Author's Note- Important
I normally never post author notes as chapters, because I feel it interrupts the story. However, to do so right now is very important.
You guys need to know, this morning, while I was at work (still am, til 12, then off til about 4, then back on til 7), somehow I accidentally deleted every single file from my flash drive. Most importantly, two years' worth of college documents, profiles, music files, etc. were deleted. However, with them, the Emmy sequel was also deleted. 7 chapters worth. And I mean everything on the drive, including system folders somehow. This is not a joke.
I am super depressed and have absolutely no clue what to do. I am usually a very literate computer person, my parents and teachers and classmates often ask for help on things; however, in my searches on the Internet of restoring files deleted from a flash drive, I found nothing that I thought was truly legit or that would work. Several results said to download this free backup/restore program from the Internet, which I am not comfortable doing.
I am 99% positive I did not click Empty Recycle Bin. In fact, I know I clicked Restore All Files. However, when I checked that folder on this computer, it was also empty; even after I clicked Restore, my documents were never there (in the bin) to begin with. I haven't a clue where they went. This morning, before I came to work, I transferred some files onto my flash drive from our home computer, the first use I've had of it since it has been returned and backed-up; but since it's clean of viruses now, it couldn't have been a virus that did this, could it? What I was doing, is I was shifting some files around, deleting and moving, and when I do the select option for multiple files (you know, holding down Ctrl to allow for multiple selection) too quickly, sometimes the drive thinks I'm telling it to create copies, when I'm not. I began the process of deleting those copies, and it appeared to tell me I was also deleting several hidden system files, too. I told it to skip those, then it said it was deleting almost 300 files, and suddenly, I watched and everything was gone. I just can't fathom why or how this happened.
I would call my campus computer services, however as it's Sunday, they are closed. And I am thinking, even if they could come help me with it tomorrow, or another day, somehow, I'd have to pay for the services. As it has very important things on it, I am perfectly willing to do this, especially since I just got paid and will get paid again in about a week. I also tried to Google my flash drive and find technical support; I did, however they are closed Saturdays and Sundays. On my flash drive and such, I also tried Undo, but it is greyed out, therefore it won't work. It never did.
If any of you have any advice or suggestions for me, please pass them on, in reviews or PMs. The final two chapters of Il suo amore are already uploaded to FFN and will be posted as usual, luckily. However, if I cannot restore the files to my flash drive, I have no other way of retrieving the sequel chapters- as far as I'm aware, I've never backed them up at home, nor in my email- and it is not in my now-aching heart to rewrite it, I don't think I have the sanity. What I wrote was it, and for the most part, it was ready to post. In fact, yesterday I asked myself if I should upload them to FFN, but I did not... Well, it turns out now that is a big mistake. I will try to rewrite, but there was so much... Tony and Emmy's honeymoon, Emmy getting hurt, Emmy pregnant, painting the nursery, Fiona's birth, Fiona growing up... Where I was at currently, it was the last semester of high school for her, before she graduated, and she was in a relationship with a wonderful teenage boy, and things were gonna get even bigger and better for them... Well, no longer... I can't even remember what all I had. If/when I did/do, I will try to rewrite, but I don't think/know if it will/could possibly happen... It was so much...
I don't even know what to do with myself now. A flash drive truly becomes part of a college students' identity, not just for recreational purposes. My coworker Leah is going to come in around Noon and relieve me for a few hours, as I covered for her Monday, so she could go to a church picnic (work was dead boring, anyway, we were both being driven mad by boredom), so when she comes in, I will ask her if she knows who I could contact that does technical support for this computer, and if they are willing to come in today, I will pay them for their services, especially on a Sunday, as I'm not sure anything can possibly be done once the computer is rebooted and my flash drive ejected, but at 7pm tonight, when I close, I will not have a choice... However, she is very computer-illiterate and there may be no one. I don't believe this computer runs on an XP system, so my mom could not help me, as what she sees is different from what I see.
I can't tell my dad or stepmom about this, to ask for their help; they will think I was screwing around at work, doing something I shouldn't, then this happened. I am perfectly allowed to use work's computer, check Facebook, email, etc. when there are no tourists to help, and as of this morning, two hours ago, when I opened, there have only been 5. There is nothing wrong with this computer at all, as far as I'm aware, just the documents and folders on my flash drive are gone.
Sorry for this massively long author note. I have a tendency to never shut up. But you guys needed to know. I will try to post another author note in the next few days, letting you know if anything good or bad has happened. At this point, though, things are looking very bad. Wish me luck... erase today... erase my life...
Renthead07
P.S. This computer does not have Microsoft Word, only Notepad and Wordpad, which just amazes me, because Microsoft Word is only the most popular typing program in the world! OK, shutting up.
