Friday, December 27, 2013

DIGITAL DISASTER

struck on Christmas eve: my beloved iMac desktop computer decided it was time to leave me, after eight years of more or less blissful co-existence. With no warning, not even a goodbye note, he just went dark, kaputt, finito. With all my precious software programmes, files etc. (not lately backed up). I won't know the extent of the damage until I can take the carcass to the Apple gods' headquarters after New Year's day but until then I'm warily typing this on a laptop which may crash any minute.
So a hasty Happy New Year everyone and please wish me digital and analogue luck, in abundance.

7 comments:

Rain Trueax said...

oh my. disaster for sure. I hope it works out for you. Scary. I save frequently onto jump drives but you never save it all

Catalyst said...

If you have a good techie, it should be all okay in time.

Tom said...

I keep thinking I ought to download onto an external storage, but updating always seems to be such a faff. And as Bruce says, a good techie - and we do have a local company that's reliable - can usually save the day; at least most of it anyway.

But it is discomforting when a friend leaves without saying goodbye. And we do love to anthropomorphise our equipment on occasion. Hope all gets fixed soon.

Dominic Rivron said...

One can only hope it's not as bad as it sounds. We do have an external hard drive (oops! should have backed things up a while ago...) and do use a couple of memory sticks.

Someone showed me a while ago how, using an external hard drive, you can back everything up, completely wipe the computer and start again using the disks it came with. Surprisingly, it was quite easy to do and it certainly speeded up this windows machine.

Natalie said...

Dominic, I usually back up but not that often. The main problem, I was told, is that my iMac is 8 yrs old and that's considered obsolete by the Apple empire. This wholly unjustified premature obsolescence enrages me but they ensure that there's no remedy apart from getting a new Mac. My temperature rises when I think about this so I'm just going to hold off blowing my top until family guests leave in three or four days. Many thanks for commenting and happy New Year.

Roderick Robinson said...

Oh crikey. My link to the d'Arbeloffian world is via your non-mirrored blog where things had ground to halt with the prophetic headline: It's That Time Of Year. Was and is. I knew vaguely that you'd had techno-problems but awaited their resolution confidently. After all you have links yourself; notably with the Can Do society across the Pond. I will now - penitently - work my way up this minatory black background scattering comments. Trying not to be nugatory.

I have only one thing to say at this, the first stop. Forget the adjective "beloved" or, if you must use it, attach it to something where the electrons are contained in their relationship with atoms. Don't have them moving from one piece of technology to another. That way you'll shut off one avenue of disappointment, at least. "Beloved" presumes reciprocity and you got none here.

Natalie d'Arbeloff said...

Bravo Roderick for dutifully scrolling down and being non-nugatory all the way. Nugatory, nugatory? Do I know this word? Is it like nougat, which sticks permanently to your teeth?

Okay, touché, I won't use 'beloved' for inanimate objects, especially non-reciprocating ones, anymore.
What about wine: I'm sure you have beloved vintages?