This morning, while I was on a phone call with my boss and my peer manager, my machine locked up. Locked. Up.
Well, heck. Three-finger salute. Nothing.
Okay, when in doubt, power cycle.
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
No, that’s not time passing. That’s the grinding-ticking noise from my hard drive.
INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_RECORD.
Oh, my. That’s not good.
Reboot.
Reboot.
Reboot.
Needless to say, I didn’t contribute much more to the phonecon, as my machine struggled, and failed, to get through the reboot cycle. Instead, it would get that wonderful grinding-ticking noise that says, “Hey, bad cluster, let me try rereading it the obligatory seven times.”
Sucks. To. Be. Me.
“But Dave, of course you have backups, right? I mean, you are an IT professional with nearly twenty years in the field. Right? Right?”
Yup. Backups. Various data backed up a month or two ago.
So, no, my life is not destroyed. Just a month of it.
Well, that’s not altogether true. Much crucial data is backed up on my Palm. Much is backed up here on my web page. And all those pictures I was working on yesterday? Burned a CD backup yesterday. Woo-hoo.
Of course, if any of that stuff gets frelled, I am now operating without a net.
On the other hand …
Quotations database? Lost everything that changed in the last couple of weeks of heavy activity. Outlook Express (my personal e-mail)? Gone. Game stuff, probably since I restarted? Gone, whatever I didn’t post on the web page or in the blog. Graphics designed since then? Later, gator. Programs? Databases? Anything that is not network-stored? Hasta la vista … or not.
I think I will likely be cranky for the rest of the day.
The techs here are working on seeing what can be recovered from the hard drive, so there may be some joy. And I’ll probably end up getting XP installed on the replacement, as a pilot.
But a lot of work, there. My notebook, even more than my Pilot, is my workspace. My working world. I have to carry it with me, so I have to have everything on it.
And now …
*Sigh*
You have my sympathy.
I need to back up. (off to do so!)
OnTrack. Bring money.
ooooh. may your data all be salvageable.
Ouch! I’ll be there for you hunny!
Percussive Maintenance… Always try this with hard drives. Works 95% of the time, but you only get one last boot.
The other bonus is even if it doesn’t boot, you get to work out your frustrations. 🙂
The evil occurance was solved via “Winternals,” which I recall forwarding the spam, er, unsolicited ad for to our tech dept., so I guess I did a Good Thing. Or at least a convenient one.