Monday, June 15, 2009

The doom has come upon me

{scary thundery voice}

DOOOOOOOMMM

My computer hard drive has a terminal condition. It’s dying slowly as we speak. The buzzing comes more often. It gets so hot I am surprised the keys are not melting.  Or maybe its the fan. Either way, the thing is dying. A borrowed hard drive did not create a buzzing sound so those who know these things feel 95% sure its the hard drive.

It is a 3-4 year old laptop. It has a certain type of hard drive style they stopped using about 50 seconds after my Visa payment went through (which is the story of my life) So the various computer docs I consulted did not give me much hope that a replacement hard drive could be found.

But one has been found!

A  160GB Seagate of appropriate style has been located. The current drive is only 80GB and is a Seagate as well. It has been ordered & will be here by the end of the week.

Which is why I have this cloud of doom hanging over me.

I have to load a hard drive from the ground up. Operating system, drivers, software…my GOD the SOFTWARE!!! All the little tweeks and fiddly things I have done to this laptop over 3+ years & no longer recall doing or downloading. Little adjustments to get things just the way I like.

I’ve got a huge list of software & serial numbers. Half the software was downloaded & I have no disc for it. I am using a version of ACDSee from 3 years ago. There is no place on their site to download that version. I’ve had to email them with my serial number & hope they hook me up with a link.

Windows Live Writer? Download. Firefox? Download. Audible Manager, Creative Media, Picasa? Dowload, download, download. Anti virus, tweet deck, add ons, plug ins, updates… And I don’t exactly have a rocking cable internet connection.

They have some software at DH’s office that will copy your HD onto another one, but it partitions the new one & of course there are registry issues to deal with and I’m not entirely sure there is enough space to do that on the new drive. I have recovery disks, but will they work on a different hard drive?

So I have this horrible choice to make… do I want to try copying over the contents of my HD and then have to deal with registry issues or do I want to start from scratch and live in download hell for days?  The one bright spot is next week is vacation bible school so I will have a couple hours every morning to sit in the library & use their wireless internet to download.

The real feeling of doom I have though is that three months from now the laptop just dies, the fan collapses and the keys melt and motherboard fizzles and I am left HAVING TO DO IT AGAIN!!

Only with Vista!

10 comments:

Lena said...

I'll have a moment of silence for you. I agree, only with Vista. *sigh*

Stesha said...

Computer problems suck! Crossing all my fingers and toes that my "baby" won't have a meltdown. If she does she will be replaced with a Mac!

Hugs and Mocha,
Stesha

The Four Week Vegan said...

Yikes - that just sucks! Personally, I would try copying the HD over to the new one. What a way to spend your freetime while the boys are at VBS.

Tess said...

Oh no! I hate when a computer hits the dust.Gives you an excuse to get a newer more fancy one.

Lisa said...

oh man that is not fun!! Hate computer problems :(

Jenni said...

That made me feel all sweaty just reading about it! Good luck with all that!

Aunt Becky said...

I am suddenly clammy. Hold me.

Eve said...

Ugh, computer problems are the worst!! I hope you get everything figured out soon!

SciFi Dad said...

First, not much help to you now, but for next time: when I d/l a new app, if I keep it, I put the installer into a folder called dlapps... then if I need to migrate I can grab that folder and voila.

Second, in terms of downloading new apps, make a list (either from Add/Remove Programs or by opening a command prompt, navigating to Program Files, and typing dir /ad /s >> pffold.txt, which will give you a text dump of all folders within Program Files) and then bring your laptop to your husband's office on a weekend and use their super-fast connection (if possible).

Third, remember that you don't need everything immediately. Start with FF, then grab as you find you need it.

Good luck.

Creative Junkie said...

OMG - I still have issues from my hard drive failure last November. I STILL am remembering software that I no longer have and have to find and re-download.

It is such a nightmare.

I'm so sorry!