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Are We as Users Prepared?

18 years ago

I was doing some research recently in preparation for a System Recovery if the need ever arises. After considerable reading and several e-mail exchanges with HP techs I found out the recovery would not be as simple as I thought. In the case of my Vista model a6040n I would have to open the case and disconnect the bundled Pocket Media Drive Bay. Surprise! I absolutely wouldn't have known that. Well, I am now prepared for it even though I hope the time never comes.

This experience caused me to do some pondering on some of the posts I see, or should I say don't see here.

Maybe I miss them, but it seems I never read anymore questions about what to do in preparation if something occurs. It seems the questions only come after the fact. So I thought I would take a moment to ask, "Are we prepared?"

Do we know in advance how to complete a System Restore? A System Recovery? Utilize a boot disk? Handle a detected virus or malware? Re-install drivers? Enter Safe Mode? Do maintenance? And this is just a few thoughts as I can only assume there are many, many more and anyone who wishes can add to them.

I would think this awareness would save stress, time and possibly money. What's the old adage, 'A ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Or something like that.

Maybe we all just need to take a little time and become boy/girl scoutish. Be prepared.

DA

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Comments (2)

owbist
18 years ago
DA has written a good, thought provoking post.

I believe far too many computer users never back up their personal data assuming things will never go wrong. I recently worked on an 11 year old computer owned by a bookkeeper who does not back her data up. Tell me that is not playing with fire.

Even seeming to be prepared can be very misleading. I have Acronis True Image and created an image of my drive for safety. Weeks later I decided to install the beta service pack 3 for XP. The install stalled at 80% and said it needed to undo the changes made, I agreed. The uninstall failed and I was in a mess.

Never mind I had my Acronis image I could easily do a recovery. No so fast, Acronis let me down too. Now that got my total attention sudden like, my main computer was useless.

Luckily I have other computers so I was able to visit a geek forum where to my dismay I was not alone with this issue. Turns out Acronis True Image does not like restoring from an external drive but you will not find that information on their web site to my knowledge.

A quick dismantling of the external to remove the drive and slave it to my computer and we were back in action lickety split. That is not the way life should be.

For many who come here that is not acceptable because they only have one computer so cannot seek help if that one machine fails. Plus many users are not particularly interested in the internal workings and that is understandable too, they just want a computer that works.
secsteve
18 years ago
I have Acronis TI also and was very disappointed with their response time to a question I had about the full backup. It took them forever to even come close to answering my question. I finally wound up using the Wilder Security forum to get my question answered. I wasn't a happy camper when I finally learned that I had a back up --- sort of.

Long story and won't go into all the details. I do, however, back up all my data files on an external hard drive.
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I agree, regardless about how you feel about him or his party, he had nothing to do with this, the rig was put in long before he was president, under regulations that were in place also long before he was president and even under the worst circumstances, holding one guy responsible for a problem that was caused by many is not very reasonable, no matter what the party, although it is a common practice now days, obsess on a personality. Frankly there isn't much the president can do about it, particularly by himself. A LOT of people profit in the short-term for short-term thinking, which is why it persists. (And BTW, in case you think this is political, I didn't hold President Bush personally responsible for 911 or the lack of response to Hurricane Katrina either, that does nothing to either help or prevent future disasters). Restoration is somewhat my field, and I'll tell you, even with the best of our responses and technology, it is like trying to staunch a severed artery with a band aide. We're talking HUGE costs for the damage too, and I can't see where there is enough money in anybody's coffers to cover this amount of loss. Some things aren't fixable. Too late to close the barn door after the cows are all out.
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