Don't back up, backup: A cell phone story!

Back in November, as I was trying to add a new contact to my cell phone, I temporarily lost my contact list! What happened exactly on that day that angered the Gods of cellular phones is still unknown to me!

I don't know about you, but I have stopped memorizing people's phone numbers long time ago, so retrieving these phone numbers could have been a major pain in the neck!

After searching the Internet for an answer on how to retrieve my data, asking from friends, and staying on the phone forever to talk to a customer support from my service provider, I finally listened to the advice of a friend and restarted my cell phone, and thankfully, my contact list reappeared!

That incident made me realize how vulnerable I am in this area and that I needed to somehow backup my data and transfer them to somewhere safe. So I decided to go to the manufacturer's website and figure out a way to download my cell phone contact list to my laptop.

After spending what looked like an eternity searching by keywords, going from one page to the next, and browsing FAQ lists, I finally found a few related topics. To my disappointment though, the answers were very ambiguous, there was not a clear starting point, and no pictures were included to help me get to the right answer faster!
For example on one page it said: “Click on Backup or Restore button depending on what you wish to do”. I couldn't recall seeing a Backup or Restore button on my cell phone! So I started searching vigorously every feature that my cell phone had, to no avail!
Somewhere else it said: “Click the Transfer my Phonebook to Another Phone button”! And I was thinking: “Where exactly is this button located?” .
On another page it said: “Please do not connect your mobile phone to your PC until instructed to do so by the initialization wizard”!
And I quietly asked: “What? Initialization wizard? Oh!”. That was when I figured a software existed somewhere! But, did it give me the name of that software? NO! That would have made my life too easy!

So, I went back to the box that my cell phone came in to see if there was a CD included, and the answer was another NO! I started guessing the software's name and resumed my search on their website! And finally, I found it under “Software and Drivers” and noticed that it was for SALE for 60 USD! Of course! What was I thinking?

Obviously, the next “logical” step was finding free alternatives on the Internet and running the risk of downloading all sorts of spywares and viruses to my computer with that free software!
Or, taking the time and manually entering each and every contact (which I hope to do one of these days).

But, I did learn a lesson on that day; That, "Backup" is the keyword for my peace of mind, electronically speaking!