Because once is bad enough… but twice? Ouch.

Y’all… I’m living every creative’s worst nightmare — again. My hard drive, the “reliable” one I trusted because a pro photographer I admire swears by it, just gave up on me. And with it? It took everything from my most recent shoots and all the files from the photography conference I just attended.

Gone. Like… completely toast.

Let me paint you the scene: I sat down to do some editing, plugged in my external hard drive like I always do, and… nothing. Silence. No blinking light. No recognition from my computer. Just a sick feeling in my stomach.

Cue my tech-savvy brother-in-law (bless him) and some recovery software. We tried everything. And the verdict? Corrupted. Beyond saving. Everything on that drive was just gone.

This isn’t even my first dance with disaster. Back when I was just starting out, I lost all my early work to a cheap drive I bought on Amazon. I figured, “Okay, lesson learned. That was my rookie mistake.” But this time? This one hurts. Because this was the good gear. The kind trusted by pros. The kind I thought would protect me.

It didn’t.

So here’s the deal, creative friends:

If you haven’t backed up your work — like really backed it up — stop reading for a second and go do it. I mean it. Your photos. Your videos. Your edits. Your raw files. Your memories. Your everything.

Because when (not if) technology fails you, the only thing standing between you and total heartbreak is a good backup system.

Here’s what I wish I had in place before this happened:
    •    Multiple Backups: One backup is not enough. I now swear by the rule of three:
➤ Local external drive
➤ Cloud storage
➤ Off-site backup (yes, a second external drive that lives somewhere else)
    •    Automated Syncing: Make it mindless. Tools like Backblaze, Google Drive, Dropbox, and Lightroom cloud storage can do the heavy lifting.
    •    Scheduled Checks: Test your backups regularly. A backup that silently fails isn’t a backup — it’s a trap.

I know this all sounds like overkill. But it’s not. Your art is worth protecting. Your clients are counting on you. And your peace of mind? Priceless.

So please, learn from my pain. Don’t wait for a catastrophic loss to force you into better habits. Backup like your creative life depends on it — because honestly, it does.

Sending love and hard lessons from someone who had to learn the hard way… twice. 💾❤️
And yes — these photos are coming to you from my iPhone, because it’s all I’ve got at the moment.