Railfan Technology > Lost Data After Installing Windows 10 October 2018 Update

If your computer has the Windows 10 operating system, this article might be of interest. Pretty scary scenario for some. (Read the comments, too.)

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/278181-users-are-reporting-lost-data-after-installing-windows-10-october-2018-update?utm_source=email&utm_campaign=extremetech&utm_medium=title

I use WIN 7 and save / keep all my data on a separate drive partition (... i.e., NOT the "C:" drive) and avoid using any "Windows" directories (...like "My Documents," "My Photos," etc.) for my personal data storage. It's best to create your own directories for your retained information / data. I also do regular backups.This most recent Microsoft "wipeout" seems to be pretty devastating, so if you are a WIN 10 user, I would recommend backing up all of your data on a separate drive before doing any "Updates" from Microsoft.

Greg Stadter
Phoenix, AZ



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/05/18 15:54 by E25.

Thanks Greg for the heads up on this, one of our servers that runs ATCS Monitoring for the BNSF Seligman Sub uses Windows 10.

SouthWest RailCams
CA, NM, CO, TX, AZ
https://SouthWestRailCams.com



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/05/18 16:06 by RailFanAZ.

10 October is 5 days in the future???

Thanks. I lost about 2-3 years worth of videos. Running Win7. Happened in early August. I had a restore point on 7/22 that saved a few of them. I had thought it was caused by an Avast disk cleanup tool. Maybe not.

It goes to show that far too many people fail to make even 'once in a great while' backups of their computer data.  Even a 64GB thumb drive ($20-30 these days) would likely be more than enough backup for the majority of users.   

The fix is spelled: L-I-N-U-X.

Out

BRAtkinson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It goes to show that far too many people fail to
> make even 'once in a great while' backups of their
> computer data.  Even a 64GB thumb drive ($20-30
> these days) would likely be more than enough
> backup for the majority of users.   

Picked up a 256GB Flash drive at Costco (yep, 256GB). Cheaper than a back-up drive and no proprietary software to deal with.
Although I will continue using Seagate USB back-up drives (USB means no power supply to fail).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/05/18 22:30 by TCnR.

I have an external 2 TB drive that I use for backups ... EVERY Friday night (just after midnight).
I don't backup my programs because I have all the cds/dvds for install. But I do backup my email (except for junk) and all my data files. It takes 10 to 15 minutes.
As long as I have been doing this (almost 10 years) I have not had a crash. I continue doing it to ensure I don't have a crash. Yeah, supersitious.

 

Will MacKenzie
Dundas, ON

callum_out Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The fix is spelled: L-I-N-U-X.
>
> Out

Actually, that's a religious solution. Lucky for Linux that it doesn't have a large market share like Windows, where consumers will be pressuring the distributions for continuous bug fixes and feature updates.

Mac, becoming more "mainstream" in recent years have had their own share of scary security vulnerabilities and errant patches. Years ago, they were "immune" to Windows-like problems, because, well, their market share was small.

A better smart-ass answer: Be a Contrarian.
 

BRAtkinson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It goes to show that far too many people fail to
> make even 'once in a great while' backups of their
> computer data.  Even a 64GB thumb drive ($20-30
> these days) would likely be more than enough
> backup for the majority of users.

This thread gave me a deja vu, and here's the reason why (2 years ago):

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?9,4024052

Similar advice was given in that thread, too, regarding back ups. Potential copyrighted material (photos, video, music) got deleted upon update of Mac OS X (Sierra or High Sierra?). Funny how something similar is happening again, although on a different platform.

I'm sticking to what I said 2 years ago. 

As of this morning (Oct 6), Microsoft has pulled the October update (Build 1809).

https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/6/17944966/microsoft-windows-10-october-2018-update-documents-deleted-issues-windows-update-paused

Linux isn't perfect, although it's been a while since I've heard of a Linux update that deleted user files. Linux updates have been known to brick older or obscure machines. I first used Unix on a PDP-11/45 with a Teletype 33 in 1976.

