I was messing around a few months ago clearing out old client accounts from my Media Temple account. I deleted a few databases that I didn’t think contained anything of importance — I was wrong. I realized a couple days later that I had deleted my old freelance portfolio site, Muku Studios; the Hawaii adventure blog, Discover Garden; and my parents business website…

Oops.

Of course, I didn’t make any backups. Despite contacting Media Temple in an attempt recover the database, they only save backups for 24 hours.  I was out of luck.

At first I felt the most guilt for deleting my parents company website. However, since they never noticed, and I kept forgetting to tell them — I figured it wasn’t an integral part of their business.

Now, I mostly regret losing our adventure blog, Discover Garden. It featured content from an exciting chapter in my life. It served as a memory of time living on Oahu. It reminded me of the struggles and triumphs I had as a new resident surviving in a new land — Living out of a car for a few days, navigating the traffic and parking of Honolulu, walking through Waikiki with my surfboard, mahu watching in the evenings along Kuhio Avenue, sharing drinks with friends at Duke’s and The Olive Tree… having the experiences any transplant to Hawaii should encounter. For it’s dark times, the good times shined that much brighter. It laid the groundwork for my life today.  I feel like a piece of those memories was lost with the website.

The moral of the story is, make backups. Even old websites and blogs that you may never update again can still be of value. Abandoned personal websites are the dusty photo albums of the future. You don’t miss them until they’re gone.