(Click on the thumbnail for the bigger, better version)
I am not a big conspiracy fan; I’m not really too keen on the notion of dark spells being cast; and, I am not superstitious. Still.
Last week I was going along reviewing the hundreds of photos I took at Silent Knight Farms, when I took a break to read some blogs. I was a being a lurker and not taking time to leave comments—all taking on my part, no giving. (Hey, I may have stumbled on the key to this whole thing with that last phrase.)
At any rate, I read Chris Klug’s post about the failing hard drives and tried to brush off the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. (Fortunately, that sick feeling these days means a psychological reaction rather than, “Drats. I’m going to be up all night and will need three days to recover from the night’s ordeal. Let’s hear it for gall bladder removal!)
Sure enough over the next day or two my computer began to behave erratically. That sick feeling came back and I got to work checking hard drives. I checked three older drives that have been in service for years and everything appeared to be A-OK. The newest drive, the 1 terabyte, also checked out. Then I got to the second newest Western Digital, a 500 gig drive that has been in service about two years, and oops, bad news. Windows couldn’t analyze to see if I needed to run the defragmenter because the drive “is scheduled for checkdisk”. Since I didn’t schedule the check, I got the message that Microsoft is trying to tell me something.
Some of you who have run Windows may be saying, “What’s the big deal? Run the checkdisk and move on.” I would except for one thing. About three years ago I ran checkdisk on a 500 gig Seagate and everything seemed to go just dandy with a clean bill of health at the conclusion. Just one small problem. The disk was clean. No, I mean pristine clean. Not a single shred of data left. I swore. I cried. I pouted. All to no avail, of course, and I ultimately went about resurrecting the files from other sources. Now, you know why I am making another backup of the disk that “is scheduled for checkdisk”, before I turn Windows loose on my data. It’s tedious work, but all that swearing, crying, and pouting wore me out last time. I’m opting for tedious this time, rather than living dangerously.
Now, I don’t actually blame Chris for this, since I don’t really believe that just because I used this computer to view and read that post my computer got the notion to follow the example of Chris’s hard drive. I’m just saying….
Last week I was going along reviewing the hundreds of photos I took at Silent Knight Farms, when I took a break to read some blogs. I was a being a lurker and not taking time to leave comments—all taking on my part, no giving. (Hey, I may have stumbled on the key to this whole thing with that last phrase.)
At any rate, I read Chris Klug’s post about the failing hard drives and tried to brush off the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. (Fortunately, that sick feeling these days means a psychological reaction rather than, “Drats. I’m going to be up all night and will need three days to recover from the night’s ordeal. Let’s hear it for gall bladder removal!)
Sure enough over the next day or two my computer began to behave erratically. That sick feeling came back and I got to work checking hard drives. I checked three older drives that have been in service for years and everything appeared to be A-OK. The newest drive, the 1 terabyte, also checked out. Then I got to the second newest Western Digital, a 500 gig drive that has been in service about two years, and oops, bad news. Windows couldn’t analyze to see if I needed to run the defragmenter because the drive “is scheduled for checkdisk”. Since I didn’t schedule the check, I got the message that Microsoft is trying to tell me something.
Some of you who have run Windows may be saying, “What’s the big deal? Run the checkdisk and move on.” I would except for one thing. About three years ago I ran checkdisk on a 500 gig Seagate and everything seemed to go just dandy with a clean bill of health at the conclusion. Just one small problem. The disk was clean. No, I mean pristine clean. Not a single shred of data left. I swore. I cried. I pouted. All to no avail, of course, and I ultimately went about resurrecting the files from other sources. Now, you know why I am making another backup of the disk that “is scheduled for checkdisk”, before I turn Windows loose on my data. It’s tedious work, but all that swearing, crying, and pouting wore me out last time. I’m opting for tedious this time, rather than living dangerously.
Now, I don’t actually blame Chris for this, since I don’t really believe that just because I used this computer to view and read that post my computer got the notion to follow the example of Chris’s hard drive. I’m just saying….
Well, Anita, if it is any consolation, I'm going to return a drive this week for a replacement under warranty from the manufacturer. Things have quieted down here. Thanks for thinking of me.
ReplyDeleteI am and have been in the business of computing for a long time so I also believe in the 'gremlins'. The one thing to remember is they have you put computers up on desks because it is harder to kick them when they are up that high, it was a design decision from the very beginning.
ReplyDeleteReally really like this image,however not so much the work it implies. Glad to see you posting and out shooting again, you were missed.
Chris - Honestly, I had only the kindest thoughts of you, but had fun with this silly notion.
ReplyDeleteI will see what happens when I run the checkdisk. I hope all this is a false alarm. At least it got me in gear for another backup push.
I'm glad yours was under warranty and all is quiet there.
Ray - Great. Someone else who has dealt with computer gremlins. Why didn't I figure out that's why all those hard drives are up on my desk and not on the floor? You are right. Great design decision. You have a fascinating take on things. Love hearing your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments on the photo. Much appreciated. I am fond of photos picturing tools. That doesn't mean I have a yen to use them. Just photograph them.
You seem to always bring a smile to my face. Hope it all works out for you.
ReplyDeleteMonte - Hooray! Mission accomplished and thanks for egging me on in my silliness. I'm sure this distraction will soon be behind me.
ReplyDelete