Help, My Laptop Died with my Thesis on It!
A good friend of ours who is completing a graduate thesis came to us in a panic. The laptop that she uses to write died. Now when people say a computer died, they often mean something less dramatic that can usually be fixed. Not this time, her laptop literally won’t turn on anymore: no screen, no light, no sound. So, what does she do?
We ordered a new laptop, and we’ll get her back on track, but for students, adjuncts and faculty this type of emergency can be a huge problem. It puts them behind schedule, adds to their expenses, and requires help from others who may not be available. Yes, computer failures happen in the business world too, but academics don’t have as many resources or the time to patiently fix things.
While they wait for the repairs, they also have some questions. Our friend, who is quite chatty when she’s not writing, had some as well. So, I thought I would address them here for anyone else who may be in the same situation. If you are one of those lucky people who hasn’t experienced this… you really should prepare yourself for when it does.
Where is my work?
After the panic attack, and possible throwing of the laptop out the window, this is the most critical question. Laptops can be replaced, a thesis can’t. So what application was being used to write it? Google? Good, it’s probably sitting, quite safe, on Google drive. Was it written in Microsoft Word/Office? Then there is a good chance that it’s also in Microsoft’s OneDrive. If you used Apple Pages, it’s probably in iCloud.
Probably. So, let’s check there first.
What if you’re using other apps like LibreOffice, Scrivener, Jarte, Zotero, Authorea, yes, and even that old stand-by, Word Perfect? Never heard of these, great, skip to the next paragraph. However, if you do use one of these, check to see if they have cloud saving features. Most modern applications these days do.
If the thesis is not stored in its own online service, did you make a manual copy to an online service? Do you use Drop Box, Sync.com, IceDrive, or similar service? Or did you use an online backup service like Carbonite, Acronis, BackBlaze, or LiveDrive? if so, then we can recover it from there.
Alternately, did you make a backup on a USB drive, a memory stick, or a second computer? Perhaps you sent it to a colleague to review. Maybe your thesis advisor has a copy that they can send back to you? If you can think of anywhere that there might be a copy of that thesis, now is the time to consider retrieving it.
Now I know that grad students think of their thesis like Gollum over his Precious. My thesis shall not see the light of day until I am certain the world is ready to be graced with its greatness (drumrolls)… but this is not the time for fantasies. You need a copy of that thesis, so if there is one buried somewhere, now is the time to bring it out into the light.
No, I am Gollum and my precious was only on my laptop. What now?
All is not lost. There is quite a bit that can be done to recover that thesis. To begin with, we need to ask how “dead” the computer is. Is it a power issue? Then it can usually be powered back up with an alternate power source on a workbench.
Perhaps, it’s the main circuit board damaged. This can also be replaced, especially if it’s from one of the major manufacturers (HP, Dell, Lenovo, Sony, Toshiba, Acer, etc.). It could also be bad memory, which can typically easily be replaced. Did it overheat? Then maybe a good dusting is all it needs. Maybe a CPU or add-on component is defective, but with a little swapping, the system can be turned on again.
Perhaps the most common issue is that the screen stopped functioning. This is typically the result of a dropped laptop. Most laptops have an external monitor connection, so then it’s just a matter of plugging one in. Sometimes the video electronics are damaged, but this is also repairable by a skilled technician.
Of course, the thesis is stored on the hard drive, so typically the quickest solution is to connect it to another computer and recover the files that way. Most hard drives these days have standard connections for easy upgrades, but with older computers it requires special adapters – again, solvable will require the assistance of a skilled technician or service center.
There are instances when it isn’t so simple, like with Ransomware or Rootkit virus. This is also solvable, but will take skill and some time to repair. I was able to recover a mall-ware encrypted file from another client’s computer last year, but it wasn’t easy or quick. Sometimes, recovery requires expert help from a specialized service that can do bit-for-bit file recovery using specific equipment.
However, the more complex the recovery process, the more expensive it will get. You then must ask yourself, is it worth the expense compared to starting over? If you are 3-4 years into writing that thesis, then it may be worth the expense. That question is up to you to decide but try and exhaust all the other solutions first.
