On Wed, 21 Jan 2015, Wendell Bell wrote: > Even when I worked for a Fortune 100 company, most files on the C drives, > not backed up on a network drive, did not survive either an equipment or an > operating system upgrade. The IS people said they would migrate stuff, but > then it wouldn't work etc. etc. That is absolutely insane, and I really would like to think that's isolated to a very small number of companies. I've worked for... I have no idea what Fortune Number companies, but definitely gigantic ones. Most people, and we're talking hundreds of thousands, their computers were set up to AUTOMATICALLY save everything to the network. Most (i.e., regular) users could not change this, or install/uninstall software, or really have any control over their computers. The situation you describe would be 100% unacceptable. In fact, I don't see how any large company could function that way. > And Sprint brings over hardly anything when you upgrade phones. That one I hear you on. Phones, especially the way we use them in the US, are terrible about controlling your own data. That definitely doesn't seem to be something most people care about, and most people don't save important stuff on their phone. And it's all turning into Cloud Storage now, anyway. > I know they always say to back up your files, but when they aren't > reclaimable when needed... Again, no offence meant, but stuff like backing up files and verifying that your backup is accessible should be a basic computer-use skill. Sadly, most people (and I am DEFINITELY generalising here) don't have those skills - no backups, no idea about security/privacy settings, etc. Then again, a while ago I came up with a lesson plan for teaching people how to keep their data safe, and guard their privacy. I got a couple of places to actually offer the class at a community education type thing... and zero people registered. Zero. And this was right when that whole big Celebrity Phone Hack thing happened. People just don't care. /rant --