Per John Doe:
Always keep a backup copy (or two) of important data. That is
doubly true when things start going wrong or when doing major
operations.

After one experience, I expanded that to several copies - with at least
one in a place where I cannot get to it the same day.

Reason: I had a USB controller go south on me once and it was frying
whatever drive got connected to it. Connected the 1st drive,
"poof"... "OK, bad drive".... connected the 2nd drive "Poof".... can't
recall if it dawned on me then or I managed to fry a third drive...

Anyhow, now I have a half-dozen backup drives and a couple of the are
offsite where I cannot get to them in the heat of the moment.
--
Pete Cresswell