computers – T E Shepherd

Cautious Deletion

Thomas — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:34:00 +0000

The process of copying all my data off my computer was a careful and methodical one. Intriguing to, as for a hard disk that was 60GB with available capacity of c.56GB and 16GB free, I ended up with 80GB of files! You what? Further to this, there were files, particularly photographs from my ‘Visuals’ folder which I had long since deleted after transferring them to my external hard drive months or years ago. Weird?!! I can only imagine that GetDataBack is a program that is akin to one that the police use when they take Gary Glitter’s computer in for questioning.

Then came the real nerve-wracking bit; time to hit the factory reset button and start again, and the message that all information on the hard drive will be wiped. My finger hovered over the button for the while. All my data, about to go. But I have a copy of it still, it’s fine, I tell myself. I pressed the button. Fifteen minutes or so later I was being welcomed to my computer like it was June 2005.

Data Recovery

Thomas — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:30:00 +0000

I think I have just made a very audible whoop of joy, as like a phoenix, and after I had given up all hope of seeing my data again, a nice program called GetDataBack brought up a representation of the my files, and, $79 later, I was copying them off, and this from a drive that Windows can see but cannot read in the normal way.

This is fantastic news. It has been like my disk drive has been a castle with all my data living it up nice and safe inside the keep, but the gatehouse has collapsed and you can’t shift the rock fall to get in.

SpinRitingâ¦

Thomas — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 21:44:00 +0000

My brother found a program on the web that promises to recover data by approaching blocks from all different angles and distances and working out what should be there. I watched the promotional videos and invested 80 dollars of hope into it. Itâs been going through for the second time now, identifying the errors, but to date no joy. The computer gets hot in doing so though, and weâve got a desk fan trained on it which seems to be helping.

Emâs been called out now to help with a caesarean to a basset hound; I think its time I cooked my half of the pizza and catch up on some things on the digi-box…

Hopes Dashed

Thomas — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:08:00 +0000

Hopes of reviving my sick computer long enough to rescue data from it are failing fast. My Windows XP discs arrived from Dell today, but in attempting to repair it, it failed. Obviously the corrupt sector of my hard drive lies not only in the boot part but also in the bit that allows for repairs.

Dead Laptop

Thomas — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:02:00 +0000

It seems that my computer is dead.

Wedding Sites and Computer Woes

Thomas — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 22:14:00 +0000

Em and I had a nice walk at Stowe today before retreating home for lunch and shelter from the hot and sunny weather. It has been too hot to do anything much outside and so I have been engaging with my arty-creative side and creating the ‘flash screen’ for our wedding site. Having replicated the wordpress theme within the password protected innards in an asp home page, I set about creating a subtle Flash animation of pictures of us, and of the wedding venue.

I’m really pleased with it. It’s cool, and elegantly stylish. However it is memory intensive and I did feel that I was pummelling my computer. Quite how much though, I wasn’t aware. As I was finishing up, I killed it to the point of having to switch it off with the metaphorical big red button. Now it won’t boot up, or at least it does but unbearably slowly, to the point of being practically pointless to doing so. I’ve left it to cool down and calm down to investigate tonight.

So I’ve finished up the webpage on Emma’s computer, and you can see the art that killed my computer on Emma & Thomas’s wedding site…

Trauma Tuesday (and other things posted on Wednesday)

Thomas — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 08:53:00 +0000

1. Bella went out on Monday evening, not that there is anything surprising about that. What was surprising is that she didn’t come back; not on Monday night, not on Tuesday morning for breakfast, and not on Tuesday night for tea. Arthur too, seemed to be a bit sad, and like he was missing her, and I began to fret and worry. Last night I set the catflap to in-only, and left my bedroom door open. At about 5 o’clock I got woken by Arthur coming to join me. Still no Bella. As I was shaving, she returned, and she’s fine, the little minx!!

2. My computer died last night. Or at least the LCD screen bit of the computer died. It would work briefly before cutting to black after increasingly short amounts of time. This morning, after fearing a stressful and fruitless phone call to an Indian call centre I actually had a not too traumatic phone call to a nice man in Ireland. After jumping through the usual diagnostics hoops, they are sending out someone tomorrow to replace the screen (and yes, they will come to work to do it!)

3. I’ve now pre-ordered the new Harry Potter book for delivery to my brothers on Saturday 21st. I can then pick it up on the way to Norfolk for my long weekend.

4. Also ordered, via Amazon marketplace, the necessary to complete my ‘costume’ for the Blackwell literary-character themed summer party at the end of the month.

5. Currently considering splashing some cash on a new external hard drive to back up my computer. I do do that anyway from time to time, but the events of (2) have made me realise I need to it more, and both my computer and my current backup unit are close on capacity. Anyone have recommendations. Amazon are currently selling a Western Digital 500Gb one for 80 quid…