My computer to me is a very important machine. It is at the centre of my work-life. My very important data resides on it, the type of data which I just cannot do without. This includes my family pictures, photos of my travel to different countries, the accounting files of my small publishing business and, most of all, the only copy of the latest book I am writing.

It had started off as ordinary day and there was nothing unusual about it. I prepared to start my day early morning, with a steaming mug of hot coffee in hand. I was quite excited as I was almost going to finish the last chapter of a travelogue I was writing about my travels to an exotic country. The publisher’s deadline was dangerously close. I had to deliver the entire finished manuscript in a few days.

As I plonked myself in my comfortable chair, I switched the computer on. I expected to see the screen come alive with the reassuring and welcoming Windows boot-up screen. However, nothing of the sort happened and the monitor screen remained dark and dead. I could hear an ominous screeching sound coming from the CPU. What was it? What happened to the computer I loved and trusted so much? I tried switching it on and off many times, but with the same result.

After mulling over my predicament for a few minutes – with the publisher’s deadline looming ahead – I called up a friend who knew a bit about computers. He came over, had a look at the problem and pronounced: “The hard disk has crashed. It is a serious situation." My entire data was lost. I had no idea what to do. If I couldn’t get the hard disk working again, I was in real trouble. That is when it dawned on me how important it was always to keep important files on one’s hard drive backed up on other storage media such as DVDs, CDs, tape drives or portable hard disks.

So what was the solution? My friend told me that little could be done at home. We had to take professional help and call a data-recovery company. But how to go about finding one? I went to my friend’s home and Googled around for a data recovery outfit in my area. I discovered that there were about a dozen prominent ones. Now the problem arose – which one to choose? My data was very precious, and I just couldn’t give the custody of my damaged hard drive to anyone. What if they were incompetent and the problem became worse?

Choosing a company involved going through the website of each, reading the customer testimonials, the charges that would be incurred and the facilities offered to customers such as “no recovery, no charges." What was also very important to me was that a recovery company should give a free diagnosis and estimate as to how much it would cost me to get my important files recovered. The service should also be quick, as my deadline was nearing and I did not want to wait till eternity to get my data back.

After much deliberation, I chose Fields Data Recovery. I couriered the hard drive to them. Their engineers took the drive to a clean room, opened it and diagnosed the problem. The read / write head had come off its hinge and crashed on the platter surface. It had scratched the surface, but fortunately not where my important files were located. The company said this is a routine situation they face with many such cases coming to them every week, and they had developed procedures and specialised software to recover data from such hard drives.

The estimate they gave for recovering my files was reasonable, considering what other companies were charging. My manuscript was worth its weight in gold for me, and I gave the go-ahead. Within three days, I got all my data back neatly copied on a new hard disk. I was thus saved from a terrible disaster. Now I make it a point to never blindly trust my computer or continue working on the assumption that nothing will ever go wrong.

I have also invested some money in buying a portable hard disk. It is a wonderful device that stays attached to my computer and keeps taking data backups at regular intervals. Now, whenever my hard disk crashes on me, I have an option. I will just recopy data from my portable hard disk to a new one and it will be business as usual.