchasing a lifetime MS Office pro license. The 2021 version is down to $35. With that purchase you get 5gb of cloud storage. I've started using it to auto backup my spreadsheet. I still backup to a flash drive once a year. As a bonus, you can access your data on your phone at anytime.
To protect against file corruption, I roll a revision once in a while. All older revisions are saved and backed up. You'll still loose some data if a file corrupts, but at least you won't loose everything.
ballman6711
Member
I have a three ring binder with every load I've made since I started.
I also have all my favorite loads and loads that work well for me on 3x5 index cards. Once I write the load on the index card I laminate it, and put it in a small 4x6" clear plastic box, a mini tote of sorts.
If something happens to the binder, I'll lose information on loads that I tried that may or may not have worked well. But the laminated index cards should be fairly impervious to everything but fire, and if there's a fire they will probably be the last thing I worry about.
I don't keep anything on digital storage that I'm not willing to lose, I've seen to many computer related failures. Digital storage needs backed up at least twice and at least one backup needs to be stored off site.
chris
I also have all my favorite loads and loads that work well for me on 3x5 index cards. Once I write the load on the index card I laminate it, and put it in a small 4x6" clear plastic box, a mini tote of sorts.
If something happens to the binder, I'll lose information on loads that I tried that may or may not have worked well. But the laminated index cards should be fairly impervious to everything but fire, and if there's a fire they will probably be the last thing I worry about.
I don't keep anything on digital storage that I'm not willing to lose, I've seen to many computer related failures. Digital storage needs backed up at least twice and at least one backup needs to be stored off site.
chris
CoalCrackerAl
Member
I write notes in my loading books.
JFrank
Member
I keep targets with notes on them for just such an occasion
