If there’s one thing I want you to do before clicking away from this article, it’s to check your computer’s backup settings. Had it not been for cloud backup, a recent mishap involving a laptop and a flimsy water bottle could’ve ended much worse.
I think I do a pretty good job of backing up my work. Where possible, I save files locally and online so I can access them in multiple places. There’s room for improvement, like setting up a NAS fitted with multiple external storage drives, but I cover most of my bases.
My approach was put to the ultimate test during an interstate trip to see Critical Role a couple of weeks ago. After arriving in Sydney by plane, my partner pointed out that my carry-on bag was leaking. Panicked, I quickly realised my water bottle’s lid had popped open, emptying its contents all throughout the bag.
Knowing there was a lot of tech inside, I frantically took everything out, relieved that my Nintendo Switch 2 was unharmed, as was a loan camera I was reviewing. Somehow, I’d dodged a bullet. Still grumpy about lugging a wet bag around, I angrily tossed the bottle in the nearest bin, swearing under my breath all the while.
It wasn’t until we arrived at our hotel that I realised there was one gadget I forgot to check in all the panic. As I opened the still-soaked bag, I hadn’t looked in the laptop sleeve right below where the water had pooled earlier.
Shit.
My heart sank as I reached into the sleeve, only to feel a MacBook Air slick with liquid. Water was everywhere. It cascaded down the screen, dripped down the ports, and coated the keys with residue. Worst of all, the laptop refused to turn on.
Do not get your MacBook wet
Laptops do not like water. Nor do many other devices, for that matter. But especially laptops, comprised of multiple compartments and gaps for liquid to wreak havoc upon.
I cycled through all the stages of grief in the space of an hour. How could I have let this happen? Is the laptop repairable? Eventually, I took hollow solace in the fact that I’m not the first person to spill water on a laptop, and I certainly won’t be the last.
In a last-ditch attempt to salvage the MacBook Air and the work I drafted on the plane, I visited the nearest Apple Store. Fortunately, I secured a walk-in appointment to get tech support at the store’s Genius Bar. The friendly store attendant sympathised with my plight and shared that someone recently visited after spilling curry all over their laptop. “At least it would’ve smelled nice,” I thought.
Once I saw one of Apple’s technicians, it was an anxious 15-minute wait before I’d know the outcome. Try as I might, I couldn’t glean any body language cues from the young man who served me as I explained what happened.
He took the MacBook into a back room before sharing what would be a rather expensive diagnosis. Unsurprisingly, water infiltrated every inner component of the laptop, rendering it dead on arrival. After the technician showed me photo after photo of each water-logged part, he delivered the final verdict.
To replace each damaged component, it would’ve cost nearly $1,500. That’s almost as much as a brand-new MacBook Air, depending on the model.
Completely and utterly dejected, I thanked the technician for his time and took the laptop, now relegated to the role of a large paperweight, back to the hotel.
Cloud backup to the rescue
As bad and stupid as I felt at the time, it could’ve been worse. Much worse.
Easily the best laptop I’ve used for work, the MacBook Air had all my work on it, alongside a few personal files saved in a separate location. Every work document was saved in a OneDrive folder linked to my professional account, while iCloud took care of personal files in a different folder.
Realistically, all I’d lost was two hours of work I did on the plane with no internet connection. That, and whatever money I’d have to spend on a replacement laptop.
By sheer luck, I found a clearance MacBook Air M3 model on sale for less than $1,800. Which may still sound like a lot; the specific configuration I got typically sells for $2,400. I hadn’t planned on spending nearly two grand that week, but no one actively plans for these things to happen! At least I could claim the purchase on tax, which somewhat softened the blow.
Even though I couldn’t do a device-to-device transfer, on account of the previous device incurring Poseidon’s wrath, I recovered every file via the cloud. I didn’t skip a beat the next week back at work, picking back up where I left off. Sure, I carried with me the shame of ruining a perfectly good laptop, but cloud backup really saved my bacon.
While the moral of the story isn’t a new one, it’s worth repeating at every opportunity. Back up your device at every opportunity. I don’t care if it’s OneDrive, iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, or a physical storage solution (preferably both); just do it. Take the time to set up a system that works for you, and keep those files in multiple locations.
Accidents aren’t planned, so do what you can to minimise the potential damage. In my case, cloud backup was a saviour.
The post I broke a laptop, but cloud backup saved me from total disaster appeared first on GadgetGuy.
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