It’s hard to execute a strategy when all of a sudden your hard drive crashes. It’s happened to me a couple of times now. No matter how good you are at backing up, it leaves a sinking feeling. “Oh Oh, how much is gone forever, and how much time will it take me to recover anything?”

I came across a great article in Computer World for recovering lost files.

Surviving a home data disaster: How Shirley got her files back: Recovering 736 missing digital images can be arduous — and expensive. Here’s the right (and wrong) way to do it.

I thought I’d pass it along and hope that I save you some heartbreak. It’s enough to say, back up regularly, but when it does happen, here’s a good starting point.