I HATE computers!

[AllanD]

To make a rediculously long and torturous story short,
my computer died last sunday.

So if anyone has missed me...

My computer was running with two 10gig drives for operation
(a main drive and a "mirror" backup drive)
My main drive is DEAD and all data on the backup was lost.

Yeah, 10gig is kinda primitive.

I now have 2-13gig drives, one of the 10gig drives I started with
and a 40gig yet to be installed.

But I hesitate to install the 40gig until I have a "spare"

The failure also took out the CPU...

What I hate even more than computers is the switching power
supplies, which is what started the cascade of failures.

And honorable mention should be given to someone else (who will remain namless) who decided to "upgrade" things before I could do a backup
of recent "critical" data.

Thank God for "hand-me-down" computer parts from
a friend who must have the fastest and latest.

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[Boggin]

yup, we all missed ya

 

[AllanD]

Yeah, the two guys waiting for critical parts probably missed me more than the rest

First it was no truck then it was no computer.
I wonder what won't work next?

Bad shit happens in threes...

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[snake]

Get some viagra just in case...

 

[MAKG]

FWIW, I'd suggest your backup drive be COMPLETELY redundant. As in, external, with its own power supply (not one of those USB doodads, unless you disconnect it between uses).

You can get flash drives bigger than 13 GB now. The HUGE advantage to those is that they have no moving parts and are far less fragile. You can even write protect after each backup. Or even completely remove it from the computer so it's totally protected from fairly common PS deaths.

You have to take some of these precautions when using old computers. PS's aren't supposed to last more than 3 years (though they often do).

A standard technique for backups is to keep two indpendent media, and alternate them. Otherwise, you're F'd if you have a failure during a backup (which touches every file on the system and is MUCH more likely to trip a fault than normal operation).

 

[Mark_88]

Wondered where you got to...the song game has been lacking some input...

I agree with MAKG...

I usually (don't right now) create a completely separate HDD fully ready to drop into the computer in case the HDD drive fails...the only problem with that is that the HDD would be 'dependent' on the system specs and if my system dies and needs to be replaced HDD won't work without giving tons of hardware errors...

Best to simply backup data only in that case...I use a 1 gig USB key for personal data...don't have tons of music or videos...

 

[kunar]

Yeah, the two guys waiting for critical parts probably missed me more than the rest

me??? aww, thats alright. it was out of your control...


yeah, i guess im just askin for problems. i never backup anything. i only have a few gigs of music and i have it all on cd so no worries there, i dont have anything else of any importance. maybe bookmarks in firefox, but thats about it.

 

[AllanD]

"critical data" easily fits on a pair of CD-R discs

so there really wasn't all that much "lost" beyond the time to re-install it all.

What I want next is a DVD/CD burner so I can use DVD-R discs as backup

Hell, I'd love a car stereo that could use DVD-R's loaded with mp3's,
but until sony offers one I'm not buying.

I thought highly of the Sony MEX-1HD deck that had it's own internal 10gig drive
(flash? I don't know, don't care) but that deck will take Mmp3 loaded CD-Rs and store them in the deck as ATRAC3 files and once I found that out I lost interest.
(even before looking at the ~$500 price tag)

But as things go I expect some sort of "Crash" every 4-6months.


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[MAKG]

You can get a $20 MP3 player with a few gigs and a stereo patch cable ($3) to plug into just about any modern car stereo through the front AUX jack. Just don't go with those FM transmitter POS's; they screw up the sound BADLY.

Frankly, writing to an SD chip is a LOT faster than writing to a DVD-XX of the same size.

IMO, it's only a matter of time before SD slots start appearing in car stereos.

Reinstalling Microsoft products PISSES me off; it takes FAR too long. And an entire Linux distribution can be made -- and backed up -- on a 16 GB flash drive (that's what those ASUS EeePC's do).

A 4-6 month crash interval is VERY bad. I haven't had a system crash at home since the mid-90s. The upgrade cycle is about 4 years, and I *never* buy the latest stuff (for instance, at the last cycle in 2004, I finally bought an AGP graphics card). It's worth the $120/year or so to me to keep that crash cycle at zero.

 

[BlackBII]

Frankly, writing to an SD chip is a LOT faster than writing to a DVD-XX of the same size.

IMO, it's only a matter of time before SD slots start appearing in car stereos.

Reinstalling Microsoft products PISSES me off; it takes FAR too long. And an entire Linux distribution can be made -- and backed up -- on a 16 GB flash drive (that's what those ASUS EeePC's do).

They alrerady are... I saw one, Panasonic I think, with a Micro SD slot the other day, and I saw a no name brand one a few months ago with it also...


Yeah, microsoft products SUCK to install/backup, in my line of work, I'll sometimes be on the phone forever waiting for .Net framework to finish installing...25 min in one case, way too long. My companies product takes maybe 5 to 7, on an older machine.

 

[OilPatch197]

Wondered where you got to...the song game has been lacking some input...

I agree with MAKG...

I usually (don't right now) create a completely separate HDD fully ready to drop into the computer in case the HDD drive fails...the only problem with that is that the HDD would be 'dependent' on the system specs and if my system dies and needs to be replaced HDD won't work without giving tons of hardware errors...

Best to simply backup data only in that case...I use a 1 gig USB key for personal data...don't have tons of music or videos...

I don't see how non volatile memory in a USB stick can fail? I've seen the hacks to turn your USB stick into a "hard disk" and bootable from bios, and just install the OS to the stick.

 

[MAKG]

I don't see how non volatile memory in a USB stick can fail? I've seen the hacks to turn your USB stick into a "hard disk" and bootable from bios, and just install the OS to the stick.

HDD = hard disk drive. It's not a stick.

But a "stick" in use can be erased by the OS as the power supply makes it do random things when it browns out or spikes.

For the moment, HDDs are bigger than sticks, by about an order of magnitude. That will change with time; it's obvious that flash drives are better technology.