It never rains but pours!!!
Okay, it hasn’t really been “raining” or “pouring” all that much but I just felt like starting off with some melodrama.
Because one of my new 320GB SATA RAID hard disks JUST DIED ON ME.
It’s not brand-new new, but it’s only six months old so it shouldn’t even be coughing, much less dying!!
It happened when I was looking through my photos trying to decide what to blog about today. I suddenly got a BSoD and the comp rebooted itself.
When it was up and running again, I opened up Firefox and Windows Explorer (to resume looking at my photos) and then the darn thing BSoD’ed again, barely a minute after the reboot!!
Argh.
I complained to the Goonfather. “My computer BSoD twice in a row!”
“What did you do?” he said, not looking up from his PSP.
“NOTHING! I WAS JUST LOOKING AT MY PHOTOS!”
“Hahahaha,” he said. “Your photos scared your computer so it shut down.”
“TMD!”
(TMD is the abbreviation of a mild Chinese swear phrase that subtly makes mention of a random, anonymous person’s mother. It’s really mild because, in direct translation, it literally says, “His mother’s.”)
((See, my blog is really educational — you get to learn random bits of useless trivia. So, run along and telll all your friends to read my blog.))
(((There’s a restaurant in Singapore which is named that exact phrase, so it is now officially ineffective as a swear phrase.)))
Okay, digression over. Back to my confounded HDD.
The Goonfather, loving and supportive as ever, stopped playing his PSP and came over to investigate my computer.
“Your hard disk is making a funny noise,” he informed me.
“It’s been making this noise right from the start,” I said.
“Really??” He looked surprised and I waited for him to say “why didn’t you tell me before??” but he didn’t.
Still, I went ahead to to preempt his accusation. “I thought the noise was because it’s a new computer, new processor, new casing, lots of new fans.”
The noise isn’t really noisy, anyway, because you can only hear it if you’re sitting right next to the CPU. It’s just kind of weird.
Anyway, the Goonfather said we’ll have to take the hard disk back to the manufacturer.
I said, “What about my data???? I don’t want to end up like Edison Chen and have some gangster steal my photos!”
For the record, I don’t have any nude or lewd photos or anything of the sort, but, all the same, I don’t like the idea of a stranger poking through my files and looking through all my picnic photos, know what I mean?
Fortunately, the Goonfather has a solution for everything.
I have two other old hard disks in my computer because my PC is acting as a file server for the Goonfather’s laptop. So he helped me back up all my stuff into the old hard disks and am now reformatting the dead new disk.
Yay! My data and my photos are safe from strange prying eyes!!
I am now using his laptop to blog!
That means no photos! Because I don’t want to touch stuff in any of the hard disks right now. Plus the Goonfather has no Photoshop. How can anyone live without Photoshop?? It’s inconceivable!
My PC will probably take a few days to recover. In the meantime, I’ll be blogging on the Goonfather’s laptop, but I really hate it because it feels foreign and uncomfortable.
It’s kinda like sleeping on someone else’s bed in a foreign country. Like you get a sudden feeling to reach over and pat your little bunny plushie and you reach over but it’s not there because you’re not in your own bed in your own home.
If I don’t reply comments fast enough for you, well, come back again. Heheh. I’ll eventually get around to it. And things will be back to normal once my PC is up.
OMG I suddenly have a craving for Arnold’s Fried Chicken. Luckily, it’s almost dinner time.
Have a great long weekend!
Hope you survive the BSoD …. Hate it too when mine crash when it was like 1 month old…
Nasty little buggers….
;)
Q, do yourself a favor and get an online back up service like Mosy (mosy.com). They are safe, secure (no one can see your files but you) and very reliable.
I lost 250 gig of data on a drive once and there was no way to recover it. I learned the hard way to have all of my important stuff backed up. I back up 2 taraabytes (2000 gig) to the service now. It’s encrypted so only I can restore it. No prying eyes on my film stuff.
The first backup always takes the longest, but after the first one, it only backs up new and changed files so it’s a lot quicker.
You got lucky this time. I’m sure you would hate to loose everything, so an automatic, online backup and recovery service is the best way to protect your data.
Mosy is just one on the many services out there so if you do decide to use a service like this, shop around and find the best one for what you need.
But I must admit though, I’m a Mosy whore! HA
Oh? There’s such a restaurant called TMD?? Where is it?
