Our sincerest apologies for the construction dust that is currently apparent on the site, and the fact that some of our content is currently missing. The site has also generated some links and feed notifications of new content that was previously sent out. Our apologies for any inconvenience this has caused.
Early on Tuesday afternoon the server at Blue Host that housed all of our company’s sites, including Scrapbook Update and The Nally Notes, experienced a catastrophic failure. To put it simply – the hardware died and destroyed all of the files that were housed on it in the process. This just happens to hardware, especially high load servers, and is why it is imperative to run back-ups on computer files.
This should not have been disastrous because several months ago I purchased a premium back-up plan from Blue Host that promised to back-up our sites regularly – basically an insurance plan for just this sort of incident. Blue Host should have just been able to transfer their back-up to our new server and we’d be back up again.
However when I requested that the back-up files be installed, I was informed that they didn’t exist. The service I had purchased was not compatible with the server that our account was running on and no one at Blue Host either noticed or cared that they had allowed me to purchase a vaporware product. So for months I operated under the assumption the site was receiving regular complete back-ups when in fact nothing was being done at all to back it up other than my occasional database dumps that were incomplete.
So, we are now in the process of reinstalling and reconstructing the site based on various fragments that we had available from older site test files, a recent partial back-up that I had run, and by re-uploading original files. We have restored basic functions but this is a slow process and we appreciate your patience while we work hard to get the site back to its full operational status.
Once the site is restored, we will be migrating to a new server host to better serve our customers and avoid this sort of problem in the future.
In the meantime, we are still at work on content (sleep? who needs sleep?) and we have some new stuff coming your way later today! So thanks for your patience!
About Nancy Nally
I am so sorry…it’s like losing your best friend. And I know you didn’t need this aggravation.
But you do sound like you know what you are doing…more than I would be able to do. And of course, it is a good lesson to learn..ie. multiple backup plans. My home back up besides multiple hard drives includes actually printing the photos. We lost tons of videos at one point in our lives when they were stored on a hard drive that simply died. It is just painful. Hang in there.
I am sorry to hear this
You, May and Melissa do a great job with Scrapbook Update!
I am so sorry that this un needed and unwanted problem has accurred. I trust that all will be back to “normal” soon.We will all be waiting!
Oh this sounds awesome for you, you three do a wonderful job and I’m sorry to hear you are getting such a rough time with tech at the moment. (shaking fist on your behalf!)
awful! i meant awful not awesome of course, DOH! early morning pre-coffee comments are risky business
ROFL Ruth! Don’t worry about it – you should see the state that I am in, what with having a total of 9 hours of sleep the last two nights as I tried to piece the site back together…I’m going to need caffeine detox!
So sorry to hear this Nancy, I am sure you will be up and running soon.Tech problems are always a hassle. I lost scads of pictures once and I tried to ease my mind by thinking “This must be the clean slate” my Mom used to tell me about. Hope it works out. I love your site!
Lysa
Nancy,
Whether you rush & remain sleep deprived or whether you take a little extra time & get some ZZZzzz along the way, we will be here when the site is ready. Thanks for keeping us up to date.
Hang in there!
What a headache! I’m sure it is doubly frustrating that you know YOU did what you needed to do and someone you paid to do a job let you down. Grrrr. I am so sorry you are having to deal with this. However, as everyone else has said, we understand, take care of yourself and your families, and we’ll be here. You all do a great job with the site, we know the quality of your work and we can be patient. {{{Hugs}}}
Oh my goodness, what frustration, Nancy!! Praying you get up and running and are able to get much needed sleep soon!! As others have stated, “we will still be here”
hugs,
Thanks everyone for the support! The site’s essential functionality is mostly restored at this point. We are still missing a bit of text content (that is coming) and some images (many but not all will eventually be restored). It’s a tedious process but we are trying to get it completed as fast as possible so that we can move forward with providing you the excellent content that we are so proud of!
I’m really sorry that you are going through these unnecessary technical difficulties. I would think Blue Host should be responsible for compensating your for the labor costs of re-establishing your business & personal sites. Such a lack of business ethics is incomprehensible. You are taking it with a much more benevolent attitude than I would. I can’t help but admire your positive attitude whenever you are faced with difficult situations. Best wishes for getting through this.
You are absolutely right Colleen. And I did consult the company’s corporate counsel about the situation and basically was told I had an excellent case but that it would cost too much to pursue it for the small amount of damages I was likely to get. So I’m taking it to the court of public opinion instead. God bless social media.
Good for you! At the very least, Blue Host should refund your allegedly “premium” membership $.
No matter what, this reader will remain loyal and wait for the dust to clear! Changing hosting service is probably your best and only recourse in this situation and yes I agree with the court of public opinion, it works so much better than some people give it credit! I would demand a refund on the “premium” back up service, their customer service is just ridiculous!
Get some rest Nancy! Hugs!!
Oh how awfully frustrating for you Nancy. No worries at all … we won’t be going anywhere!
I am glad you are ok. I kept thinking I know the hurricane is gone and it missed her! Darn it! BUt I had to pull up the map to make sure! But I am VERY SORRY about this loss! As always you amaze me! You are such a resilient woman! You keep trucking! Shimelle Laine, on her blog, asked everyone what their spirit animal would be: I think you are a rhino! You keep on bulldozing through the “crap of life” and just knocking those obstacles out of your way!!! You go Girl!
Wow – I too think you should at the very least ask for a refund on what you have paid them. Can’t you take them to small claims court to at least have this money returned? When it rains it pours. Think about the rain stopping and the sun shining on you and your family. Be proud of yourself you are doing a fantastic job, and holding up very well. Sending you mental hugs!