What You Need to Work Again

Now that you have a complete list of what you currently have and what you need, it’s time to come up with an “essentials” list of what you would need to get back to work again. Remember, you already have the PC Recovery Resource Kit you constructed earlier, and as this chapter progresses, you’ll be adding your protected data to that kit as well.

Bridging the Gap

Recovery is very much about getting from Point A, where you can’t function, to Point B, where you can.

The PC Recovery Resource Kit you constructed in the previous chapter can be a critical part of bridging the gap between those two points because it contains tools for doing everything from attempting repairs to having what you need to prep a brand-new system with the data from a totaled PC.

With that in mind, knowing that you can move your protected data as needed, it’s time to consider both short-term and long-term strategies for how to cope.

For example, if you know you have a dead hard drive or motherboard, you know you have to replace it. Depending on how you’re replacing it, this could take one or more days, during which your main or only PC is unavailable to you. But you also have to come up with ideas for how to handle a more serious problem, such as your home or office being completely unavailable to you and where you may, at best, have just some personal possessions and your PC Recovery Resource Kit at your disposal.

Obviously, the more scenarios you can try to plan for, the better covered you’ll be.

Developing a Disaster Recovery Plan

Obviously, the very best result of a disaster is that you, those close to you, and your work and/or living space are functional so that you can continue on as before.

If just your PC won’t work, the rest of this book is designed to help you resolve that.

If, however, your PC—or your work space—is going to be unavailable for a period of time, you need to design a contingency plan that gets you back to work as soon as possible.

The easy part is the PC itself, since all you need to do—as long as you have a place to set it up and operate it—is buy a new system and use something like a drive image to set your new system up just like your old one. You’ll have different hardware, but your operating system, your settings, your applications, and your data will be all there, the same as before. Drive imaging should be included in your disaster recovery plan.

  • But it may not be feasible, desirable, or even possible to replace a PC immediately, so you need to start thinking in terms of “If [this] happens, I can do [that],” for example,“If my PC won’t operate today, I can do….”

  • “If my PC is unavailable to me for the foreseeable future, I can do [this] in the short term, and move to [this] if the situation persists.”

My plan starts off something like this:

  • If my PC is unavailable short term, I can move my base of operations either onto my second desktop system or onto my laptop. The desktop system has both its own dialup modem and phone line, plus a high-speed Internet connection, and is connected to my network. The laptop can either use my wireless networking system to access the Internet, or I can install my spare PC Card modem into the laptop, connect the phone line, and use my free Internet access account.

  • If my office is unavailable short term under normal circumstances, I can move my base of operations onto my laptop and work from the studio above the garage.

  • If my entire home/office property is unavailable and I’m on a deadline at work, I’ll take a room at the local business hotel that offers everything I need; I checked—I can even rent a laptop there if necessary, and high-speed Internet access is available.

Include specifics, such as how long you can wait with a dead or unavailable PC before you feel obligated to purchase another one. Also look at some of the additional information provided in this section.

Prepare a rough outline and then synthesize it down into a finished document that you not only copy or back up to protect, but print out and add to your PC Recovery Resource Kit.

Tip 

As part of your disaster recovery plan, if your budget permits, start putting aside some money each month into a “PC emergency fund.” This can be used to offset the cost of purchasing a new system in the event of a disaster or help you pay for a second system to cover you in the event the first PC fails.

Note 

Be prepared to revise your recovery plan as your circumstances—or those around you—change.

Doing Your Research

You’re going to need some additional information that you probably won’t find on your PC—except possibly through browsing strategic web sites—and that is too specific for me to provide. Once acquired, these notes should be included in your documented plans.

Insurance Coverage

Some types of disasters may be covered under certain types of insurance policies relating to lost or damaged PC equipment. A standard homeowner’s insurance policy would—at best—lump a PC in with other appliances for coverage.

Small business owners and some renters may have a more inclusive policy that specifically lists the overall value of a PC work area. Homeowners may also buy these kinds of policies to add onto their home policy.

If you have insurance, check your policy to see what may be covered. If you have questions, contact your insurance company representative.

Warning 

Beware if you decide to purchase insurance just to cover a home office or other small office. You may see yearly premiums high enough to make a significant down payment on another PC. Check prices and coverage carefully for your area before you make a decision.

Community Resources

Some communities have special agencies set up just to help people in the event of a disaster, especially local disasters such as a massive fire, flood, or earthquake. What services and help are available can vary widely, depending on the circumstances and the resources available to your community as a whole.

Some agencies may offer temporary shelter, some can point you to others in the community willing to share office space temporarily, and some even offer slight-to-significant financial assistance to help you get back on your feet.

Unfortunately, after a disaster strikes is usually the worst time to try to pull this information together, so check with your city or town government offices for a few emergency numbers you can phone if you find yourself in such a situation. If you’ve got time, call a few of these numbers ahead of time to determine exactly what services they might be able to offer.

In the most serious of situations, federal assistance is often made available for entire regions that have been classified as disaster sites.

Advanced Research

If you’re someone who depends on your PC to make your living, as I do, you may also want to take your research a step farther to see what you can make available to yourself. This may be especially true if you live in an area—like mine here in rural New England—that doesn’t offer much in the way of community resources.

For example, if your PC is unavailable for a few days and you don’t have a second PC, identify a friend, co-worker, your employer, or other resource who could offer you temporary work space that includes a basic computer setup. They might have a spare PC or laptop you could borrow. In this situation, you can’t just assume; you need to ask beforehand to increase the chances of a smoother transition between disaster and recovery.

The same is true if your home or office becomes unavailable to you because of a disaster. If you have a second PC such as a laptop or other mobile computing device but don’t have your home/office available, you need a place to charge your mobile battery. A friend or neighbor, for instance, can come in handy for giving you access to power.

There also may be businesses in your area that might allow you to rent space and use their equipment at their location or rent their equipment to take with you for a few days or weeks. Some office supply stores, for example, allow this, as do some printing/office firms chains such as Kinko’s. The more advance brainstorming and research you can do, the better.

Assessing Your Plan B Alternatives

For short-term use, there are other options available to you if you can’t find a PC or place to borrow for the time it takes you to recover your workspace and working PC.

First, brainstorm the less attractive alternatives. For example, if you can’t borrow a PC or space from a friend or family member, you can make use of free Internet access at your local library or at an Internet cafe. With these, you can’t go in and load your drive image to get back to work as if it’s your own PC, but you can do web-based research and exchange necessary e-mail. It’s wise to set up in advance a backup, free web-based e-mail account, such as Hotmail, available at www.hotmail.com, to facilitate the e-mail process when your regular Internet connection and e-mail accounts aren’t available.

In addition, many office supply/superstores and copy shops will allow you to use their setups—usually for a small hourly fee. These may give you access to programs and applications you need but can’t currently use without your PC.

Look around your greater area to see what else may be available.

A friend told me of a business motel in California that did quite well in the early summer of 2001, when California was being hit by rolling blackouts. This motel advertised a special rate for business people who needed to set up a temporary office to work if their main office was without power. They had printers, fax machines, and many of the extras someone running a busy office might need.



PC Disaster and Recovery
PC Disaster and Recovery
ISBN: 078214182X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 140
Authors: Kate J. Chase

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