Sorry ladies and gentlemen but there will be no posting for Flight of the Claymore this. Unfortunately Mother Nature decided to destroy my PC by means of lightning strike this week. While I do have access to the Internet for blog posts thanks to the old smart phone I am unable to post large files such as a story chapter. My Insurance Agent as assured me that I will have a new PC by this time next week. Thankfully I have all my chapters on removable flash drives so there should be no delay in finishing the story.
Sorry but there will be no Flight of the Claymore this week
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Comments
You gave us two in one
You gave us two in one weekend weeks ago, we can deal with a delay of a week.
Hope the house and property weren't harmed, a computer doesn't matter much compared with those two.
I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime
There's a chance your old
There's a chance your old hard drive is readable; let me know if you want any advice on that. If you were needing parts, I'd send those, but if you're covered by insurance, then that'll give you better stuff than I could offer.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Please tell me more.
I have work around that's really old on a crapped HDD but I was told HDD recovery was very expensive, if possible.
A lot depends on the failure
A lot depends on the failure mode. In the above case, it was a lightning strike. That often just blows the power supply, often then extending to the motherboard. In some cases, that's where it ends (CPU and memory gone), and the hard drive itself will spin up and connect when hooked to another machine. I've had some where the power spike came from the power supply, and then it destroys everything connected to the power supply itself - in that case, the hard drive is only salvageable by a recovery company with spare parts and (often) a clean room.
If your hard drive itself failed, then you have a few different failure modes. SSD's tend to fail catastrophically, where nothing is retrievable. (Some are supposed to go into a read only mode, but I've even seen those just go poof). If the hard drive was impacted (a drop, kick on the side of the case, unit falling over while powered up), then sometimes you can retrieve data with low cost tools. Without more information, it's hard to make a determination. That said, I know of a company that has a good reputation and fixed prices outside of Atlanta. I've used them, and they not only retrieved the data, but did it for less than the original quote.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Don't worry I'll come back..
next week.
The old Mantra
Backup, backup, backup!!... and thankfully you did.
Sorry hear about Mother Nature venting her fury on your computer.
Song cue- for the title anyway...
For those of us old enough to remember the top hits of 1966; Lou Christie...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyRqdzF8swY
Better the computer than you.
When I was young my cousins and I were racing from the cove to the cottage when a sudden storm occurred. Lightning struck the path between two of us. That is the closest I ever want to get to lightning.
What someone else said is true. Your hard drive may be undamaged. And if it is damaged, it is probably in the electronics or power supply, not in what is written on it.
We love ya, Jess, and are glad you are safe.
And that is why I use a UPS with all computers.
Around where I live a good wind and a tree or branch will fall and nock out power a lot. We used to use a portable generator, but the cable to connect it to the house failed once and fried every single surge protector in the house, too the point of singing the surface they were on. Now we have a fail over generator built into the house with a 15 second delay. and everything has a UPS on it as well.
A UPS can normally take a bigger hit than a surge protector but they can even be overwhelmed. But most often lighting does not directly strike your house and the surge will come over the power lines. In cases like that you can pay the power company to put an overload protection in between your house and your connection to the grid. The catch is it uses a soft metal that if the surge is that high will melt and break the connection. but any surge that can get through it can be protected against by a UPS And the overlaod protection will have to be replaced to get power to your home again.
"Cortana is watching you!"
Unfortunately, none of those
Unfortunately, none of those compensate for electrical discharges coming through either the telephone or cable line(s). Adding a surge suppressor to either usually ends up degrading or disabling the internet connection completely. You can, and should, have a grounding trip on any cable that goes outside of the house, but most people aren't even aware that they exist, let alone how to get one. (I have them from wireless antenna cables)
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Too True
the only way you could protect your computer in that case from a surge over the NIC port would be to go wireless, but there are always tradeoffs. Sadly there is no perfect solution. If you use cable or DLS, you can only protect your computer from a line surge on them by going wireless. If you are one of those luck few with Fiber, a UPS and in-line overload protection on your power line to the grid would cover those. But all we can do is cover as many bases as you can.
"Cortana is watching you!"
Sorry to hear about the computer WolfJess...
Glad that no one else was hurt. The sun will rise tomorrow, and the world will still turn, so no worries mate.
Take care.