{"id":10521,"date":"2018-03-08T10:30:02","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T18:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:drivesaversdatarecovery.com\/\/?p=10521"},"modified":"2026-03-05T05:33:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T13:33:25","slug":"one-of-the-lucky-ones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drivesaversdatarecovery.com\/sv-se\/blog\/one-of-the-lucky-ones\/","title":{"rendered":"One of the Lucky Ones"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mike Cobb tells his personal story of the Sonoma\/Napa wildfires.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mike Cobb, DriveSavers Director of Engineering, uses personal tragedy to help explain why we should all be protecting our business and personal information from potential loss, and how to do just that.<\/p>\n

Listen to Mike\u2019s Story in His Own Words<\/h2>\n

Listen to Mike’s story in his own words from his presentation at the Novato, CA Rotary Club on February 9, 2018.<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the Lucky Ones<\/h2>\n

As a survivor of the most deadly firestorm in California\u2019s history, Mike Cobb is one of the lucky ones. Yes, he lost his family home and most of his physical possessions. But he and his family escaped death and their important personal data was also saved, thanks to multiple backups, including off-site and on the Cloud.<\/p>\n

The Napa and Sonoma firestorms wiped out 8,400 homes and businesses, killed 42 people and disrupted the lives of tens of thousands last year. With Sonoma County just one town away from DriveSavers and many employees living in both Napa and Sonoma counties, the fires literally hit close to home.<\/p>\n

The Cobb family\u2014wife, children, dogs and cats\u2014was evacuated from their Santa Rosa home during the wildfires this past October. The house burnt to the ground, destroying all their personal belongings, including computers, backup drives and other digital equipment.<\/p>\n

The firelines were a half hour drive from the DriveSavers data recovery lab where Mike works as Director of Engineering. He has spent nearly 25 years with the world\u2019s oldest and most successful data recovery company, helping customers get important information back from computers, smartphones, flash drives and other devices that are damaged, broken or dysfunctional.<\/p>\n

Helping Other Fire Victims<\/h2>\n

The DriveSavers engineer was the featured speaker last month at the Novato Rotary Club where he used his personal tragedy to help show how everyone should be protecting their business and personal information from potential loss\u2014whether from a firestorm raging over the hill, spilt milk on a laptop or anything in between.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my hard drive,\u201d Cobb said, holding up a black chunk of metal. \u201cOne of 10. This is the only one I could find that looks reasonably like a hard drive. So you\u2019ll notice: no shiny parts. Nothing that\u2019s gonna move properly. Nothing that\u2019s gonna have any digital data.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was not alone. Thousands of homeowners and businesses had their computer systems destroyed by the flames. Mike felt badly because, for most, there wasn\u2019t anything much that could be done after such a conflagration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe unfortunate part is, all my friends and family in my community, I couldn\u2019t help. Very few could we help at DriveSavers. And that’s something that\u2019s unfortunate. But I was there for them,\u201d Cobb explained.<\/p>\n

He personally met with more than 50 families that went through the same firestorm and lost everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd those people I’ve met at hotels, I\u2019ve met them at DriveSavers, I\u2019ve met them at their house that was burned down\u2014to see if there is anything we could do to salvage their data,\u201d Cobb explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I did that knowing I probably wasn\u2019t going to be able to help that many people. But emotionally\u2014and this is where you\u2019re all so important to anybody around\u2014I gave them support. I listened to them. I saw the need\u2014the need was they wanted the data, but the need was also knowing what could they do next. Well, they can\u2019t get the data off of this device. So I would look and try to find and help the people that I could help. And every one of us had different stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

One Thing in Common<\/h2>\n

Not all data recovery scenarios involve such tragic headlines. Most data losses are not nearly as high-profile as a runaway fire. People drop their iPhones, spill a drink on their laptop or just realize their computer or tablet won\u2019t boot up all of a sudden. Or maybe the information belonging to a small business is stored on one computer hard drive and now that computer, which turned on just fine yesterday and the day before, won\u2019t turn on today. Next stop: DriveSavers.<\/p>\n

On average, DriveSavers receives more than 20,000 devices per year sent to us for data recovery from customers all over the world. They all have one thing in common: important information that would be difficult or impossible to reproduce themselves is out of reach for some unexpected and\/or unexplained reason. Data loss, it seems, always happens at the most unexpected and inopportune time.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where a backup copy of that data would really come in handy. But you can\u2019t go back and create a backup once access to the data has been lost. You have to do that first, in anticipation of ultimately needing another copy for safekeeping.<\/p>\n

Backup Strategy<\/h2>\n

Every data user\u2019s system needs to include at least one backup of any and all important data that may be needed for personal or business reasons. A second back-up, in a different location, would be even better. It\u2019s always a good idea to have a backup of your backup\u2014just in case.<\/p>\n

The information could be anything, but normally includes pictures, videos, documents, business records, tax records and other types of data that would be hard or impossible to replace.<\/p>\n

Further Reading<\/h2>\n

Read more about how to protect your data with a great backup strategy:<\/p>\n