Wow, talk about a "crash" course in computers (pun intended)!!!
My hard drive had a big moment a month ago. Since then I’ve learned a lot more than I ever wanted to know about such things. I’m the sort of computer user that just wants it all to run when I sit down. I can figure out how to work all kinds of software programs but could not possibly care any less about the jargon or issues about how my computer works. Just like my car, I don’t want or need to know exactly how and why it works, I just want to turn the key in the ignition and the car runs like it’s supposed to. Yesterday, the guy who FIXED my computer after a month of trying with others, showed me a problem with a motherboard (which he fixed). See these capacitors? They’re bad. Ok, if you show me a good one maybe I can tell the difference – but I still will only care that they are fixed.
I had my car worked on yesterday too and got a close up look at air filters, carburetors, etc. I’m fairly certain I can tell the difference between a carburetor and a motherboard on a good day but I still don’t care! Just don’t mix them up in my car and my computer.
Anyway, here are my tips for the things to DO and NOT to do if you have a Hard Drive crash.
- Tape record yourself saying these words: “I don’t want to know all the jargon about the computer or see all the parts. Please just fix it if you can. If you can’t fix it, tell me that so I can just move on. Please?” Be prepared to play your tape many times during the process of recovery.
- Do not ask a relative or close friend to do the work, no matter how much experience they have. Consider this as something like teaching your own immediate family member to drive a car. Somebody is going to wind up mad or with hurt feelings. The harder you try NOT to hurt feelings, the more you wind up with the hurt feelings yourself and the longer your pain will continue.
- Don’t expect anyone to understand your pain. This is your lifeblood, your baby, your way of life. It has gone away and you are distraught but those around you will think you have lost your mind. This is particularly true if you are an expressive, musician type person #from Venus# and they are mechanically, factually based people from Mars). They will try to help but they don’t really understand that several years of your life are up in smoke if the hard drive isn’t recovered. Tears of frustration and pain only make them feel worse, don’t get the problem fixed, and really won’t do much for you either.
Now what would I do differently now that I know the pain?
- Just unplug the computer and take it an outsider who really knows their stuff. I wound up taking this to the guy in Houston who worked on my PCs’ hen I lived there. He’s just a genius and a nice guy too. He fixed it in a day and half while working on other people’s computers as well. Houston is a five hour trip one way for me but it has been so worth it. This would have been far less stressful on my family and my friends if I had just done this right away. If you are near Houston, his company is called Electronics Outlet.
- I had a brand new external hard drive that was to be used for backup. It was supposedly set to do back-ups automatically. It apparently quit working. When the guy in Houston took it apart to see what was wrong with it, guess what he found? Yes, it also had a failed hard drive in it! I was not destined to win this. But here’s the learning moment - make SURE your backup is actually working by testing it about once a month. If you do intense data entry, you may want to test this more often - maybe once per week.
- About three months ago, I started getting an error message when I started up the computer. I did what was requested in the error message and was able to continue starting the computer just fine. However, the message continued to come up on every start up. I asked my family and friends about the message but everyone shrugged and said they didn’t know what it meant. Looking back, I should have recognized this as a warning sign and taken action. I should have called the guy in Houston and asked him. Coulda – Woulda – Shoulda. So if you are getting error messages or odd behaviors from your computer, ask someone knowledgeable FIRST. Do not continue to ask the shoulder shruggers.
- If there is another external hard drive in your house, even though it belongs to someone else, ask them if you can use it to back up your work when you KNOW your backup system isn’t working. Don’t wait for them to volunteer. Just ask people who are close at hand for what the specific things they CAN do to help you before the problem occurs.
It is my sincere hope these tips will help you to escape the problems I’ve experienced this past month. My parting tip is this. Maintain your sense of humor as much as possible and don’t take yourself too seriously.
