I have been using a Dell XPS computer for about the past 6 years. Over time I have “upgraded” it so that I had two hard drives (C and D) plus added a MyBook external drive to backup my files. I increased the RAM memory to the maximum.
There is an adage about computers. It is not a question that at some point your computer will crash. It will. And it will when you least expect it and at the most inconvenient times.
My computer passed away from old age. I’m told that computer lifespan is about three years.
I began to notice signs that, in the beginning, my computer was having a stroke. When I would boot it up the monitor showed things were going normal but then the pixels in the monitor’s display sort of exploded scattering those little pixels all over the screen making reading anything on it impossible.
I began a series of reboots that may have reached into scores of reboots. Finally, monitor held and I could read what was on it. But then the screen would freeze, my mouse would freeze, etc. My computer was “unstable.”
I popped in my recovery disk to see if I could restore the operating system. I run Windows 7. Even the recovery disk would start, then freeze, over and over. Tried safe mode without joy. On and on it went.
I realized my computer was about die. I began to fret about recovering all my files from the two hard drives.
For me, losing a computer, would be like losing your wife. My computer was in intensive care. I couldn’t sleep. It is tragic.
Off to Best Buy in Las Vega I went shopping for a replacement. Sort of morbid in a way, because it hadn’t died just yet. The Best Buy store (the one on Rainbow) happened to have a Dell Studio XPS computer on display–the new version of my dying XPS on our dining room table at home.
I bit the bullet and bought it plus a new LCD 23″ monitor to replace the standard size I had been using.
I return home, set it up.
When it rains it pours.
Connecting to the internet became a problem. I am on HughesNet which is an ISP you see advertising on TV that you can have broadband from anywhere so long as you have a clear view of the southern sky. HughesNet uses a satellite in space to provide internet access.
I’ve used HughesNet since living in Pahrump these past six years. Was the only broadband available when I moved here. Inclement weather can affect the stability of the HughNet connection. It was raining last week; my connection to the internet went down making internet connection impossible.
I couldn’t connect for an entire day.
The next morning I tried re-booting my dying computer. Bingo! It booted and ran for about six hours without failing once. Why? All I can say is there is a God and He performs miracles in a mysterious way.
Racing against time I began burning my most critical files from the dying computer onto CD’s and taking them to my new XPS and storing the files there. I have a lot of files. Took me all those hours to get all my genealogical files safely onto the new XPS. But still a lot more to go, when my old XPS took it’s last breath and passed on to computer heaven to its heavenly reward.
So, now here I was. One dead computer with a ton of files on it I need to get to and retrieve–somehow.
But how? Off to Best Buy’s Geek Squad in Las Vegas with my lifeless old XPS. The object was to try and revive my old XPS, like Lazarus, so that I could get access to Drives C and D to recover files.
I must be living right. The Geek I got, his name is Enrique, another divine intervention, diagnosed the problems. The graphic’s card had burned out (thus the reason for the exploding pixels on the monitor screen, plus the computer was overheating because the motherboard was about to go out.
My conference with Enrique turned from reviving the old XPS to how to get the files from Drives C and D. He suggested I consider an “enclosure.”
“What is an enclosure?” I asked, explaining “Never heard of one and I’ve been fiddling around with computers since the 1980s.”
I now know why they are called Geeks. Us 76 year olds still speak an ancient language. This Geek called Enrique speaks a foreign language. Appearing to be a mere kid to this ancient one, he explained I could remove Drives C and D, containing all those precious files, e-mail addresses, photos, internet urls, etc., from the old XPS and insert them into this “enclosure” and recover all those files I so desperately coveted.
“Do you guys carry this enclosure?” I asked Enrique.
“Yes” he answered, explaining I go to one of the salesmen in the store to see one.
“What do I ask for–an enclosure?”
“I’ll go get one for you” Enrique offered.
He did. It is a small plastic box manufactured by Thermaltake called a BlacX. He removed C and D Drives from my dead XPS, inserted them into the enclosure explaining that all I had to do was plug the USB cable into my new XPS, plug in the power cord and voila there would be all my files on both drives.
Wow! Marveling at the genius of Enrique, back to Pahrump I came. Plugged the enclosure into the USB of my new XPS, turned on its power and there they were–all those files–clearly displayed on my new 23″ LCD monitor, ready for recovery. All thanks to Enrique. Life is good again!
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I Understand the whole Dilemma here..I have been into same situation some time back and after that one lesson which i learned is “take backup in regular interval”.
.-= Harsh agrawal´s last blog ..Dreamhost 50$ discount Code February 2010 =-.
I did have a backup of all my files and do so regularly. But if the generally accepted life span of a computer is three years guess my old computer which lasted six years was about all I could expect. Thanks for the comment Harsh.