In our case, I was able to remove the hard drive from the laptop and copy the to a new computer. It did take a couple of days, but we did recover it. We were lucky.
What about my notes, my research, my graphs, my citations?
Research is not just done in a vacuum. It typically includes associated data from other apps, like EndNote, Ginger, Mendeley, TurnItIn, Grammarly, and EverNote. For PDF files they might use Acrobat, for scientific research, apps like SciSpace, for mindmapping, MindMeister, their photos are edited with Photoshop and managed with Lightroom, while text formatting often uses LaTex, to name a few apps that are popular on campus.
While these applications can be reinstalled to a new system if necessary, but what about the data they contain? More recent versions will typically store data in the cloud, but this isn’t always the case. So, in addition to recovering the actual thesis, it may be necessary to recover important associated data as well. This is something else to allocate time to, budget for, and consider alternatives for if the recovery doesn’t go so well.
What is important here is that each of these applications connects to the thesis in different ways. Sometimes it is necessary to find someone who understands that these aren’t just separate files and that they also need to be restored in a specific way.
In our case, we only needed to worry about EndNote and Microsoft OneNote, which are not complex. However, each research project will have its own set of associated apps that will need careful consideration. This is not always something that just any IT guru can recover properly. The best-case scenario is if the entire hard drive is recovered intact so that the user’s working environment can be seamlessly transferred to the new system.
In any case, this work will take time and patience.
OK, so what is this going to cost?
I won’t mince words here. It’s expensive. It will vary greatly based on how much work needs to be done and what each type of step will cost in different markets. Here’s a breakdown of approximate costs here in Southern California:
Initial diagnosis of the laptop: $75
Yeah, I know this seems steep, but this is what a private contractor will charge. It may be less at GeekSquad or Staples, but that will likely be a cookie-cutter analysis. To open the computer and really determine what went wrong inside requires skills and equipment.
Cost of labor to repair the laptop: $60-100 per hour
This takes into account the facility, equipment, and training of the tech. You should also expect to pay for a minimum of two hours of work as well. The cost of the diagnosis, if done by the same person, may be deducted from this
Cost of parts:
Keep in mind that they may not have a specific part in stock, so you may need to wait for it to arrive and express delivery will add to the cost. The costs below are for standard equipment, but anything that is unique to a specific manufacturer may be considerably more, sometimes 2-3 times as much.
Hard drive = $50
Battery = $35
RAM memory = $25 (varies by capacity)
Motherboard = $80-200
Cooling / fans = $20
Power supply = $25
Screen = $100
These are my costs when I order the parts online. Now I’m not a repair shop and I don’t stock any of these, so it may take some time for these to arrive to my place of work, especially if coming from far away.
Data recovery costs: $150 / hour
Data recovery services should be the last resort because of how expensive they are. Years ago, the rate was based on capacity, but since there are now so many ways to store data, from a very fast medium like a solid-state drive, and a very slow medium like a CD. Therefore, data recovery rates are typically hourly, with a minimum of three hours in most cases.
The cost of data recovery depends a large part on if the storage medium, in most cases a hard drive, is itself damaged. If so, the cost to recover data can be much higher, in the thousands of dollars. Basically, the more work that is required to recover the data, the more expensive the service is.
Now, in our situation we were lucky. We did not try to recover the whole laptop; we just wanted the contents of the hard drive, and that hard drive was working fine. We were able to connect the hard drive to a new computer using a specialized adapter and transferred the required files over. It required some knowledge about the specific applications, but it was simple enough. We were lucky.
I also did all the work for free because it was for a friend, and we also knew that as a student she would not be able to afford more expensive services. However, to be perfectly honest, it was very time-consuming work and it cut into time I should have been working on my business. I would typically not do this for free for just anyone. If you find yourself in the same situation, you shouldn’t either.
I need to get back to work, how long is this going to take?
A dreaded question, one that doesn’t have an easy answer. As a matter of practice, my response is that it will take me two hours to provide a more definite answer. This is typically how long a good diagnosis would take, although if I am working with others, it also gives me time to estimate what their time requirements will be.
