Wednesday, July 1, 2020

Technical Difficulties




Ye Olde Hard Drive has chosen today to commit irretrievably seppuku. Expect light posting while we catch up on our reading, shop for a replacement, and learn (at gunpoint ) a new gorram operating system and browser. Like we needed this nonsense in our life (or bank account) just now. We apologize for the lack of free ice cream.

Oh, and lest we forget: $#!^!!


19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Upgrade to Linux if you don't already us it. Infinitely more reliable, easier than Windows, no spyware bullsh*t. Install on a SSD, and you won't have to think about that again for 10 years. There are may flavors, but my favorite, and IMHO the best, is Linux Mint.

Oh, and it's free, and all the software is free. Not adware, but actually free and completely open source. Don't let anyone tell you Linux is only for computer geeks. My 80 year old mother-in-law uses it every day, and she is the least computer savvy person I have ever met.

Been using it now since 2014, and will never, EVER go back to Windows. It works on older hardware too (this is a 10 year old Panasonic Toughbook).

Bill Quick said...

Why a new browser/OS? Don't like the one you were using?

FredLewers said...

Ain't technology grand?

RandyGC said...

BTDT, feel your pain.

Greg said...

I recently had a computer go fritzy on startup, and eventually started giving me "no IDE drive found" in the boot sequence (no hard drive to boot from). I thought for sure it was a dead drive. My brother suggested I simply unplug its power and data cables, clean the contacts and try again. It's been working fine ever since.
Hard drives do die irretrievably, but my fix here was so simple and quick that it's worth trying.

red forman said...

Sorry for your difficulties. Happened to me a year or so ago. IMO, a Linux distro is the way to go. The OS is way more user friendly than in years past. FWIW.

ASM826 said...

Two is one, one is none. Go and back up. Twice. Store one off site. Do not wait. Your hard drive is going to fail. Murphy lurks. Decide how many days of work you are willing to recreate. That's your new back up schedule.

It is not the computer or the operating system. It's files, the documents, the address book, and email.

As soon as that's finished, back up the phone. It's going to get dropped, lost, or stolen. Really, you can still get some sort of phone, even with the supply system swirling the drain. How many of your contact phone numbers do you have memorized? Back that sh*t up.

Robin Datta said...

Consider backups for all essential items. Encrypted thumb drive for password manager, accounts, etc. A RAID - redundant array of multiple disks with some configuration/setup know-how makes the system immune to the crasn of any single disk. Or an extra hard drive with automatic periodic backup software (freeware to very fancy) or even a self-written batch file could do the trick. And there is cloud storage if one is willing to shell out the rent. And there is software (freeware to fancy) that can monitor a disk and warn of impending failure. Many modern disks come with such software built-in.

Mumbe said...

miss you buddy. "Need your magic, need the old blade runner. This is a bad one....the worst yet."
Best of luck on the 'learning curve' of a new system.

Night driver said...

Anny info on Ol' Remus at Woodpile Report recently??

Last known entry was June 9th.

Several folks over at TB2K have asked and nobody THERE has any answers.


Night Driver

John said...

That's where having The Boy and Pugsley as tech support is really nice. Twice in the last two years they've brought a dead hard drive enough to life so they could download the data. Good times (relatively speaking).
-JW

Old NFO said...

Sorry to hear that. I went through that earlier in the year. Hopefully you had stuff backed up to a remote location/drive.

X91C said...

Hey, Aesop,how about a discussion of pos kung flu vice deaths. You've been touting the CDC party line. How about you compare the deaths(covid19; not with preexisting morbidity) with any other coronovirus, avid virus and swine viral?

As a health care professional, who seems to review thje most critical publications, I ask you, are your references reliable, or bias driven.

Bill

Vitaeus said...

https://ethicsalarms.com/2020/07/04/independence-day-with-ethics-alarms-1-ethics-quote-of-the-month-president-donald-trump/

LSP said...

I had that issue the other week -- full black screen. Did I "take a knee"? No. Bought a 500gb SSD and replaced the Marxist mutineer. Wasn't hard to fresh install the iniquitous "Windows."

Regardless, happy 4th.

Avalanche said...

Hey y'all! Thought y'all'd like to hear of a a truly idiotic governor (Aesop, I know you've got one too!)

I used to live the Tri-Cities in Washington. One the three was Pasco: a VERY small "city": ~74k residents.) A friend reports:
====================
Somehow, even with a smirking pro-Dem media, their popularity and credibility have collapsed. After months in hiding, the governor went to tiny Pasco to give a speech, outside of a local hospital. (He is from Pasco.) The only way we could see there was no audience (and that the hospital parking lot was empty) was when the camera turned around to view the protesters. Everyone who showed up was an anti-mask protester. The gov had a temper tantrum, stormed inside, and then ordered everyone in the state to wear masks, even when alone, starting tomorrow.

Except me. I am hard of hearing and the order says if you are hard of hearing you do not have to wear a mask so you can read lips. (Really.) It also says you do not need to wear a mask if you are asleep or unconscious. So many good choices, I also live outside Seattle, in a county where the Sheriff says he refuses to enforce the governor's insane decrees.

Paul said...

Seems to be going around of late. Seems we need to learn something every day so you have that covered for a while.

Aesop said...

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy all y'all, and there's a new machine over in the corner, but the hassle of resurrecting the data (75% or so was backed up, but dredging up the other 25% is going to be a flaming pain), and having to play with new interfaces rather than what I had down cold for 10+ years just isn't filling me with enthusiasm just yet.
FWIW, hospital has been full for three weeks straight, ER opens for about 5 minutes, then closes for hours except for walk-ins, and my last COVID case left his convo hospital awake and alert with a cough x a day or two, and he died en route.

A co-worker who took a Denver ICU assignment had about 40 COVID cases personally. Mortality for them was 100% (probably due to the oxygenation at 5000' altitude).
If you still think this $#^! ain't real, suture self. 20 states beg to differ. If you don't know of any cases where you are, be happy. Urban and suburban America will be munching on this $#!^burger probably all of 2020, and possibly through next Easter. Anything less and sooner will have me properly ecstatic. I'm tired of zipping people into body bags because of China and our homegrown Gilligan population.

I'm hoping to get this pig back up on ice skates this week.
This is coming from a long-forgotten tablet from years past.
Wear a mask, wash yer paws, and take care of yourselves.

Mike Doyle said...

I'm trying. Even washing my hands like I just got off a crime scene has me worried that it's not going to be enough.