Computers are such a pain!!

[dan filipi]

This is the story of my life the last 2 days.

A couple days ago I let windows install some updates.
After that it wanted to restart so I click on "postpone".
Well I did that for a full day then the next morning after I checked the forums and email I went ahead and restarted.

Not suppose to be a mistake right?
Well here's where things went wrong :rant:

It restarted fine but I noticed it was taking a LONG time to boot.
I gotta hand it to MS, honestly I can go a couple months without restart running Windows 7, they are getting better at it!

So anyway, it never did get to Windows instead it went to a disk check, you know the one when you tell it to check disk and to do a full check and repair it has to be scheduled to do so on restart, well I never told it to do this check so I thought maybe this had something to do with the update so I let the check run.

It did the first step or 2 then when it got to file index checking it scrolled down the screen something about index error.
I let it run it's check and went to work.
Called my wife 3 hours later and it was still scrolling down the errors!

Since this machine has my company software on it I figure I better do some backups and reload everything so I stopped and picked up a new hard drive.
A 10k rpm velociraptor, yeah baby!

In the process of installing windows I always disconnect all the other drives.
I have 2 externals and 4 internals including the boot drive.
So I get windows installed and whatever software I have on disk set up now I have to connect the other drives to find my other (cough) software that I painstakingly scoured the net for.

I shut the puter down, connect the drives and damned if I don't get that same checkdisk on startup!
Then it hit me, the bad drive wasn't the boot disk, it's the 750 GB internal I've been using for backups!!

Oh btw. I do daily backups of the forums and database to another drive, that is safe.

Moral of my story is of course always do backups but also check other things.
The problem might not be what you think!

So now I'm short on some software I need and trying to get this drive to read.
As far as company software thats all up, it's mostly some DVD ripping and vid and picture editing software I use for the banner I'm missing.

I've had drives die before and putting them in the freezer had given me enough time to get stuff off it but this time no go.
It's spinning and windows see's it but it says the disk is not formatted.
Something screwed the partition table I think but 3 trial recovery programs so far don't even SEE the drive.

 

[detdrbuzzard]

what ever happened to the good old days when computers didn't have hard drives

 

[scdmarx]

I recently allowed the update install also, and for the past 2-3 days I've been getting that same blue screen "chkdsk". But I always "hit any key" and stop it from running. Like yours, it is not the bootable drive, but one that I store short videos and clips that I have made and use in video editing. Once Windows is running, I can access that drive and view video clips.
The last time I had that problem,(and Widows crashes about every 3-4 months) on this computer it was right after I had installed 3 more internal hard drives and the fix turned out to be an 850 watt power supply to replace the factory stock 350w power supply. Haven't seen the problem for about 3 years now. Now suddenly it's happening again, and you say you have the same problem after an update.

Hmmmm....cowinky-dink?

 

[AApple]

Is this part of the Winders 7 Update?

Youse guys is skeerin me...mine has been d-loading updates for over a year now, and it ain't finished yet! Dam dial-up! I will say that Winders 7 has been the best one, so far, for my use. Annnnnnd...Imma gonna stop right there before it makes a liar out of me..... :swoon:

 

[mcgovern61]

There is software called BART that will allow a virtual drive that can access fragments on dead drives. I had to do this 3 years ago witha 2 month old laptop when windows would not even boot. Was able to start the virtual drive, access the computers ports and controllers and into the dead drive to get my files out onto a USB stick.

My computer (the one I am typing on now) is 10 years old. I built it from scratch with top of the line hardware, Windows 2000 prof OS and only software that I wanted...no third party nonsense that comes with store bought computers.

MS stopped all support and updates for Win 2000 and other software (like Quicken and Turbotax) were no longer supporting Win 2000 forcing me to upgrade to Win XP Pro. Now, my hardware is getting out of date with the new software required for digital movies and such and I am going to have to decide whether I build another or just buy one.

Funny thing that Windows 7.......MS still has the same old issues with updates destroying the very computer they were designed to update!! (Never fails!) I only update when there is an entire service pack and update to the new service pack only. (I know....I know......supposed to get updates all the time...but HEY....my computer doesn't crash and its been running 10 years!)

 

[Omega Man]

That Raptor puts out a ton of heat, at least they did when they were first released but they are great for gaming. My next PC build will have those new solid state drives...talk about fast!

