I’ve been using computers for some 20 years, having started back in the late 80′s with an IBM XT clone sporting a 5 1/4″ disk drive, and moving steadily forward through generations of Intel chipsets (386, 486 DX66, Pentium II, Pentium 4 etc.). In all those years, over all those computers, I never experienced a hard drive crash. Sure, there were times where Windows would die thus requiring a format and a re-install, but the data was never lost.
Last week, on a pleasant Wednesday afternoon, I returned to my MacBook to find a frozen screen. Thinking I had encountered a rare malfunction I calmly turned off the computer and turned it back on. No sooner had power been returned did I hear the tell-tale sounds of ‘click, click, click’ coming from the hard drive. My screen produced a lovely folder with a giant question mark on it, indicating the computer couldn’t access the hard drive. My reaction was a sly laugh and the half utterance of the phrase, “you have got to be kidding me.” I can only imagine how irate I would have been had I not started regular backups of my data in January, when I purchased a 500gb external hard drive to use with Time Machine, the included backup application in the most recent Apple operating system OS X Leopard. I’d chosen to back up my documents and my photos, leaving my iPod to be the safe haven for my music files. Ironically I had just performed a backup some 8h prior to my current situation.
My first instinct was to contact a local Apple approved service location. This act proved more difficult than anticipated as my computer no longer worked. It’s funny how many things we rely on computers for. I couldn’t email anyone to get advice, I couldn’t call anyone, as my address book is on the computer, and I couldn’t find my nearest Apple store to book an appointment. Luckily I remembered the desktop in the house, and used it to find the numbers I needed to call. I ended up booking an appointment with the Apple Store in Toronto for the following morning. When I arrived at the store and explained my situation they got to work typing details into their computers. I had contacted Apple previously about a crack on my top case that is covered under warranty, but didn’t have the time to leave my computer with them for the 2 days it would take to get the part and fix it. From their notes the girl knew I had this problem, and she went into the back to see if they had the items in stock. What luck! They had a new hard drive and the top case in the back, so it would be less than 48h for them to fix it. I could have taken the hard drive from her and been on my way, but I wanted to get the top case done since I’d already set up self up mentally for a few days without the computer. In reality it’s a 10 minute job to replace the top case, and all of 60 seconds to stick a new hard drive in. At 11:45am I departed Apple, and by 1:30pm there was a message on my phone that the repair had been completed. Unfortunately I did not get this message until later, so I’d have to head in the following day to pick it up.
I was one full day without a computer, and to my shock the sky did not fall, and the earth did not stop spinning, nor did any other signs of the apocalypse appear. To be honest, it was a bit nice to know I couldn’t use a computer. If I didn’t already read books it would have been a great time to start.
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