So I start up my computer this morning, meaning to burn some files to disks. When my dog, who just got a bath and is racing around, rolling over on things, accidentally knocks the plug out.
Well, no big deal-just restart it, right?
Wrong. Instead, it just goes through a cycle of “restart windows”, an option of opening in safe mode, etc. To make a long story short, I was screwed.
I ended up having to reformat the entire harddrive. Three years of artwork and files-gone. I think I’m going to throw up now.
Too late now, but you almost certainly could have saved those files. I dunno why you concluded that reformatting was the only viable option; the last time the same thing happened to me, all I needed to do was reinstall Windows. Lost a few settings, but all my personal files were safe.
There was no way to get in to re-install windows-it simply would not let me.
Even if that were the case-it’s probably better, considering all the crap I had on there. It’s mostly my artwork that pissed me off-but a lot of it I had uploaded to my photobucket account.
That’s another solution; there’s a bazillion-and-one others. Linux Live CDs, boot diskettes, drive swapping, file-recovery utilities (many freeware) and any number of other things can help you get important data off a “hosed” drive. Even in the worst case, there are data recovery specialists who can rescue stuff–although they tend to be somewhat expensive.
Depending on how the format was done, some of the files MAY be recoverable even now. But, everything you write to the drive reduces your chances of success.
Windows installation CDs are bootable. You go into your CMOS settings and set up the boot order to make the CD drive boot before the HDD, then stick the CD in the drive and boot up. Your system may ask you to press a key to boot from the CD or somesuch.
My preferred solution in this case is to stick a second hard drive in the case and install Windows on that. The original hard drive is left untouched until I have a working computer again, at which point I mount it as an additional drive and recover files from it. Barring physical damage to the drive, personal files are pretty much always recoverable.
Not that it helps you this time, but keep it in mind for next time.
Why must you get God involved? You can’t find a sixteen pound sledge hammer to damn shit with yourself? I’ve damned many a thing in my day and with the power of well, at least an angry 350 pound asshole to say the least. Don’t sell yourself short! Go Guiny get busy! Get your groove on! It’s your birthday! Damn that fucker till the chrome flakes off!
Not to “top that” but I can. My son is up for the summer and this coming semester (he plays a lot of online games and such). This is mostly my fault for not re-upping my Norton subscription, but here is a (as quick and short as I can make it) list of the death of my beloved computer.
Contracts some virus.
2.) Buy upgrade to XP and new virus protection
3.) Virus is already entrenched enough so that this starts the poor puter into a slow fade
4.) A good friend helps out by reformatting the hard drive, works great in his shop, but I get it home and it’s a no go
5.) I buy a new master hard drive and install it, accidentally knocking a transistor off of my video card in the process
6.) I buy a new video card, open and get ready to install
7.) the computer is a custom build from 7 years ago and while it’s the correct type AGP, it’s an older version, 2x instead of 4x or 8x
8.) I’ve already opened the box, so can only return it for store credit.
9.) Okay, fine, I’ll rebuild the 'puter, so I buy a new motherboard
10.) take home, install, it won’t work
11.) Take it back, they test it out, sure enough it’s a defective one
12.) they replace it and FINALLY, a working 'puter
13.) But wait, that’s not all, my XP is an upgrade, and I no longer have the full version of Win2000 Pro
14.) a buddy has ME that he gives me
15.) YAAAY finally a working 'puter
16.) well almost, I have to drag out the disc for the new motherboard and install all of the drivers (which apparently CompUsa didn’t do).
17.) YAAAAY a puter?
18.) Well, mostly, except WHERE is my second hard drive? The one with all of my photos, music, etc? It shows up during the boot sequence, but it’s nowhere to be found from the Windows Explorer “My Computer” window. Sigh…Right now, I’m about sick to death of working on this, so when I am ready, I’ll do a search, or put in a call to MS to see if it’s something that sounds familiar to them.
It died on the 28th and last night I was finally able to use it for the first time since the whole thing started. But I’m glad that another thread warned against MS Office 2007, I’ll avoid that one!
Well gee Giraffe , doesn’t really sound like much fun to me. Oh, well. po tatoe, pota toe I guess. I’ll continue to work on my punctuation and grammatical skills, as always. Don’t want to be an eyesore or anything of that nature. Come on man, laugh with me! I’m not a total dick! (except in designated zip codes; you know the drill, I could tell you, but then well, you know the rest…) Fuck! I just had my day made so allow me the pleasure!
With all due sympathies to Guin, I had a fun little game guessing what this thread was about by just looking at the title. Traffic idiots? Work difficulties? Idiot relatives?
Come on man, laugh with me! I’m not a total dick! (except in designated zip codes; you know the drill, I could tell you, but then well, you know the rest…) Fuck! I just had my day made so allow me the pleasure!