At work today, Mac OS X Address Book just blanked at some point. Hundreds of contacts gone. The Treo still had the information, so I carefully checked Missing Sync (which I use to sync the Treo) and made sure it was set to Synchronize, not Overwrite Handheld. Mistake… there was no setting for Handheld overwrite Desktop, and Synchronize picked up the blanked desktop settings as the “newest” information. Doh!
End result? Empty address book. Hundreds of contacts gone. And, of course, my latest backup of this information is several months old, from when I left CNET to join OpenDNS.
So, if you email me, please take the extra step to include your info beyond the email address: phone, postal, company, etc. I’ve got some reconstruction to do over the next few weeks.
This isn’t like declaring email bankruptcy, where it’s liberating to start over. It’s maddening and a reminder (again) about not just backing up, but doing it religiously in multiple places.
So, if you keep everything digitally, put a copy online somewhere, too. If you still use paper (like the wife), maybe it’s time for some photocopies stored in an envelope. Avoid this particular glitch, if you can.