“Let it sink…”

Wait, what? But I thought my perfection was the whole selling point!

Power moves

I’ve seen the "Blue Screen of Death" from Microsoft before, but this one was special...

I thought that morning was a usual morning.

Until I booted my work notebook and prepared for the best corporate procrastination routine - emails. 

But…

A few minutes in I was welcomed by the "blue screen of death".

The operating system crashed.

Okay, annoying, but not a big deal. Let me reboot. 

It took a few attempts to realize it was a big deal. 

That laptop was the latest model of Windows PC with the very first generation of SSD (Solid State Drives) - a few chips where all the data is stored. 

So… long story short - that SSD just died on me after a few months of use.

The good news - the corporate world is obsessed with cloud backups. 

The horrible news - the SSD failed right in the middle of the backup process.

Therefore:

1. The backup file got corrupted and was not retrievable.

2. As I learned from our IT Team, there were no backups of the backups.

I asked the IT guy if they had any advanced data recovery tools. His response? "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" Thanks, Doc. Very helpful.

What else I learned that day:

• It is likely the SSD was defective.

• Our IT had no tools to extract the data. 

• Third-party companies had those tools.

• Corporate policy prohibits passing any storage devices to any third party.

New reality: I lost all my data, all my projects, my entire "digital corporate life."

Years of work - gone.

Lessons:

• Nothing to learn in my corporate life. It was just a “one-in-a-million chance” (as I was explained, not buying it still).

• I realized that I did not have a proper backup of my "personal digital life."

Unfortunately, this wasn't the only time data loss hit me hard...

And once I was on the edge (that event could've cost me my marriage!).

We got married and went on our honeymoon. Because we saved money on the big wedding itself, preferring to live our best life for at least two weeks traveling. 

It was a bit before iPhones could take decent-quality photos, so we got a digital camera to capture our memories.

In the middle of the trip, my wife decided to free up camera storage and copied all the pictures to a notebook. 

The next day, the camera was gone! I left it in a café, and by the time I returned - ciao, camera, you served us well.

The two above situations taught me that backup is a must.

I needed a system.

The golden 3-2-1 rule of backup (written with pain and suffering) states:

• Have at least 3 copies of your data.

• Keep 2 copies stored at separate locations.

• Store 1 copy in the cloud.

I shared this idea with my wife. For no reason, she asked how much it would be. 

Being a gadget nerd, I wanted the best toys.

So I thought about compromising with just one home server with mirrored drives (about $1,000) plus about $200 annually to store all our terabytes in the cloud…

My lovely and friendly wife stopped talking to me for a few days. I guess she was sending some kind of signal. Years later, I learned it was just about the cost of a Tiffany ring.

Anyway…

That pushed me to reconsider the approach.

I classified all the data that we had:

1. Critical (copies of passports, driver's licenses, permits, financial documents, insurance, health records, other documents) - less than 2GB.

2. Important (photos, videos, current projects, later Notion and Obsidian backups) - about 1TB.

3. Nice to have (RAW footage, archive projects, music/movies collection from pre-streaming times, and miscellaneous stuff) - another few terabytes.

Yes, it took some time to organize that mess.

But I had to do it just once and it helped me build my current hybrid setup:

1.  All Critical data is backed up to the cloud. It fits well within the free tier on Google Drive, with a backup to the free tier of Dropbox (why not - it's free!).

2. Since I decided not to overpay for a MacBook Pro - it only has half a terabyte of storage.

   Therefore, I got am external 2TB SSD on Black Friday for only $99.

   All Important stuff is on that SSD. Crazy read/write speed helps me work without noticeable lags - instant access.

   The SSD sits in a pocket attached to my laptop and is connected to my MacBook at all times, even on the go.

3. The Nice to have data lives on an external HDD. Slow but cheap. I got 4TB for $99. It is permanently mounted under my desk and connected to my Apple Cinema Display via a SATA-to-USB-C adapter ($25). Once the monitor is plugged into my MacBook (98% of the time), the drive becomes available.

Now, the "semi-automation" part.

Why semi-?

1. I need to manually download the Notion backup file.

   I do it once a month - there is a task in Todoist to "Export Notion data every last Sunday."

