Google, we have a problem. About 150,000 Gmail account holders woke up to a nightmare this morning, with all their e-mail, attachments and Google Chat logs gone. What happened?
Google explains that �less than 0.08%� of all Gmail users were affected by the bug, which completely reset accounts, even down to the detail offering a welcome message to those users when they first logged on today. They, and especially visitors to the Gmail Help Forum, were not amused.
But there�s good news here. The way Google is explaining it on its Apps Status Dashboard: �Google engineers are working to restore full access. Affected users may be temporarily unable to sign in while we repair their accounts.�
In an earlier message, Google wrote, �For those Gmail users reporting missing messages, our engineers are working to restore them as soon as possible.� So maybe this is not so bad after all. As long as Google restores the messages, all we had was a big scare. Will Google restore all the messages? We�ve contacted a Google spokesperson, and will let you know when we hear back.
Meanwhile, I�m going to back up all of my Gmail forthwith. But wait a minute -� how do you back up Gmail? Here:
This is a free application for Mac, PC and Linux called Gmail Backup. I gave it a try and it�s easy to use. After a quick download, you just give it your credentials and it begins downloading all your e-mails, backing them up securely no matter what Google decides to do. After 30 minutes, it had downloaded 2.4% of my e-mails, so this is not going to take forever. It�s probably time well spent.
