Well, fudge (computer problems)

The BBQ Pit
1

I"m not sure what pisses me off more here–that this happened, that I have no backups of anything, or that it’s my own damn fault.

I’m not going to get into why it’s own damn fault, but let us just say that because of my own stupidity, my computer will not boot. Apparently some Very Important File got corrupted between a computer freeze up and me trying to get back to a working machine and the WoW raid I was holding up. So now I’m stuck with what is essentially a very big, very heavy, very expensive paperweight.

Now, I wanted up upgrade my machine anyways, but this is not how I wanted to go about it. Especially since I have a lot of stuff on my harddrive that is either irreplaceable or not immediately replaceable, as most of my software, CDs, and DVDs are in Nova Scotia, while I’m in Nebraska, making replacing anything rather difficult at the moment. This includes my install disc, which would probably be useful right about now to fix that Very Important File that I managed to fuck up. Granted, before I could do that I’d need the driver for my hard drive, because Windows Setup cannot find the damn thing for some (why do I always wind up with the complicated computer problems? Nothing that goes wrong is ever simple to fix, even if it should be). The disk for that is also up north. Not that it would be much help, because I’m running XP64, and it only has drivers for regular XP on it. So we’d have to download it and put it on a floppy…after, of course, hooking up my husband’s 3.5" drive. And probably tracking down a floppy, as I’m not sure that we have any.

So, while I could probably fix the problem and have everything be as good as before, it would take too much time and effort for me (Two WoW geeks, one machine, headaches all around–I’m not waiting). I’m ready to say screw it, eat my losses–not that any of it is truly important, but losing some of that stuff even temporarily is going to be annoying–buy some new components that I’ve been eying anyways, and kick myself in the ass for doing something that I knew in the back of my mind was probably stupid. Followed by another kick for not having any backups.

And dammit, I still need to do chores.

Anyone know where I can find a good deal on a new processor?

2

You could buy a new drive(hard drives are ridiculously cheap nowadays) and install Windows on it instead. That would probably be the easiest way to avoid losing all of your files.

3

Well, if the problem really is a corrupted Windows file (rather than hardware failure), then it’s very likely that all your important files are still sitting there unharmed.

If you have access to another computer and to the internet, download yourself a copy of a Linux “live” CD. Knoppix have a good one, and the excellent Ubuntu will also run from the CD.

Then, once you’ve burned the Linux CD, you can pop it into your CD drive and boot from it when you turn your computer on. Linux can read NTFS files no problem, so once it starts up you should be able to see all your files. The Linux CDs mentioned above also come with a bunch of software for web browsing, email, office apps, etc., so you can have a fully-functioning system without messing up your files.

Then, when you get access to all your discs and Windows software, you can transfer your important files to another hard drive before attempting a Windows recovery or reinstallation.

4

Ah, thanks for the links, I think I’ll try that. I bought another drive and a copy of XP (I am not waiting to try and get my discs here, if for no other reason than the aggravations it will cause for our WoW time) and am trying to get things installed on that drive–key word trying. We did get a floppy working for the old drive, with the help of my cousin and a good phone plan, so that aggravation is taken care of (SATA drives don’t need drivers my ass…)

At this point I’m willing to write off the files. If I can save them, that would be great, but nothing is truly important. I’m more just looking to get a working computer…and unfortunately Linux doesn’t serve my needs.

Now I just need to remind myself to buy something to do backups with. Just one of those things that I know I should do, and I know it will bite me in the ass some day, but instead I just keep hoping my luck wouldn’t run out. Oh wait…shit. Good thing I don’t gamble.

If nothing else, this gave me an excuse to finally add more storage space like I’ve wanted to do for the last year and a half.

5

I used to do backups with my CD burner, but since that’s an awkward process I’d only do it a few times a year.

When my burner stopped working this summer, I decided to upgrade to a decent machine. (And cablemodem…woohoo!) Since the burner was toast, I considered using a cabled direct transfer to get the files off the old machine.

But as I was talking to the cable guy, he laughed and said I should just get a flash drive. So I picked up this 2 gig drive for $20. Greatest purchase ever. (Mine’s not purple, though.)

After tossing together a quick script, I can now back up everything I care about in a matter of minutes, so I do it every Friday. Plus no worries about breaking the old disks I throw away for privacy concerns, since I don’t throw away anything.

I wrote a quickie application to handle my backups, being a programmer and all. But if you went this route, I’d be happy to post a batch file you could use. It’s so easy, I feel like a moron for not adopting this strategy years ago.

6

Unfortunately, a flash drive doesn’t serve my needs well because some of those files are a gig or two in size on their own, and I have a lot of media I’d like to back up just to avoid having to acquire it all again. I could probably get by with a small external drive, but I need something bigger than a couple gigs.

7

By the way, for those who want a good little backup tool, but who don’t know how to write batch files and such themselves, i highly recommend Microsoft’s great little tool, SyncToy.

It’s free, small, and works like a dream.

8

I’m starting to wish computers had throats so I could strangle mine.

I canNOT get Windows Setup to see my harddrive. As far as it’s concerned, there is no drive connected to the machine.

growls

I’m starting to think I’m related to Murphey. When it comes to computers, if something can go wrong, it will, and resist all attempts at fixing it until at least five techs and God have looked at it and scratched their heads puzzled.

Somehow the more I learn about computers, the harder it is to fix whatever problems crop up with mine.

9

Go figure. The harddrive wasn’t set up right :smack: At least that one wasn’t my fault.

Anyways, computer’s working now, which is the main thing. Nw it’s time to deal with…everything else!

10

He was talking about using a Linux Live CD to recover your files, not installing Linux as a desktop operating system. The Live CD lets you run Linux directly from a CD/DVD; you don’t even need a hard drive connected to the computer.

Of course, now that you have Windows installed again, there’s no need to go down that road. You can simply hook the other hard drive up, boot into Windows, and copy the files from your old drive to the new one in Windows Explorer (assuming that whatever’s wrong with your old drive isn’t a hardware problem).

Then you can simply reformat the old drive and use it as a data drive to store random junk.

11

A lot of folks almost give away older 40-80 gig 5400 RPM HD’s in their quest to stay on the tip of the arrow. Mount in the slave position. Get the little floppy or CD installation disk and once a week do a mirror copy of your big drive. Now you have up to date full back-up hard drive. Cost about $20-40 bucks and a couple of hours while you sleep Monday nights. Un-hook it between saves if you don’t have ‘mobile’ trays and not even lightning will get your info.

YMMV

12

Sorry, that was me responding to my own thoughts. I understood what he said, i was just thinking that I’ve wanted to try a Linux install for a while now, I just can’t use it as my main OS.

GunNSpot, you underestimate my media whoreishness;) My old drive was a 160, and over half full, and the new one is a 320 (Only because the only Raptor in stock was a 150–if they’d had something smaller I would have gone that route). Would that even work with a SATA drive? It’s my understanding they don’t have slaves.

I’m thinking I’ll probably go with an external, so I can save my most important data on it. I’ll also re-mount the old drive as a storage drive, to give me more room and also added protection in case the main drive goes down again.

13

Master/slave relationships are not relevant to SATA controllers since they do not share cables like IDE devices.