and I am going to try to recover those by going to those site's but thousands were free and they are all gone.. I will never collect designs after this ..

We have had so many computer failures here lately, I wonder if there is a common site that is killing us all!! I didn't know you could get a virus on the external drive! Shows how smart I am! I have some backed up on CD, BUT have had files just go off into space somewhere from a CD! Has anyone had that happen? A friend was able to "find" some of them, but not all. What's one to do!! Every backup we have can be infected or defective! I DO wish these people would get a job & help the world instead of being such a pain in the neck! Emblib will let you download again anything you bought. Many sites will if they have record of it. I'm so sorry..I feel your pain as I lost my hard drive last week!!

1 comment

by marjialexa 05 Oct 2009

Gerry, personally I only get things from reputable sites, and not too many of those. Just a suggestion, since CDs and DVDs are so cheap, make a separate one for "known" sites, like Cute, Stitchery Mall, Oregon Patch works, and download to the CD. For "questionable" sites, like those Chinese ones, I'd make a separate CD and dowload directly there. Of course, I'd always scan anything before I download it. If things disappear off one CD and not the other, maybe you have your answer. Now, just an aside, darned if I know how things can disappear off a CD, since that is a 'physical' recording operation, not an 'electronic' one. Someone will enlighten me, I'm sure. Hugs, Marji

Just had a flash, what means brilliant idea!
Stitchery Mall has a Download Area as a customer service, where all the downloads you did are stored and allowed to re-download in case you loose them.
Just login and click left menu bar "Download Area". I checked for myself and all the Pinecone and Acorn files are there and still FREE!! GO!!
I do not know if you will return to this post, so I send you a PM too.

1 comment

by marjialexa 05 Oct 2009

Wow, really, the free ones too? I knew about the purchased ones, that's awfully nice of them to allow the free ones. Thanks so much for the information, Eva! That was some flash! Hugs, Marji

I'm so sorry! Do you download directly to the external? Well, just imaging what would have happened if you downloaded that virus to your internal hard drive, you'd be losing more than designs! Maybe the designs can be recovered by a professional, why don't you give it a try? And, hate to be an old poop, but this is why so many of us caution against downloading every freebie you see! Make sure you scan your files before downloading, make sure you have really good virus protection, and listen to it! If my McAfee tells me a site is questionable, even if none of y'all think you haven't had trouble with it, I don't go there. Period. There is no free design that's worth my equipment being messed up. Remember, there is no such thing as a free lunch! Designers give away samples so you will see their quality and want to purchase their designs. It's advertising, pure and simple. Some give more than others, digitizers are wonderful generous people, but the bottom line is they want to SELL designs, ok? If it's a commercial looking site, but doesn't have anything for sale, like those Chinese sites, what is their profit in giving away designs? They didn't build 100 pages of a website to be 'nice' to you! They're getting something out of it, and you know a couple of you have had your credit information ripped off. Please, please get sample designs only from reputable sites, and think before you download, check with your virus protection before you go to a site or download. I hate to see this happen to anyone! Ok, off the soapbox. Big hugs and flowers all around, Marji

I also use an external hard drive for my backups. But, it is only connected to the computer when I do backups, otherwise there is no way a virus can get into it unless a file I am backing up is corrupted. I would take the external drive to a local computer geek and see if they could salvage any of the files if the files are still there. Breath deep and good luck, Janet

What a nightmare, I back up on 2 external drives now just to avoid this, might be a thought for the future.wish you strength.

sorry to hear this I have all my designs o disk so I can go back and get them.lots of disk but at least I do have a back up.

Such a pain in the ars when you loose files, I travel back and forth from Saudi Arabia to the States so I have an external drive that holds 60G and ALL my stuff not just the embroidery files, and I copy & paste, no back up program because you can't always find that program where ever you go!!
Just take this in stride and it is a bitter lesson, so sorry!!
Dolly

I'm so sorry for you! Not a long ago, I lost some files I saved in my memory stick, they went corrupted, I felt horrible...no more memory sticks for me, I do regular back up, copy in CD and in another computer too. A big hug for you!

So sorry dear one - wished that there was a way to help you out - so where was your backup for these designs saved at - should have been elsewhere than on your external - wasn't it? *4U

I am so sorry to hear this. Some lessons we learn are so costly. Be encouraged *2U

I am sorry, I also lost 8 months from last year. I goofed a back up file and deleted original before i realized it. This happened in Jan and I am still working on recovering designs. Good luck sweetie!!

I am so sorry to hear this mysew. Do you not have anykind of SW on your computer that will warn you about not opening some files that may have a virus? I know there are some that can still slip through but there r programs that will warn you of the possibility of a virus. *4U

It is very hard when this happens. Backing to an external drive is great, but putting on CD's as a back help certainly would have caused you this heartache. (()) for your worries.