I think I'm all set

I had a tech guy from CompUSA come out this morning to set up my wireless network. It only took him 10 minutes. But I kept him around for 1.5 hrs. You techie guys are so easy. I think he was enchanted with my flannel jammies and bedhead. He took out my hard drive and hooked it up some hard drive reader thingie he had with him and we were able to pull out what few files I could save and put them on a CD. He also evaluated my new laptop and printer choices (which were bought impulsively in a moment of desperation), and it turns out my choices were fine for my needs and I got a good deal. I was worried about that because I didnt make a particularly informed purchase. So I feel relieved. Although he was prohibited from giving me his phone number, he did tell me he used his own website to check my wireless connection so it's in my history now and I can contact him directly if I need help. When I get a new hard drive for the desktop I'm going to give him a jingle to come out and hook that up to my network. He's only about 20 minutes away.
(And he's married, in case any of you were wondering. And way to geeky for me, anyway)

re that, "few files I could save.."

That could mean several things -

It was a small % of what you'd like to have saved (?) - is what I read.

Just to elaborate a tad, on options you may still have:

Assuming that you have an idea of what % of files you had (and don't see now) ie, which are no longer visible, where you expect, options vary from: merely clever ---> heroic.

Most anyone here knows more about that progression than I - but I know that the most subtle techniques are now a $Big industry (and can routinely extract stuff most of us wouldn't have believed possible, 5-10 years ago.) It's at least posssible - if only some partition or lo-level-format marks are missing, say - that SpinRite\ufffd could even replace the missing marks, via its statistical data recovery routine == nondestructively. Many bets are off for certain ongoing mechanical failures, of course.

So if you find you are really missing some stuff - post a bit more info. (Did the guy mention any Whys? re things he couldn't easily find.) Maybe on the desktop trip, he can elaborate a bit on what he saw - for further pondering here. Things like: whether a normal directory/file listing is even possible, in HD's present state. And maybe - what the sucker sounds like; is it self-destructing every second it's spinning? (He may have some experience along these lines.)

Sometimes it's worth the $$ (well, Some $$) for recovery - certainly to most businesses it often is. Only you can decide how much you 'miss' the missing stuff, etc. Possibly someone here could/would do some intermediate-grade recovery (?) HDs mail cheap. You don't sound geekish enough to learn a lot of jargon; do a lot of fancy repetitive stuff - which is lengthy to write out, in any case. :-)

Break a leg,

Ashton

Post #240,731 by bionerd 1/8/06 10:09:05 AM Reply	I think I'm all set I had a tech guy from CompUSA come out this morning to set up my wireless network. It only took him 10 minutes. But I kept him around for 1.5 hrs. You techie guys are so easy. I think he was enchanted with my flannel jammies and bedhead. He took out my hard drive and hooked it up some hard drive reader thingie he had with him and we were able to pull out what few files I could save and put them on a CD. He also evaluated my new laptop and printer choices (which were bought impulsively in a moment of desperation), and it turns out my choices were fine for my needs and I got a good deal. I was worried about that because I didnt make a particularly informed purchase. So I feel relieved. Although he was prohibited from giving me his phone number, he did tell me he used his own website to check my wireless connection so it's in my history now and I can contact him directly if I need help. When I get a new hard drive for the desktop I'm going to give him a jingle to come out and hook that up to my network. He's only about 20 minutes away. (And he's married, in case any of you were wondering. And way to geeky for me, anyway) Follow your MOUSE
Post #240,734 by Another Scott 1/8/06 10:26:48 AM Reply	Woot! Bedhead strikes again! :-) Good for you. Ya dun well.
Post #240,814 by Ashton 1/9/06 4:59:27 AM Reply	Re: I think I'm all set re that, "few files I could save.." That could mean several things - It was a small % of what you'd like to have saved (?) - is what I read. Just to elaborate a tad, on options you may still have: Assuming that you have an idea of what % of files you had (and don't see now) ie, which are no longer visible, where you expect, options vary from: merely clever ---> heroic. Most anyone here knows more about that progression than I - but I know that the most subtle techniques are now a $Big industry (and can routinely extract stuff most of us wouldn't have believed possible, 5-10 years ago.) It's at least posssible - if only some partition or lo-level-format marks are missing, say - that SpinRite\ufffd could even replace the missing marks, via its statistical data recovery routine == nondestructively. Many bets are off for certain ongoing mechanical failures, of course. So if you find you are really missing some stuff - post a bit more info. (Did the guy mention any Whys? re things he couldn't easily find.) Maybe on the desktop trip, he can elaborate a bit on what he saw - for further pondering here. Things like: whether a normal directory/file listing is even possible, in HD's present state. And maybe - what the sucker sounds like; is it self-destructing every second it's spinning? (He may have some experience along these lines.) Sometimes it's worth the $$ (well, Some $$) for recovery - certainly to most businesses it often is. Only you can decide how much you 'miss' the missing stuff, etc. Possibly someone here could/would do some intermediate-grade recovery (?) HDs mail cheap. You don't sound geekish enough to learn a lot of jargon; do a lot of fancy repetitive stuff - which is lengthy to write out, in any case. :-) Break a leg, Ashton

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