The answer is backup, backup, backup. And when Windows 10 resumes the October update, you can sidestep vulnerability by moving your Documents folders (could be more than one, if the machine is multi-user) to C:\ and then putting them back in their proper place after the update is complete.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/18 08:01 by ctillnc.

donstrack Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As of this morning (Oct 6), Microsoft has pulled
> the October update (Build 1809).
>
> https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/6/17944966/micros
> oft-windows-10-october-2018-update-documents-delet
> ed-issues-windows-update-paused

Agree. Had a news update about that late last night on the Google news summary.

To cchan, my answer wasn't "smartass" and I wasn't being a contrarian. Yes Linux has abandoned support for seven processors no one has ever
heard off and yes it's now a 64 bit program, it lacks the all encompassing update dogma used by Microsoft. The version I run maintains three kernel
(or whatever number you pick) versions, allows immediate reversion if you have an issue and updates nothing in your data files. All 500 of the world's
top supercomputers run Linux, even Intel has thrown in with their ClearLinux operating system (runs AMD just as well). So laugh and make jokes,
things like Steam run way better under Linux.

Out

E25 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If your computer has the Windows 10 operating
> system, this article might be of interest. Pretty
> scary scenario for some. (Read the comments,
> too.)
>
> https://www.extremetech.com/computing/278181-users
> -are-reporting-lost-data-after-installing-windows-
> 10-october-2018-update?utm_source=email&utm_campai
> gn=extremetech&utm_medium=title
>

There is some good advice in the article.  The use of One Drive is a good one. Standard (free) space is 10 GB in Win10 or if you subscribe to My Office you get 1 TB. My primary laptop is setup to sync to One Drive  (1 TB option) while my editing workstation is also using One Drive. Along with this option, I have real-time backups running to external drives (NAS) of my Photo and Video folders. All of these options are cheap (buy on sale, built yourself or shop around online) compared to losing data that may not be reproducible. 

Data loss is the new reality since the majority of people have switched to the convince of instantaneous digital images. I still shot film, so if I experience a major data loss or breach, I have a tangible backup that I can see and hold, not a bunch of electrons. 

For the Linux and MAC users, they are also vulnerable to data loss. It may not occur via an update, but the OS's rely on hardware to be used. Hardware fails, especially when used in a home enviroment where surge protection, battery backup, and preventive maintenance (take a look at the fans on your system, bet they are full of dust and junk and so is the inside of the machine) is almost non-existent. I once opened a PC that was so full of animal hair, dust, and other unidentifiable dermus that the CPU cooler fan and power supply fan no longer moved resulting in a meltdown of the system. The resulting temperatures inside of the machine damaged the hard drive making it unrecoverable. A backup would have allowed any backed up data to be recoveable, but it was too late.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/18 10:26 by SalamanderSam.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-october-update-problems-wiped-docs-plus-intel-driver-warning/

Every time Windows updates, it screws something up.  I turned off the automatic backup on mine.  Now it asks me.

SalamanderSam is certainly correct, mechanical issues beyond the OS can certainly damage data and Linux or not I air gap
store every piece of important data. It's just nice not having the OS screw you over and spy on you every chance it gets.

Out

Frisco1522 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Every time Windows updates, it screws something
> up.  I turned off the automatic backup on mine. 
> Now it asks me.
 
1803 self-install wiped out my new PC in May. Didn't have any files on it yet but had to reload the OS. Turned off auto-install back then. Today I installed 1803 OK.
I'll stay one gen behind and install 1809 when 18xx is released.

callum_out Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>All 500 of the world's top supercomputers run Linux, even Intel has
> thrown in with their ClearLinux operating system
> (runs AMD just as well). So laugh and make jokes,
> things like Steam run way better under Linux.
>
> Out

This thread shouldn't be about Linux or any other OS bragging rights. Linux users are, in general, contrarian in the consumer market. I wasn't joking, I was criticizing you - I thought your "Linux is superior" insinuation was inappropriate, regardless of whether that's correct or not. If you were willing to donate your time to help the OP install Linux then help him get started, THEN I would have shut up.