3:00 pm yesterday – my home computer becomes unbootable, looks like a hard drive problem
3:01 pm I reboot. I reboot a couple more times. I fiddle with the startup options a bit. Nothing.
3:30 pm I leave to meet a friend for a visit before Latin Mass. I try not to worry about the data I don’t have backed up.
11:00 pm I get home after the Latin Mass and party for Father Chris. I turn on my computer and for no good reason I yell “Sursum corda!” Nothing. I begin to fret and pace around the house.
1:34 am The fretting and pacing ceases as I fall into a restless sleep.
6:54 am today. I resume trouble shooting. I buy and download data recovery software from winternals.com for 300 bones. I monkey with that for a long time. It don’t work.
3:18 pm I investigate the return policy for the above company. “If not totally satisfied contact us for a refund within 30 days of purchase.” Yippie. Make a note to contact them on Monday.
3:20 pm I download the trial version of more expensive data recovery program and determine that, yes, I can recover most of the data.
3:54 pm I fork over 500 bones for the software that will do the trick.
4:08 pm I am copying about 15 GB of files from the dead drive which hopefully contains all my documents, digital photos, email, my resume, etc. That will be done in about an hour.
If you are anywhere near by please come see me – I need a hug.