[R2didi2]

Hey Folks

Just thought I'd report on a disaster that happened on my trip to Namibia last week. I took my Jobo GigaVu Pro Evolution and used this to transfer my photos from CF card each time they became full - a total of 1500 photos over 5 days - birds and wildlife.

On day 5, disaster struck. Probably due to the heat, my Jobo hung whilst in my bag during data transfer. The device was really hot, so I switched it off and cooled it down by opening the back and removing the battery for a bit. However, when I switched it back on I heard a "nightmare" noise - one that (being in IT) I recognised is the noise when the hard drive head has fallen onto the platter. Oh no. No backups.

I have tried all manner of things to recover the photos and am now waiting for a particular screwdriver I need to get inside the Jobo so I can remove the drive and slave it on the PC (I don't care about invalidating the warranty, I just want to see if I can get my photos). I don't hold out much hope - the only other option would be to pay money to send it to someone who can see if they can swap the platter onto another hard drive unit.

So, chances are I will have lost all 5 days worth - 1500 photos - of my trip. So the moral of the story is please, please, if you go on a birding trip and use some kind of photo storage device, do make sure you have a backup device, otherwise you stand to cry a lot like I did!

Anyone else ever had similar happen to them whilst out on a shoot?

Didi
p.s. I have put this on birdforum.net too just in case people there don't read this as a reminder of importance of backups.