It's all fun and games until someone loses a hard drive

It started out so innocently. A frozen screen. Then, the dreaded blue screen describing things involving dumps and crashes. Then an automatic restart...which failed to start...then a defiant blank screen of inertness.

After holding for eons and then finding out I had to be transferred to ANOTHER department reserved for fools buying my line of craptuter....and then holding more....then talking to "Neil" not of this continent for 2 hours (no joke. Marathon troubleshooting.)...then discovering hard drive busted and  that we were unable to recover my data through these basic methods but FOR SURE the Geek Squad at my local Best Buy could NO PROBLEM said Neil.

I'm under warranty which means they will replace their craptastic hard drive in the comforts of my home in 24-48 hours, but I need to extract the files off my computer on my own since it's not their fault OF COURSE since hard drives need only last the lifespan of a field mouse. (note: my motherboard had to be replaced a few months ago in the comforts of my home super.)

Went to The Squad and talked to An Agent who intimated that I might be "SOL." (Since when is saying 'SOL' acceptable in the client/service agent contract???) Agent was not of legal drinking age. Agent reported that data was unrecoverable unless we took drastic measures and sending out to secret computer Geek Lab where they extract data particle by particle. Charges for such detailed work could be over a thousand G's baby.  Agent said 'Sorry' with as much compassion he could muster, noting his aunt had gone through something similar recently. Agent compared me to his aunt. Agent also said that a customer who just sent his hard drive in for detailed work had a 500 page Word document that he had been working on for 6 years. 6 years of work on one document and no back-ups? Can only imagine this is CRAZY LUNATIC MANIFESTO.

Traveled to another computer outfit across town that I heard was BETTER and CHEAPER than Geek Squad Formation. BETTER and CHEAPER place had a KNOWLEDGE BAR where one could cozy up on a bar stool and wait for COMPUTER EXPERTS to assist. Put name on wait list. Estimated time of wait: One hour, 40 minutes. Browsed MacBooks out of spite. Finally, expert called name and checked out my hard drive. Surprise: Data not recoverable and needs jaws of life and up to $1600 to extract.

Getting. Peeved.

Thought about recent computer activity since last major back-up (scared into back-up submission by threat of computer failure but only needed new motherboard, see above). Stories I had written. A submitted manuscript and all related revisions, related references. And photos. So many photos. Chunks of family history, including recent mega-photo-expenditure at beach with extended family including 97 AND 94 YEAR OLD GREAT GRANDPARENTS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

Not good.

Back to Geek Squad. Sending in hard drive. An estimate, at least.

Vowing to back-up ONCE A WEEK FOREVER MARK MY WORDS. be ye not so stupid.

Comments

[AJU5's Mom]

Oh, we had hard driver failure in the past year. Luckily, dh was able to recover the few things that hadn't been backed up yet. Now we back up nightly! We have a few external hard drives that hold back-ups for a few days. We have my work files, church files, and all of our pictures on our computers. So, backing up is important! We also upload many of the pictures to our web server just in case. I hope the Geek Squad can recover it for you for a reasonable price!

[flutter]

I think I am going to buy a Mac.

[Gwen]

We just starting using Carbonite and its great...once you set it up, it backs up everything on a predetermined schedule. Then you don't have to remember it and worry that you forgot! Everything is secure and off-site. I'm thinking about implementing at work.

Also - we have a rule in our house that we have to maintain close friendships with at least one plumber, one computer geek, and one auto mechanic...It just makes life sooo much easier!

Good luck!

[Manic Mommy]

For my last blue screen of death, I tried The Squad. They took it behind the secret portal (back room) and came back telling me several hundred dollars just to crack it open. My computer geek BIL had it up and running (albeit slower) in a matter of hours.

[kristen]

oh, i'm sorry. we've had similiar issues in the past...it's why i now use an off-site/online backup system that i love. when we bought a new computer because the old hard drive died, i was able to get all of my photos back, because duh, i never put them on CD. if you want the name, email me, they're inexpensive and easy to use. hope your data is retrievable. xo

[alejna]

Oof. I hope you get your data back.

Thanks for the reminder to back-up. I plugged in my back-up drive as soon as I read your post title.

[elayne]

Anyone have suggestions for how to back up for someone who is shockingly stupid and lackadaisical about this sort of thing, considering that my computer is my sole source of income?

[Troy Lyndon]

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[Kyla]

If you FREEZE a hard drive (in the freezer), then try and boot it up, sometimes you can get it to load long enough to save some things.

My hubs is a IT guy, so I get free tech support. He also has my machine set up to auto-backup to an external drive every week.

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when we bought a new computer because the old hard drive died, i was able to get all of my photos back, because duh, i never put them on CD.

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My computer geek BIL had it up and running (albeit slower) in a matter of hours.

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Put name on wait list. Estimated time of wait: One hour, 40 minutes. Browsed MacBooks out of spite.