Where I've Been... - Posted by JPiper

Real Estate Investing
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Posted by JPiper on February 06, 2001 at 23:33:42:

John:

I can’t speak too highly of this software. I’ve had it for 1 1/2 years. I both collect notes with it and pay my own mortgages using it. It does a nice job of tracking by pushing a couple of buttons. Nice reports which are very time saving at the end of the year…producing 1098 was easy this year. You can collect prepayments with ease, and can get a new amortization table with no problem. You can also export to QuickBooks…one of the prime reasons I bought it in the beginning…because of the slow way I was trying to handle my notes. I have NoteSmith Pro…probably overkill for me but I like the features of the program. Go to www.notesmith.com for more details. Thumbs up from me.

JPiper

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Where I’ve Been… - Posted by JPiper

Posted by JPiper on February 06, 2001 at 18:04:07:

I?ve come to rely on my computer. I mean EVERYTHING is on this rotten hunk of metal?accounting, MLS access, address book, files, contracts, email, etc etc etc?and of course, this newsgroup.

Last Monday (a week ago), my computer crashed. Still not sure what the problem was?but I couldn?t boot up. Kind of a problem EXCEPT, I had things that were important to me backed-up!!! OK, so I did it fearing the worst out of Y2K, and then continued to do it. I backed up my accounting records, my more important files, my contracts, and I thought my address book.

One problem?.no computer, your back-up system is worthless. So last Tuesday I was on the phone?I bought another computer. This arrived by UPS on Friday?which is when I found out just how good my back-up was. Not too bad really?.my accounting records saved as of my last back-up?Jan 2, so I only lost a month. A month sounds pretty good until you write as many checks as I do?.but you can survive a month. That was a BIG concern.

I collect my notes with NoteSmith?.I backed that up too. Lost one month there?but recovered it?but now I can?t seem to back up my new records. Something new to figure out that makes no sense to me.

Files, contracts, etc?all intact?better than I expected?.EXCEPT that address book (Outlook). All my phone numbers, email addresses, etc gone. For some reason my backup in that system did not work. Hard to say how important this one was?I mean I can?t remember the phone number of my trash guy, or his name?and believe me, that?s a tragedy. This will be irreplaceable?can?t believe this didn?t back up correctly?.but if something didn?t work I?m glad it was this rather than my accounting.

On my new computer I can back-up with CD rather than the Zip Drive I was using. I like that. And I intend to back my computer up more effectively in the future than I have?.but thank God I did what I did. It?s amazing how important this critter has become.

Anyway, that explains my recent absence from the newsgroup for those of you that inquired. Glad to be back. If I have not responded to your email, send it again…it’s probably been lost in the shuffle.

And don?t forget your backup system!

JPiper

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Re: Where I’ve Been… - Posted by Bob (Md)

Posted by Bob (Md) on February 07, 2001 at 21:55:51:

I used to depend on my laptop, which was my entire business. Unfortunately, I travelled a lot and was always needing some info or a phone number in the back of a taxi or at an airport. So, I started dumping a paper copy of the important stuff to take with me. I still make backups, but I also dump out hardcopy and file it. That backup has saved me more than once. Now if I could just find a good way to print out that [bleep] Outlook address book… My Windows 98 went south and I had to reload the whole computer - the Outlook address book was one of the few things I didn’t get back, also.

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Re: Where I’ve Been… - Posted by Rick Vesole

Posted by Rick Vesole on February 07, 2001 at 11:09:23:

Jim, you need to get away from manual back-ups - it is to easy not to do it regualrly.

I have a HP Colorado Tape back-up system that automatically backs up each and every day at 4 a.m. And it backs up my entire system, not just selected data.

If I were you, I would go out and buy the largest capacity one they make. Mine has saved me many times.

Rick

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Re: Where I’ve Been… - Posted by Rick(CA)

Posted by Rick(CA) on February 06, 2001 at 19:18:01:

Did you just do a restore on your computer from your zip drive?

You can probably install your old hard drive in your new computer as a slave device, assuming that it wasn’t your hard drive dying and something else.

You might have a concern about DMA channels, so it might be a good idea to take it to a trustworthy shop to do the slave drive thing. If it works, you’ll have access to all your old data again.

Also, there ARE services that specialize in recovering data from old hard drives. Worth it if the data is priceless, especially when you consider lost time re-entering.

I know I can’t get my computer to boot up anymore when I turn on my HP4 laser first. But, then again, in CA power is always an “iffy” thing. lol

Just some suggestions.

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Re: Where I’ve Been… - Posted by Nate

Posted by Nate on February 06, 2001 at 21:20:08:

If you decide to go the data recovery route, I have had fairly good success with ONTRACK data recovery (www.ontrack.com)

They are not cheap (had two dead hard drives revived - one was $500 and the other was $1,250, but they were for the CEO of the company so price was not an issue)

The only other downside is you’ve got to ship your HD to them - unless they’re local to you (DC, LA, NYC, MSP, or Colorado), packaging and shipping it securely can also be a hassle.

But, if anyone has data that MUST be recovered, I have found they do pretty good work.

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Re: Where I’ve Been… - Posted by John Ohio

Posted by John Ohio on February 06, 2001 at 22:11:33:

Jim, can you tell me more about notesmith? I am looking for something like that for collecting notes