If you delivered a picture to the Eagle within the past few weeks and waited while it was scanned into the computer system and it hasn’t appeared in the paper, you may need to bring it back because the photo folder on the news server was inadvertantly deleted. This includes photos of Eagle on Vacation, weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, etc.

The backup system was a virtual no-show, spitting up more than 3,000 files retrieved from as far back as 2003, but precious few from 2005, and none from the photo folder. Let this be a lesson to you: back things up and then back them up again. This was the computer equivalent of a fire in the records room.

We’re still determining the extent of the damage. All may not have been lost, but it’s a good bet most of it was. The happy thing is that no original photos were lost, only computer copies.

Speaking of backing up computer files, and since misery likes company, we’re compelled to remind you that putting something on a disk and then putting the disk in a box in the closet won’t guarantee the information will be preserved forever.

That old, three-and-quarter floppy will last 10 years, maybe, before it clunks in the drive, and it won’t announce its pending death.

CDs and DVDs (ROM and otherwise) will last longer, 70 years by some estimates, but they’ll eventually be victimized by hardware changes. There will come a time when new computers won’t read old anything. The chances of a machine built in 2075 being able to read a disk recorded now are slim. That’d be like a current CD player spinning a 78.

You’ll be crying into your hard drive if you don’t stay on top of up-to-date storage techniques.

Librarians have been fretting over storing of computer data for years. They have to keep recopying data on to up-to-date storage systems or face the loss of historical data.

The Internet is one big storage bin, but that has its downsides, too, such as viruses, worms and phishing expeditions.

There are ink-and-paper documents in museums and other collections that are thousands of years old and in excellent condition. It’s relatively simple to store them – protect them from light and moisture.

Will computer technology ever be so simple?