My laptop decided to freeze and quit working quite unexpectedly a couple evenings ago, while I was in the middle of a recipe. You see, my computer can most often be found in the kitchen, providing me loads of helpful information while I cook. For those of you who know how dearly I treasure this piece of equipment, you can imagine how disconcerting this was for me. All I could get out of her was a dull gray screen with an image of a file folder in the center and an ominous blinking question mark.
My spirits were brightened, however, when a friend at work told me that I could bring it in to work and that our IT helpdesk guys could take a look at it for no cost. So, this morning I hauled that beloved Mac into work in my hot pink laptop bag, and took it directly to IT. They ran test after test, and with each one my heart sank a little bit. I do not know a whole lot about computer repair, but their furrowed brows and mutterings of, "Uhh, this is not good," did not give me good vibes. In the end, my hard drive is dead. as a doornail. dead. *aaaauuuuuuuggggghhhh* Can you hear that sound? It is my heart breaking. Years and years of memories--all of my pictures, my Talbot papers, my resumes, my music, in one moment, gone. And yes, this is my bad. I figured that one day I would get around to backing all my files up. But that white shiny little laptop never gave me cause for alarm or worry. She was a trooper--worked like a charm and gave me four years of blissful ignorance. And now, OHHH, the grief!
The good thing in all this (if there is one to be found), is that the computer itself is fine--its just her heart and soul that is destroyed and depraved. Hmmm. There is an analogy in there somewhere. I simply need to trot over to Fry's and purchase a new hard drive for $60 and I'll be back in business. That is a much better prospect than having to purchase a new Mac (I bought this one in my extravagant single days and boy am I still thankful). You can bet that we will be purchasing an external hard drive to save all my data on.
3 comments:
Oh yes the blessed external hard drive. nothing, and I mean NOTHING, is saved to our actual computers. They all link directly to that little gray box. In case of fire, grab these three things: Cooper, Beagles, little gray box and run like mad.
Oh Jessica - my heart is breaking for you. I have this ongoing list in my little day planner that always has the words "Backup computer" on it and I have yet to do it, after about a month of thinking about it. I think you have inspired me to actually act on all of this. I am so sorry for the loss of your hard drive.
I read an article the other day about a survey asking people if there was a fire in your house and you could grab just one thing, what would it be. About 5 years ago, the answer was almost always pictures but today, the answer was OVERWHELMINGLY "My hard drive." Sign of the times...
Oh Jess! I'm so sorry--because i know the feeling of losing photos and recipes and emails to good friends, and things like that. I also now save to a portable external hard drive--and back-up to a completely separate external hard drive that stays put. And back up once a month!
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