~O~

 

[dan filipi]

I considered a solid state but the price is still about 3 times the raptor.
When they come down I'll be all over it.

 

[macka]

if you want a freebie for recovery use Norton Ghost on Hirens boot cd

 

[riff raff]

Didn't understand a thing you said. Reboot? why? yer old ones leakin? Not surprised after all the rain from Irene. I think lots of folks are rebootin.

 

[dan filipi]

Incredible, another hard drive died!

This is the one with all the forum backups.
I was able to copy everything important from it this time by chilling it.

Interestingly both of them are Seagate drives, 300 Gig and 750 Gig.
Time to start burning stuff to disk as another backup.

 

[jdegase]

good job chilling it!
very old trick... usually means the drive overheated though...
how old were they? still in warranty?
I use seagates and WD's mostly but have a couple samsungs in my personal computer

P.S.
I hate working on my own stuff.. LOL....

 

[dan filipi]

Thanks for reminding me about warranty, didn't occur to me. I've gotten replacements that way a few times before.
The 750 came with the Dell less than 3 years ago so it might be covered, not sure about the 300 but I'll check the serial number at the Seagate site.

 

[mwbill37841]

THANKS DON i'm back on agian,any idea why it made me stay out

 

[dan filipi]

THANKS DON i'm back on agian,any idea why it made me stay out

I'm Dan not Don.

Most likely you had the wrong password.

 

[mwbill37841]

sorry dan my fingers arn't woking today.
or my eyes.

 

[bronzestarvue]

Yeah, I'm an Atari guy in a Playstation world...I got another cell phone, and refused to get one of those "smart phones" with Android that does everything but wipe your butt after you take a crap. So I have another flip phone, no GPS, no music, no internet...that's what I have my Garmin, iPod, and laptop for...I don't ever want to feel that connected, like I have to be notified whenever I get an email, or someone posts something on my Facebook page, etc. Either I'm way down the list on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, that I'm still working my up to the social needs level, or I'm past it...either way, I'm quite happy being "technologically challenged"...

 

[dan filipi]

I love my Android.
Having a business I need to keep on top of customer communications quickly which puts me at least at the level of my competition, most times well beyond.
So many of my customers now would rather text or email, I'm certain I would have lost many jobs so far and not upheld as good a relation as I have without this technology.

And besides, while I'm between jobs or having lunch I can keep up on the forum posts.

I never thought I'd like it or use it as much as I do.

 

[bronzestarvue]

So for those who are slaves to their GPS functions on their phones, simple question...what are the five basic colors of a contour map? If your GPS failed, would be able to land navigate using a standard 5-color contour map, and would you know what the colors are and what they represent? It's a known fact that the US military is overly reliant on technology, and my personal goal is for me in my life to not be over-reliant on technology. I don't own a gaming system, or home theater setup with my small flat panel tv, or some car with advanced gee-whiz electronics ('89 Montero and '91 Saab turbo). I know I'm the exception to the norm, but I refuse to be one of those people that stand in line for hours for the lastest gadget, like an iPad, iPhone 4s, and whatever else is out there now or soon to be released. For me, it boils down to this: driving a car is a privilege, not a spectator sport, so put down your smart phone, stop texting or checking emails, put both hands on the wheels, and DRIVE!

 

[toytender01]

Well after last night I won't be using my GPS any more! :Egyptian: :shock: Left the car unlocked and found the car had been ramsacked. :Awe: :beg: :crying: :head bang: :cheeky: :cheeky:

 

[bronzestarvue]

Well after last night I won't be using my GPS any more! :Egyptian: :shock: Left the car unlocked and found the car had been ramsacked. :Awe: :beg: :crying: :head bang: :cheeky: :cheeky:

Ouch...hope you have comprehensive with a decent deductible? I understand that most people take their phones with them, and not leave them in their cars, so if your phone had a GPS function, you'd still be good to go. But I'm still sticking with my Garmin, iPod, and laptop for those kinds of things, and don't want them on a phone. For me, all I need a phone to do is calls and texts, that's it. And I kept Windows XP for as long as I could, finally "upgraded" to Windows 7 (no way was I going to get a new laptop with Vista). So hopefully my phone and laptop will be good for another 5 years...