Depending on the diagnosis, the recovery can take from 2-8 hours or more, but this is typically not done in a single session. Recovery services will have several projects going at once, so your laptop may not receive continuous attention. Sometimes, other computers are used to recover files from damaged storage media, and this is often just started and then checked occasionally by an actual person. That process can take days, if not weeks, depending on how much data it is and what it is stored on.
Then there is the time involved in ordering parts. Expedited shipping is faster, but costs more. This goes back to the question about what this is worth to you. How much down-time can you afford? In large corporations, downtime has an exact cost break-down, and that is what I am used to. However, with individuals, this is really an individual preference decision only you can answer.
Once you have a good diagnosis, you should also have a good idea of how long it will take. A good tech will have this written down for you as part of the work request. You should base your next decisions on that time frame and allow for some extra time as well. As a rule of thumb, most projects will take twice as long as planned. While a very organized and efficient tech team can do better (or they already include a buffer in their estimate) but allow for extra time anyway.
If the estimated time is too long, then you need to consider alternatives. Can you continue your research, without having your thesis in front of you for a while? Do you have a second laptop or maybe a Chromebook you can use temporarily? Can you get by temporarily with pen & paper? Alternately, can you use an audio recorder or a digital writing tablet?
In our situation, we had a second laptop that was not being used, so transferring the contents of the drive to this laptop was the most efficient solution. We still have a new laptop on order, but this will likely take some time to arrive. When it does, we’ll need to transfer the files again.
If I continue my work on a second computer, how will my thesis sync up later?
If the thesis was stored online or backed up, then that is the version you are going to work with from now on. If it wasn’t and we have to recover it from the old computer and you are working on new material now, then you need to give some consideration about synching.
If it takes time to recover the thesis and you are creating new content while you wait, then you will manually need to synch up the data yourself. There isn’t a technological magic wand that can synchronize two files while one is physically not accessible.
If you’d rather not worry about synching your work, then perhaps this is the time to work on peripheral items, do some extra reading, or take a pause from writing the thesis. While this wasn’t the case for us since I was able to complete the work fast enough, but our friend uses OneNote, a cloud-based application for her notes, so she could have continued to work on those while her thesis was being recovered. But that was not necessary in this case.
To combine long documents, Microsoft Word has a specialized function for this available by selecting the Review Menu, clicking on the Compare button, and selecting Combine... It is a capable feature that will go through all the differences between the two documents and let you select which to keep. Most capable work processors have a similar function.
Unfortunately, this is still a manual process, so when there are many differences between documents, it can take a while to complete the process. Hopefully this computer failure was not a trigger to a writing spree.
If this is not something you would like to do or you don’t have the time, there are also editors who specialize in this task as well. I recently saw someone mentioning this task in their profile on Fivrr. Thesis editors will also need to work with you closely, so this may be more time-consuming than doing it yourself.
Finally, there are automated tools that do this using artificial intelligence. Even though they are fast, I do not recommend using those as they can’t really be as accurate as a human eye. More specifically, the best result will be from doing the synching yourself.
Conclusion
I cannot stress this enough, but if you are writing your thesis on a single laptop without doing backups, you are just gambling with your work. That laptop will be tossed into backpacks, dropped on hard floors, and have drinks spilled on it. Do you really want to risk your entire thesis by not backing it up?
If things do go wrong, and they usually do at the worst possible time, then it all comes down to how prepared you were. If you were not well prepared, then it will cost you time and money to get back to work.
The money to pay for the cost of repairs can always be found, but time is finite. If you only have a set amount of time to finish, then what are your options? Yes, I know that research can always receive extensions and that this is very common, but this is also lost time for you, time that you will never get back.
I’ve described a few scenarios above. It was prompted by a recent experience that sounded catastrophic at first but turned out to not be so bad after all. We were extremely lucky in what we had available and what we could do, but that is not always the case. Therefore, I highly recommend investing in a quality backup solution and that you stick to it as if your entire college career depended on it…
…because it does.