A few days ago, a serious technical issue arose at the StudioBis Architecture Office when one of the high-end designer PCs failed to show any signs of life after being powered on. Since the team couldn't access the ongoing projects on the machine, an immediate solution was required to ensure the continuity of the design work.
Fortunately, an identical PC was available in the office, allowing me to systematically eliminate potential sources of the problem. I first tested the memory, then removed the 3D graphics card to rule out its failure. Next, I checked the high-performance power supply, but it ultimately became clear that the most likely cause of the issue was either the motherboard or the CPU, with the motherboard being the more probable culprit, as processors tend to have lower failure rates.
Since the PC was no longer under warranty, I recommended sourcing replacement parts from a local supplier that offers longer-than-standard warranty periods for corporate purchases, which is particularly advantageous for high-end products like this.
The malfunction also highlighted a critical oversight: there were no adequate backups of the essential data. To prevent such situations in the future, I suggested two remote backup solutions. The first is an "shared drive" available through Google Workspace, which provides up to 2 TB of storage and allows free Google Drive accounts to be linked without reducing their storage capacity. This service costs approximately 15 USD per month. The second, more cost-effective solution is setting up a remote Raspberry Pi server that synchronizes data via rsync and can be expanded with an 8 TB HDD. With globally outstanding network speeds, backups can be executed quickly.
Both solutions ensure regular online remote backups, providing protection against theft and fire damage, while also offering offline backups as additional security against even the most extreme online threats. This way, the company’s Archicad design files, which have been accumulated over decades and are of irreplaceable value to the office, are securely protected.
This experience underscores the importance of prevention in avoiding such situations, and that heightened attention to data security is never excessive.