2. I do not have an extra storage plan from Apple, so I download monthly all the iPhone media content to my MacBook - just in case the phone is lost or broken.

   One month of photo loss is a calculated risk (a weak excuse for my laziness in doing it more often).

Also, every weekend, a FreeFileSync app (yup, totally free, but so good I decided to donate to the developers) does the following:

• Grabs all my Google Drive data, My Documents, and my Downloads folders and mirrors it to an external SSD.

• The whole SSD is mirrored to the respective folder on the external HDD.

• The whole process works with incremental data only, so it takes less than a minute to back up.

Of course, all drives are encrypted with 20-character encryption keys. Those are stored in 1Password, which I use on every single device I own - for the sake of emergency offline access.

Bonus part: I happen to have an extra 1TB HDD from old times. It is connected under the desk to the same SATA-to-USB-C adapter (it allows to plug in two drives). 

I use it to run the native MacOS Time Machine app. Just in case I permanently delete a file and realize I might need it, there's an easy way to restore it.

I've never needed to use it. But since the drive was “busy” collecting dust in a drawer - why not?

So, why am I sharing this with you? 

A theory says there are only two types of people:

1. those who haven't lost their data yet, and 

2. those who have. 

3. and then there's a third type - those who think they have backups… until they actually need them.

Obviously, I belong to type two.

My wife belongs to type 1.5 - somewhere in between. She occasionally backs up her sacred stuff I’m-not-supposed-to-touch on her own external SSD.

However!

A few years ago, her encrypted MacBook Air stopped booting. 

The service center said the motherboard had waved goodbye. 

The cost of replacement? $500. 

She decided that the locked-in files weren't worth it. And for $500, she'd rather recompile her projects from scratch.

My marriage has never been stronger!

Till next time.

A Workspace I Envy

The color composition is well thought out - the orange accents in the wallpaper, lighting, and wall art create a cozy and inviting atmosphere.

Our favorite digital finds

Short & Sweet

Cal Newport's Productivity Hack That Can Also Help You Escape Financial Burnout - 5 min read.

This short read reminds me of Dave Ramsey’s snowball debt payoff technique (paying off debts from smallest to largest balance). However, this applies to your spending - you can buy anything (not literally), but not everything. Focus.

How to be happy with what you have – and avoid the trap of comparison - 5 min read.

One of those articles that’s worth re-reading at least quarterly. It’s so easy to stay calm and indifferent - until social media starts screaming at you about how others live their lives. Here’s how to overcome that trap.

The 7 Reasons You Stop Improving (and How to Keep Getting Better) - 5 min read.

I like these classified recaps with actionable items. A great read for insight on where to lean when we feel stuck.

A Tweet That Hits

It took me far too long to reach the same conclusion - through sheer mental pain and frustration.

Don't be like me - unless you enjoy staring at the ceiling at 3 AM, questioning your life choices.

Add this to your shelf

This book is like a cheat sheet for life. Tim Ferriss interviewed world-class performers - athletes, entrepreneurs, and thinkers - and packed their best habits, routines, and life hacks into the book. It's full of simple, practical tips you can use to be healthier, smarter, and more productive.

Unpacking the routines of interesting people

Interesting facts about Kobe:

Fluent in Italian & Spanish: After spending much of his childhood in Italy, Kobe spoke fluent Italian and even conducted interviews in Spanish, impressing international fans.

Oscar Winner: After retiring, Kobe won an Academy Award in 2018 for his animated short film Dear Basketball, making him the first former athlete to win an Oscar.

Self-Taught Pianist: Kobe learned to play Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” on the piano by ear to surprise his wife, Vanessa.

Massive Bookworm: Kobe was obsessed with learning and read relentlessly - from psychology books to military strategy - to sharpen his mental game.

Watch-worthy clips

101 on how to achieve Financial Independence.

Spoiler: It’s simple and easy - but it requires self-control and discipline. So, if you’re a shopaholic, there’s a chance you might hate this short video.

Enjoying the newsletter? Please forward this issue to a friend who might enjoy it too 😊🙏🏻

It only takes 10 seconds. Making this one took us 9 hours…