Thursday, June 15, 2006

Aaaaaaaarrghhhh!!!!!

#%&*##))@! F**K!! S#!t!! FARKK!!! Sheiss! Merde! Bugger Bugger Poop BUM!!! (is that 'speaking plainly'enough?? or are the alternative characters classed as obfuscation).

Hard drive crash last Monday morning. Complete shutdown, irretrievable data recovery. Cumpruters are the curse of modern mankind! However did we get along without them?

Not only do I presently have to try to figure out what, where and how the rest of my my life should proceed, but my only link to an 'intelligent' universe (you lot ..heh) collapses in a silent heap. Aaaarrgh! At least I have my priorities right. Am back online .. now begins the bloody long, painstaking process of restoring all my programs, links, email adresses, and settings. Two or more years of tweaks, fiddles and customisation. At least I have all my "stored" user-names and passwords written on a piece of paper on the wall. (oops, mebbe I shouldn't have said that .. heh), and a filing cabinet full of bits of paper.

Does make one think, though. Can imagine a future where computers or electricity is rare, and I hand to a grandchild a shiny little CD. "There you go, laddie. On this disk is all my research and family history. Invent something to read it with."

6 comments:

Anne Johnson said...

Oh, now you scare me! I'm always forgetting to back stuff up (or just am being lazy).

Link said...

Mine did the same when I moved, as did the car. I managed and actually didn't miss the blogosphere, but then everything was novel and new. New house with much to do, water to pump, aniamls to settle in neglected spaces to re-order. I think in the long term I would go bonkers as there is no television, radio reception is unbearable and I'm a long way from the shop, so the computer has become an invaluable link to an outside world. I was lucky I didn't lose any 'stuff' when pooter carked it.

Hayden said...

hummm. I think you would be amused/interested in the Long Now Project, an effort to engage in seriously long term thinking. (Start by writing today's date as 02006/06/17) The project was kicked off by Stewart Brand, who started Whole Earth Catalogue. http://longnow.org.
They've spawned a project called the Rosetta Project to collect languages and store information in as many of them - along with as many machine languages, like discs, as possible. One of the thoughts is that anything stored on a computer is utterly transient - and one of the major players in these projects (and builder of the Long Now clock) is Danny Hillis, who invented the fastest computer in the world. So it's not just a group of hippies that don't see straight, but some serious folk.
http//:www.rosettaproject.org

Three Score and Ten or more said...

Been there, done that, live in fear that I will do it again at 9:00 tomorrow morning. Sigh.

The Editor said...

Post something, ya mongrel!!! ;-)

Davoh said...

Grrrrr. woof, woof.