Have you ever experienced technology frustration? Well, enjoying and embracing technology is one thing, loathing it is entirely another matter. Moving & storage is done easy, when compared with repeated failure and constant set-up of multiple machines. Hard drive down…I would rather go to the dentist.Now don’t get me wrong, I like taking days off from work. But not accomplishing a thing while at work, now that really stinks. So in reality, I wasn’t really working, but I was. And multiplying this by at least 3…well, you know!
What is all the fuss about you might ask. My company, UNITS Mobile Storage owned laptop’s HD crashed recently. Upon further inspection, I found that the mobile storage unit I purchased (thought it was new), was actually a refurbished, reconditioned machine. Was this the cause of it's systems failure? Either way, the "Center" where I purchased the portable storage machine graciously admitted to the mishap, and replaced it without much fight. Truly believing that there was no malice by the "Center", I accepted their new machine without any trepidation. I proceeded to recover what data I could from the original HD (was about 60% successful with that), and move on. Not bad considering my HD was toast. Within the next 24 hours (and 3 to 4 hours installing new app’s), I realized that the software I was running was incompatible with the new 64 bit machines. So all I had to do was bring it back to the "Center", and it would be replaced without question…again. I walked out with a new 32 bit machine (3 hours later), and was happy once again. So I spent the next 24 hours loading up software…again, while finishing the process of data recovery. I want to throwout a great big "prop’s" to Norton for their on-line back-up services. Without that service, the remaining 40% would never had been recovered, including the past 6 months of OUTLOOK files. Again, not bad considering. I will not go into the frustration I experienced with our friendly Norton tech support from abroad (India), because I was happy with the end result.Day 3. While downloading the pst files from Norton, my new machine (Pods #3) froze up at least (3) times, causing additional delay. I spoke with the tech guy from the "Center", and he instructed me to fix this issue by performing a system restore, without telling me I was performing a system restore. This meant the machine was to be restored to a condition from a previous period of time. Uhg….I ended up losing several additional files from that day. I got over that, just shaking my head in disgust.
Which brings me to day #4 of the #3 computer. I finish the downloads of the pst files, as well as the installation of software, and everything seemed to be working just fine. Until I decided to leave 5 small ap's open unattended for an hour or two. Low and behold, the machine freezes up…again, suggested a couple of security warnings…again, and made a few moans and groans of dissatisfaction (seriously, must have know I was writing about it in my blog). This required an immediate reaction on my part (actually, four): 1) I proceeded to curse the machine; 2) curse the "Center" for which I purchased the machine; 3) restart the machine by pressing the on/off button, hopefully without any further lose of my business days data, and/or what hair I have remaining on my head; 4) and finally, call the tech guy at the "Center" for further consultation. He asked me what I wanted him to do, because his only option was to remove and replace the OS. I told him that was ridiculous, given my history. Not completely convinced I was in the clear, I decided to ride this out a couple of more days.
