My Hard Drive is Broken.
A couple of weeks ago my computer started to operate glacially slowly (that’s slow in the sense of their advancement not their melting, which is now apparently quick). I tried switching it on and off. Lots of times. I tried shouting at it and even hitting it. Nothing worked. I had last backed up all my data in October. I just managed to transfer all my photos before it stopped working, but nothing else. I took it to a local centre which has just told me that the hard drive has gone and that any un-saved data was lost.
I makes you think about what you would miss. I’m glad I got the photos – Christmas; Christmas parties; trip to London and a holiday in Yorkshire. The lost emails and documents don’t really matter: if they are important someone else will have them. And, actually, there is a sense of freedom similar to clearing out an attic. But I do wish I had backed up the data more recently. I think about doing it regularly. But thinking isn’t enough.
Fortunately I had another quasi computer connected to the TV. So I’ve been working - and setting up this site – sitting in front of the TV using a key board (which keps missing out letters) from a bean bag which is very comfortable to sit in but from which it’s almost impossible to get out. The only advantage is that the effort of crawling out and up probably offsets the calories from the crisps I’ve been eating as I work.
And the morality lessons:
Be prepared: have access to another computer. And a bean bag you can exit.
Process and discipline.and delivery matter: do the back ups – don’t just think about them.
And don’t assume that IT solutions will solve all your problems.
Actually – they sound like the sort of things the modern compassionate conservatives would say.
A couple of weeks ago my computer started to operate glacially slowly (that’s slow in the sense of their advancement not their melting, which is now apparently quick). I tried switching it on and off. Lots of times. I tried shouting at it and even hitting it. Nothing worked. I had last backed up all my data in October. I just managed to transfer all my photos before it stopped working, but nothing else. I took it to a local centre which has just told me that the hard drive has gone and that any un-saved data was lost.
I makes you think about what you would miss. I’m glad I got the photos – Christmas; Christmas parties; trip to London and a holiday in Yorkshire. The lost emails and documents don’t really matter: if they are important someone else will have them. And, actually, there is a sense of freedom similar to clearing out an attic. But I do wish I had backed up the data more recently. I think about doing it regularly. But thinking isn’t enough.
Fortunately I had another quasi computer connected to the TV. So I’ve been working - and setting up this site – sitting in front of the TV using a key board (which keps missing out letters) from a bean bag which is very comfortable to sit in but from which it’s almost impossible to get out. The only advantage is that the effort of crawling out and up probably offsets the calories from the crisps I’ve been eating as I work.
And the morality lessons:
Be prepared: have access to another computer. And a bean bag you can exit.
Process and discipline.and delivery matter: do the back ups – don’t just think about them.
And don’t assume that IT solutions will solve all your problems.
Actually – they sound like the sort of things the modern compassionate conservatives would say.
No comments:
Post a Comment