IT Tips & Tricks
Groot, Broccoli and Planning a Data Migration
12 December 2022
One of the guys in the office, Matt, was complaining that while he’s always actively encouraged the development of imagination in his kids, last night it came back to bite him. His five-year-old son, Theo, has mercifully never been a picky eater, but for the first time ever, he’d point-blank refused to eat his broccoli. He removed all of it from his plate and tenderly set it aside on a paper napkin. When asked to please just eat his broccoli, little Theo defiantly shook his head and, eyes brimming with tears, informed his father that he can’t eat Baby Groot.
Matt’s initial reaction was to reason with his son, but then he realized Theo was simply displaying exactly what his father had encouraged all along: imagination. He could hardly reprimand the kid for that. Right now, however, Matt is in his office, defeatedly googling to see if there’s a villainous tree in something Theo may have watched. “Because you can eat a villain, right?” he reasoned. We all just nodded empathetically. It turns out that imagination can be both a blessing and a curse. In the case of a data migration, however, the primary curse is a failure of imagination. But what do we mean by that?
Imagination can be both a blessing and a curse. In the case of a data migration, however, the primary curse is a failure of imagination.
The Price of Imaginative Failure
When it comes to data migration, a healthy imagination helps in the planning stages and in visualizing the best route to take. Lack of imagination, however, can spell disaster. This is not the “broccoli is a little tree, Baby Groot is a little tree, therefore I can’t eat broccoli” kind of imagination. We’re talking about the ability to accurately envision the obstacles that lie ahead, and the ability to conceive of and predict negative outcomes. And it requires a lively imagination. In this article by Ed Clark, COO of LinkTek, he writes: “Most of your failed data migration projects (heck, most failed IT projects of any kind) fail due to lack of imagination in the planning stage.” He’s talking about a lack of imagination of bad things, specifically — the failure to imagine various unwanted outcomes, allowing for either their conscious avoidance or the creation of a pre-emptive remedial plan.
If your migration is still in the planning stage, now is the time to make sure that there are no errors in that plan that could produce any kind of unwanted outcomes that may potentially derail your migration.
Data Loss Concerns
Theo and his buddy, Groot. With that kind of imagination, we reckon Theo has a bright future in IT.
If you’re concerned about data loss due to broken links, for example, you’re definitely on the right track. Ignore or override anyone who flippantly says it’s not that big of a deal or who has a “we can fix it later” mentality. Yeah, thanks for the hundreds (possibly thousands) of man-hours worth of work you’ve just created. We won’t even mention the downtime, the furious bosses, or the complaining end-users that inundate the IT department wanting to know why they can’t access their data and keep getting error messages.
When it comes to protecting the links in your files, you want the right tool, purpose-built to cope with your specific needs. You want LinkFixer Advanced™, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, no matter what, because they simply don't know. If they did, well, you’d be having a different conversation.
LinkFixer Advanced, a first-of-its-kind software, is the fruit of thousands of hours of software engineering and protects your links in various ways. It can be utilized either before or after your data migration. Used before your migration, it preps your links for the move. Then, after you’ve used the migration tool of your choice to move your data, LinkFixer Advanced ensures that all your prepped links are intact, with no associated data loss. This is the fastest solution to avoid link-related data loss, plus you can happily kiss those complaining end-users goodbye. Well, at least figuratively.
If you’ve already completed your migration and broken links and missing data are currently testing your patience, LinkFixer Advanced can be used to find and fix those broken links, instantly restoring your missing data. Consider it your disaster-recovery go-to. And it fixes links fast — hundreds of times faster than a human.
To find out more, visit LinkTek.com or call 727-442-1822 to speak with a Service Consultant about a free trial version (no credit card required) or a live demo. While you’ve got them on the phone, ask about the third way LinkFixer Advanced can be used.
On the subject of data loss due to broken links, ignore or override anyone who flippantly says it’s not that big of a deal or who has a “we can fix it later” mentality.
LinkFixer Advanced has been safely ushering data through migrations for a quarter of a century. Matt, on the other hand, has run out of time and can’t find a villainous tree for little Theo to eat. If you know of one, please feel free to share! Good luck with your migration!
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