Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The Hard Drive is Dead - Long Live the Data


Ok I win the too stupid to live award for the year.  On Saturday morning I fired up the MacBook, updated it's software then rebooted it to finish the install (no this doesn't win me the award).  Only it didn't reboot...it just hung with a white screen and made clicking noises.  The Iboffins tell me that its hard drive failure and that they can put in a new HD and reinstall the operating system...but no idea yet on whether the data can be resurrected.  


Yes you guessed it - there is no backup!!!!  Yes I qualify for the above mentioned award.

7 comments:

  1. Been there, done that, should I send you my award?

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    1. Thanks , but I have a closet full of them already!

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    2. Take the hard drive out and place it in a sealed plastic bag. Pop in the fridge for a couple of hours, remove and re-install in computer.

      The computer might run long enough for you to copy the data off.

      I have done this twice in my old job and rescued the careers of at least two senior academics.

      Then again it's a Mac, I never had much luck with Macs.

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    3. Jim

      I've spoken to the boffins and they've restored the data to the new disk!

      Peter

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    4. Well done the boffins!!

      I'm very pleased for you Peter.

      Jim

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  2. Today there was Scuttle Butt about a killer virus that was unleashed on the Internet, specific to Mac users. This virus messed up a bunch of MAC computers. Peter it might not be your fault after all ... Jeff

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    Replies
    1. Jeff
      Unfortunately it's a hardware issue not malware, I've spoken to the techs and the HD was on it's last legs. I caught and cured my desktop of the virus earlier this year.

      I won't take the fall for the problem, but I was really stoopid not have backed up!

      PD

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