Hey everyone got some good news....

by **Tower_Mazer** » 15 May 2009, 18:09

.....and some really bad news. First off the good news, I completed my final final of the 5 year apprenticeship with a 94%. On May 21st I become a Journeyman Electrician (YEAH!!!!). With that I plan on working a lot on this project with all of you. Now sadly the bad news. On May 13 (my birthday of all days) actually the early morning of the 14th about 3am lighting hit a power line outside my house. With that it made this computer become erratic. It's trying to install Roxio easy cd dvd over and over on start up and wont let me uninstall or install anything because an installation is in progress. I watched it try to install itself for 45mins since I couldn't get around it any other way. It's progress got to the finished position for about the 45th time (about 1 install per min) then started going backwards until it was at 0% and froze. This actually may sound really bad but isn't the worst thing. The worst thing is I had 2 external 500gb western digial HD's go out. One had over 400gb of tools and backups on it. Most backups are not available anymore online and some were my own (diablo 2 world called Bloodlands (about a year of work!!!)). The other had over 300 movie rips and about 50k songs! :evil:

I'm really ticked off atm :twisted:

. I've got 2 other pc's to use (my wife's and my kids') so I can work on the project still but I'm going to see if I can't find someone that can pull some files off one of my hd's [-o<

. I also need to get Roxio's reg keys removed somehow on this pc #-o

8(. Give me a little bit to see what I can get done. I hate lightning since I've lived here I've lost a pc not counting this one, a wireless router, a cable modem, and 4 tvs when lightning came through the cable lines after everything was unplugged but the cable. I'm bummed out talk at you guys later.

by **Bog Wraith** » 15 May 2009, 18:22

Sorry to hear about your gear TM!

Were your 2 external HD's connected to your computer?

Whenever there is lightning in my area, I disconnect everything, including the cable input into my modem. My computers are totally off the grid and not connected to any external power in anyway.

I hope that people are paying attention to what happened to you. Just unplugging your power cords isn't going to protect you fully if you are still connected via cable or other land line connections.

Also, get in the habit of only connecting your external HD's when you need to back up or retrieve files from them. It's something that i have been doing for years for both my Mac & Windows machines.

BTW as an aside, this also shows that just because people have a surge protection device or a backup/surge protector like an APC UPS system like I have, doesn't mean your safe from direct or indirect lightning strikes. They help with surges and spikes and brownouts, but they will not protect your hardware from direct hits! You always need to get totally off the grid!

On a happier note, congrats on your fantastic grades. Awesome achievement TM! =D>

by **jatill** » 15 May 2009, 19:17

Congrats on your completion, especially with such high marks. I look forward to your contributions here. Bummer about your computer.

by **mathusalem** » 15 May 2009, 20:22

Geez sorry about that....but with such an "affinity" for lightnings...isn't it risky to become an electrician ?

I'm just rambling as usual :lol:

by **scythe000** » 16 May 2009, 00:45

One word: Recuva. Free file recovery tool from the guys who make ccleaner. DONT WRITE ANY FILES TO THOSE DRIVES UNTIL YOU TRY A DAT RECOVERY!. sORRY FOR YELLING, BUT THERE'S A GOOD CHANCE YOU CAN GET EVERYTHING BACK. Damnit, forgot to turn caps lock off.

by **Tower_Mazer** » 16 May 2009, 03:38

I'm almost at peace now but I have hope still to get something off the drives. This PC is still doing weird stuff. I ran updated anti-virus and anti-spyware and found nothing. I don't know I'm going to mess around with it tonight and see what I come up with. I'm going to setup another computer for now to start doing some scripting for practice at least and so I can make some cool stuff for us. Good idea Bog Wraith about only connecting the drives when needed. I kept them both connected all the time. I got to the point I only used my pc's HD for installs and everything else was remote. I've already changed my habits (little late) but I unplugged everything during tonight's storm. Erg only a setback for old stuff still time for the new. Thanks for the comments everyone. I'll talk at everyone tomorrow. Good night.