Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Wednesday Worries

Week of September 30, 2012:
Monday: DIY yoga before bed
Tuesday: Morning run (25 minutes)  + Evening bike ride for groceries
Wednesday: Off (Celebrating with a dinner party and the first presidential debate!)

I'm worried today, and what does a writer do when she's worrying?  She writes on her blog, of course!  Here's the scoop: I have now received the box into which I will pack my broken laptop to ship it to Dell, where the Dell wizards will examine every nook and cranny (minus the battery) to see what needs to be repaired, replaced, cleaned, and prayed over.  I know that the screen needs to be replaced.  Additionally, the laptop has been overheating, so it's likely the fan and vents need to be cleaned.  I'm happy to let Dell take care of those things and in fact, I prefer that they do it, not me.  I am not a computer technician, and doing home repairs on my computer is not my idea of a good time.  For the cost of these repairs (about $400--eek!), Dell had better know what it's doing.

The thing I'm worried about is that Dell makes no promises about not destroying data on the hard drive.  I don't think there's anything wrong with my hard drive; before I broke the screen, everything seemed to be running pretty smoothly.  Like most people, I don't back up my hard drive with any regularity.  Unfortunately, Dell doesn't mince any words when it tells you to back everything up before sending your computer to them.  If anything is lost from your hard drive, it's your own damn fault for not backing up your stuff!  Too bad when you break your laptop screen, it's a little late to back anything up. The last time I backed up my data was in December 2011, when I had to reinstall the operating system on my computer.  So if Dell deletes my hard drive, I will lose ten months' worth of material: all my work stuff, my blog posts and drafts, my photographs, everything.  I am more than a little nervous about this, though the Dell technician with whom I spoke assured me that the hard drive is probably fine if the computer can be turned on (it can--I just can't see anything because of the screen), and if nothing is wrong with the hard drive, then no data will be lost.

Tomorrow I'll send my baby off to Dell for its repairs, and I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that there are no unexpected problems.  If you feel like sending some good luck our way, it would be most appreciated.  Ten months' worth of work and play is a lot to lose in one fell swoop, so I'm just going to hope for the best.  What other choice do I have at this point?

2 comments:

  1. Oh, goodness! Fingers crossed that nothing is wrong with the hard drive and all of your data returns to you with your computer. When it comes back, you should start using dropbox. (Sorry for being bossy, but it's an easy way to back up at least your smaller files if you don't use an external hard drive.).

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, dear! I'm hoping that crossed fingers and hopeful thoughts will get the job done.

      No need to apologize for being bossy! I appreciate it. I had a friend last night scold me (nicely) about being more responsible with my data. I do have an external hard drive, so when my computer comes back, I resolve to be proactive about saving stuff on a regular basis. Scout's honor :-)

      (But still, fingers crossed...)

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