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Main hard drive in my PC died today suddenly
kyrathaba:
I know you guys are gonna laugh, but I don't have that much stuff to backup: just what few C# projects I plan to continue updating, and a few other odds and ends. I just backup occasionally to memory stick and frequently to DropBox. Note that my irreplaceable photos and stuff always get backed up to both DropBox and mem-stick. And as a third measure of protection, stuff I'd really hate to lose gets FTPed to a remote repository.
mahesh2k:
I do take regular backups but when processor and motherboard dies and when there is no spare computer, It is *that* uncomfortable feeling, like something is lost. :(
I don't take drive monitoring type of backups. I just plug USB Hard drive when my particular backup folder piles up daily.
barney:
You might wanna clean the cooling on that laptop, just to keep it alive a bit longer. Should also end the false-reporting issues with HDS.
-Ath (February 04, 2012, 03:48 AM)
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Pointless ... it's a Dell :o, been that way since day one (1), and their supposed support contract was useless - they basically ignore[d] assistance requests. However, I did check the fan, then bought a cooling stand for it. Right now, Coretemp reports CPU @183F ... in an hour or two, HDS will report the drive to be failing, scant hours left to save data. Then I shut it down ~15 min and start all over.
OK, the point isn't the Dell, it is that HD monitoring software, particularly if it is on the drive being checked, doesn't always give a clear picture. And SMART technology only goes so far. If you're old enough, and had an electronic bent, you'll be familiar with the old tube testers ... they could not tell you a particular vacuum tube was good, only if it was definitely bad. That's sorta where SMART & HDS stand: you can get predictions, but those predictions are based upon conditions extant at the time of the report.
Like mouser, maintain a single-strike attitude. If a drive gives any indication of failing, don't rely upon it any longer than absolutely necessary. It's a mechanical device, and any mechanical device is subject to failure, even the SSDs. It pays to be paranoid about stuff like this :P. Reporting software is good to have, but it can only give indications, not surety.
As far as backups go, I always remember the earlier days of MS-DOS. It was v2.3, I think. The backup [process] worked fine, but you couldn't restore it. Acronis' reputation notwithstanding (or CloneZilla's, or any other system's), I'm always dubious about the backups I make ... there've been too many restore failures :'( :P. Doesn't keep me from makin' 'em, but I don't have any real confidence in 'em :huh:.
4wd:
Regarding full system backup: I ceased to make any more since on my two PCs the motherboard died. The full system was of obviously of no use. Backing up just the data is much easier (using Dropbox at the moment).-yksyks (February 04, 2012, 11:37 AM)
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Swap the motherboard, boot into Safe Mode, uninstall old motherboard drivers, install new motherboard drivers - no different from just replacing the motherboard of a working system. I've done this a few times, usually up and running within the hour.
The only thing you need to remember is to put the SATA interfaces into IDE mode before doing anything.
A full OS image also gives you the option to run it in a VM if necessary.
Innuendo:
The dirty little secret of those real-time monitoring tools is they don't monitor everything that could go wrong with a drive. There are vulnerable parts that there's just no way to monitor.
Running a monitor is better than nothing, of course, but don't think just because you do you'll always get a heads up when disaster is going to strike.
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