I can’t imagine losing my photos too… that’s about 5 years of travel memories!!!
I have in in my external hardisks as well as internal one (need to burn them off someday) so hope both harddisks don’t give way at the same time
Anyway, just popping by.
That restaurant’s name is spelt Tamade. Literally. LOL!
Same thing happened to me… I nearly lost a huge chunk of my precious photos. I was able to use data recovery software to pull them off the drive. Now I do multiple back-ups (main drive -> back-up drive -> external drive -> DVD-R). Call me paranoid, but I can’t afford to lose them…
Correct me if i am wrong, but formatting doesnt imply your data is totally gone, just that you won’t see it from your OS.
To totally remove all traceble data, got to use a ‘Scrubbing’ software to effectively replace all unused sectors of your HDD with random data, so that the original data would be replaced.
Regards,
Honda
you are such a funny girl. i almost laugh out loud when i read your post.
btw, i was also in the same situation as you last week. bad bad hard disk!
Poor QY. *pats head* XD
I’ve had it worse, all of a sudden my computer just blacked out and whenever I tried rebooting it, it always said “please try again” and all my homework and pictures and stuff got deleted. Thankfully it was during break and my dad had a (crappy) backup disk.
How can anyone live without Photoshop?? It’s inconceivable!
You’re right. :D
Better get another physical storage device, 1 for the OS, another for data files. Then the most important files, burn to a CD/DVD (the ones you don’t use anymore but nevertheless important). Been doing that for years. :D
And it’s also good for photoshop, it can use the other physical drive as another scratch disk. :D
Thought you have raid. You data should be save unless both HDD died the same time.
Just me thinking. I think that backing up online is a total waste of time and bandwidth. Imagine uploading 100+ – 200 GB of data. Do you have any idea how long it take.
Just buy a portable HDD and backup periodically. 2.5 inch portable HDD is so cheap now.
With your data both on your PC HDD and Portable HDD, if you still lose it in the same time I think it’s your life liao. Nothing can stop it.
The last time my hdd went on strike was because the grease between the platens dried up as a result of old age causing the plasten to stop spinning.
A quick solution was to stick the hdd into the freezer for 4 hours causing the dried up grease to contract and break the bonds jamming the platens.
Guess what? It worked and I was able to back up all my stuff before it died on me again.
How about that?
Wind: Thanks. Well, no big deal, I guess. Since MS is famous for BSoD, everyone experiences it at some time or another. Haha.
Mike M: Thanks for the recommendation! Will check it out!
desmond!!: The restaurant’s name is Tamade and it’s at Robertson Quay. Or should I say was? I haven’t been there in ages and maybe it’s not around anymore. I’m not sure, really. Restaurants in Singapore have such short lifespans!
mrbherng: Hiya! Thanks for popping by! Better start burning your photos while you remember to! It always takes a crash for me to remember to backup my stuff, by which time it’s too late, lol.
Derrick: Yup! Do you know if it’s still around?
Jesta: While that’s really a lot of backups. But I agree that’s the right thing to do. Better be paranoid than lose anything!
Honda: Yeah, I have heard of something like that before. But I’m taking the chance that after deleting and formating, my HDD will look empty, and any technician working on it wouldn’t be bothered to try and retrieve anything from it since I am not actually Edison Chen and no one can be bothered with what I keep in my HDD.
But if you send a HDD to a shop full of files, some bored technician might feel like poking through it since it’s right there to be poked at! Hehe.
musxzart: Aww, thanks! I always appreciate compliments like that! :) But sorry to hear about your hard disk. Hope everything is fine now!
plushiehamsta: Thanks, dearie. I guess we all have had computer woes before so we can all commiserate!
modchip: Actually, I do backup my files on DVD. Except that the last time I backed up was a year ago, hehe. I think I was complacent after getting a new computer, thinking that it won’t die on me so soon!
JokeDiary: Mine is performance raid, not mirror raid. So I think it’s not that safe. Well online backup might be a waste of time and bandwidth, but do you think it’s only a slight bother? I mean, most of us in Singapore are on unlimited bandwidth plans anyway, plus you don’t waste time if you’re uploading stuff while you’re sleeping. Hehehe.
Anyway, I’m keeping my data on DVDs for now. Do you think it’s safe enough?
JayWalk: Wow… that’s really… amazing. I’m amazed you even thought of something like that!
