Hi all. I type with a heavy heart. My home computer bit the green weenie last week and I'm lost at home without it. It's a wonder what one did before one had computers. I have access while I am at school, but back at home, it's back to 1922 regarding home entertainment. I've got books, I've got blank paper, and I've got pens. that's about it. My stereo also is affected, as the computer was the CD player ever since my conventional CD player died 4 years ago. I should probably6 break down and get myself a laptop for my portable computing needs, but before I do, I really need to figure out how to get the files off my now suddenly uncommunicative home PC.
Thankfully, I had the vital stuff--syllabus, assignment sheets, manuscripts and drafts--on a separate drive, but my music (my music! Gasp!), my photos, and many other things are trapped. I'm trying to figure out where to turn.
More on this as things progress.
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9 comments:
oh dave! i'm so sorry. take it to iTap. They might be able to help you. Although, it might be a pain to transport it there. Maybe call them first. Good luck!
I'm sorry you're dealing with this. There are many data-recovery services that should be able to get something off of it.
Yes, definitely get a laptop. As I told you on voicemail, you can get great deals right now. Trust me, once you get a laptop you'll wonder what you did with out it. Meanwhile, as you've now experienced this kind of thing twice, all I can say is that backing up regularly is your friend. Back up, back up, back up!!
Oh, and just get a laptop now--don't wait to figure out what's wrong with the desktop since that could take eons. It sounds like the desktop is approaching dead anyway.
If you go through Itap to buy your laptop (their website or their oncampus store) you get a heckofa discount on computers. You also usually get great service coverage packages, too. Mine has a "Three-year, use it like a frisbee and we'll repair/replace it" deal that didn't cost me extra--or at least, not much extra.
I just have to tell you, "bit the green weenie" is the most wonderful thing I've ever heard.
Chances are, unless you heard scratching and screeching sounds when the computer died, that the hard drive is unharmed. There are two things you can do:
1) I've seen at Circuit City to put a conventional hard drive into, that make them a semi-portable USB device. They are a little pricey (fifty-ish dollars I think) but might be worth it to you.
2) Plug it into a desktop PC--this is pretty easy--somebody who knows what they are doing-- a) plug one of the feeds from the power supply into it, b) plug a hard drive I/O cable in it (both of these will be hanging out inside the case of a destop) c) flip the swtiches (I forget if they are on the drive or motherboard) to set it up as a "slave drive".
Point is, chances are probably at least 50/50 that you have a good drive and can semi-easily get stuff off it yourself.
Or you can take a page from the Indiana State Library spin manual and blame it on hackers from Turkey. That's what they did when their "new and improved" site bit the dust. Probably they are now spreading their Turkish hacking throughout the greater Indianapolis area. Be afraid....
Sorry to hear that. Like Brian says, you can buy a decent enclosure to turn your hard drive into an external USB drive, and the good news is that they are half the price online. Many are $25 on newegg. Just make sure you buy one that has good user ratings. You almost certainly have an IDE hard drive, so you need a 3.5" IDE enclosure to put it in. (Unless you were using a Mac from the past century, in which case you might need a 3.5" SCSI enclosure.) The enclosure should come with instructions, and they are easy to assemble. Basically you unscrew the hard drive from inside your desktop, put it in the new little plastic box, and connect 2 cables. Done. The bonus is that you can use your old HD for the backups once you get data off of it. For backups I have also become a huge fan of Mozy's online backup service. It is free, encrypted, and works automatically in the background.
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=92&name=External-Enclosures
https://mozy.com/registration/free
Travis
(Kristen's roommate)
You gonna update this thing anytime this decade? We're going into serious withdrawal over here.
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