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# Some thoughts about backing up, which occurred to me after my laptop abruptly expired
- URL: https://www.autodidacts.io/thoughts-on-digital-fragility/
- Published: 2026-03-10T04:26:26.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-05T18:20:02.000Z
- Description: I had other plans for what to write about, and also plans for the day that didn't involve disassembling my connection to the outside world with a screwdriver
- Author: Curiositry
- Tags: 100DaysToOffload, Hardware, Laptops, Right to Repair, Redundancy, Digital Resilience

Today, for no apparent reason, my 2021 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 experienced a sudden power failure. This was the second or third time I had experienced abrupt restarts, and, apparently, the last.

I have spent the last four or five hours tearing down the laptop trying to [troubleshoot](https://www.autodidacts.io/troubleshooting/) what went wrong, and in the process, have thought of several ways that I could have been better prepared for such an eventuality.

In no particular order, here are some things that you may realize after a sudden loss of digital competence, and might want to realize *before* your laptop shuts down for the last time:

1. Backing up is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. *It’s only a matter of time.*
2. There is probably a gap between how often you think you should back up, and how often you back up. Try to split the difference.
3. Hard-drives are expensive, but lack of backup hard drives is *more* expensive.
4. A good back-up system doesn’t just include (multiple, offsite, verified) back-ups. It also includes a spare laptop. And it also includes the piece I was missing: a way to get the drive from your primary laptop into your secondary laptop.
5. Multi-factor authentication is a key failure point, so make a plan. Personally, I think mandatory 2FA does more harm than good: The number of times that I have been slowed down at critical times (such as when fending off a spam attack), or fully locked out of my accounts for stupid reasons, far outweighs the number of times my data has been hacked because I didn’t have 2FA enabled (\~0). MFA is good, but if the narrative is that it’s there for the *user’s* benefit, maybe check in with the user about their priorities?
6. Inspiring tangent: there are still people out there that are *incredibly hardcore* about repairing laptops. Following [ten-page troubleshooting threads](https://www.badcaps.net/forum/troubleshooting-hardware-devices-and-electronics-theory/troubleshooting-laptops-tablets-and-mobile-devices/93233-asus-rog-g14-ga401-battery-spark-dead?ref=autodidacts.io) on the badcaps forums, where a Fluke meter and thermal camera are table stakes, makes me feel like a Neanderthal with a soldering iron. This is a good thing.
7. Maybe don’t buy a laptop that’s famous for having the motherboard go bad, and has liquid metal thermal paste that *melts and runs out and short circuits the motherboard?*
8. If you insist on buying this laptop, maybe learn about these weaknesses before you get all clever and [dock your laptop on its side](https://www.autodidacts.io/loud-laptop-fans-fix-docking-laptop-beside-desk-reduces-noise/) so you can run performance profile all the time with custom fan curves.
9. If you’re wondering how to get around to daily-driving OpenBSD, catastrophic power failure on your Linux laptop is a solid option.

### Conclusion

**One:** take a moment to be grateful for the fact that your computer works and you still have access to all your data.

**Two:** Go back-up your computer, *right now.*