Sticking a harddisk into the freezer? Cool! I searched it in google and I got tons of results! Amazing… hehehehe.
I don’t think backing up on DVD is safe. Because i have been doing that and tend to put one side and forget it only to find that the disc is either in a very bad read condition or not readable at all a few years later.
The safest way to me is still on a 2.5 inch portable hdd. As 2.5 Inch hdd is make and build for notebook it tends to have some kind of shock protection somehow. As it is make to consume as little power as possible it’s usually not hot thus improving the life greatly.
The number 1 reason why hdd fail rate is so high this days is because of HEAT it generate for the 7200 rmp 3.5 inch hdd. If you know how to keep your 7200 rmp 3.5 inch hdd heat from the HOT to WARM level. It is almost guarantee that the HDD is going to last you for a long long time. Until you can’t remember when you bought it.
Although we have unlimited bandwidth, leaving the computer over night is still electricity to me and electricity is not cheap. Singapore is using fossil fuel to produce electricity. If everyone do that I foresee the price is going to rise again very soon.
Sorry some correction. It’s 7200 rpm not 7200 rmp.
Also nowadays the usb2 transferring speed is very fast. The transfer rate is count by gigabyte per min so it’s still the most ideal way. If really die die cannot afford to lose the data. Use two Portable HDD then. You can attach the two portable hdd at the same time using different usb port. By then you have 3 copies. Two copy in your portable hdd and 1 copy in your computer. Unless something happen to your house it’s almost guarantee that you won’t lose it.
oh this thing bout privacy. i sent my laptop to some shop in simlim for servicing and this guy blatantly opened my folders pretending to be testing out my comp, omg la. and of cos he got it from me. *bish*
JokeDiary: Does that mean that portable HDD is actually more reliable than DVD in terms of stability? I mean, DVD more prone to damage than portable HDD? I don’t put my DVDs one side. I put all my backup data nicely in a folder, and replace them whenever I burn a new batch of backups.
shin: Haha. So did you have anything juicy for him to see? :P
For me Yes, I think Portable HDD is more reliable. I can store my data and put in it the cardboard for the next 10 years without worries that i can’t start it later. Provided it’s in a workable condition when you unplug it. But also if you drop it, then good luck.
Look out for unusual clicking sound of the HDD. It a symptom that it’s going to fail soon. For Portable HDD Usually it’s going to last a long long time as you seldom use it (Provided you don’t drop it).
Use two HDD if the data is too important to lose. For me I just use 1. For portable 3.5 Inch HDD, look out for HEAT. Normally it’s very very hot if there’s no cooler or fan blowing it.
Honestly, DVD served me well for years — I think it’s a matter of storage. Take care of them and they’ll take care of your data.
On the otherhand, I’ve been also thinking about getting one of those portable hds. :D
Oh, I forgot to mention, I also done extensive backup during the CD era, and I’m happy to report that all of the backup CDs I made still works today. :D
JokeDiary: Yeah, now that I think about it, using a portable HDD is more efficient anyway, cos it’s easier to add new files when I need to backup new files in existing folders. Ok, you’ve convinced me, so I shall get one. I think one enough. It’s so expensive. Two will kill me. Haha.
By the way, do you do real-time backup so it’s permanently plugged in to your PC? Or you just copy files over once in a while?
modchip: Hahaha. I can’t even remember how much space there is in a CD. :P
Hehehe, about 600MB-700MB. :D
modchip: Hahaha. OMG not even a gig. lol.
modchip: To ans you. CDRs and DVDs Degrade over time. By taking care of it. You can just slow down the degrading process, there’s no way you can stop the dyes in the CDRs and DVDs from Degrading.
I copy files only once a while. I don’t plug it permanently in my PC.
Just for your info
http://storageadvisors.adaptec.com/2006/01/10/crappy-cds/
hahaha thank goodness no!
Yep JokeDiary, thanks! :D
er.. so everyone started using 2.5 inch Portable HDD??
Not yet, don’t have one… :(
JokeDiary: Ok. Thanks a lot for the info! :)
Er… haven’t bought my HDD. Too busy lately. :P
This blog owner is hot And I would realy like to “DO” no one.
No I meant her but after thinking about it I thought I might get booted off the blog. So I dident say I wanted to “do” her…..Although I do
If I was a hard disk I would never let you down.
Just to let you know.
Charles@stateyourbeef.com
Im always available “Wink”
Im only 21 though…