Age old solution to fussy machines.

[InTheDark]

I think not. I have had my hard-drive for five years. (I know, practically ancient for computers.) Less than a year of owning it, it crashed badly. Badly enough that I ended up calling a freelance computer technician who used to work at Microsoft, before he realized he could make much more as a freelancer. He fixed the problem. Wasn't easy, wasn't cheap. And here's the best part . . . He's been back 3 times since then. And no, not because he's incompetent. Among his clients are Fortune 500 companies. He doesn't even work on personal P.C.s much of the time anymore. As a former and repeat client, he works on mine. Everything on my computer is up to date.

So basically, every now and then it crashes for no reason at all. I'm sure there is a reason, but nothing blatant. The nice thing about paper storage is that unless some sadistic pyromaniac comes into your house, ties you up, and then forces you to watch as he one by one burns all of your documents; you're not losing all of your precious documents the way you would on a computer. One second it's there, and now it's gone! Hey, neat magic trick. Well, not really. Yeah, you can back everything up and pay for that service. But that's like wanting to buy an automatic watch because you think quartz watches aren't "real" watches. But then you buy a battery-powered watch-winder for it so the watch doesn't stop. Seems a bit silly to me.

I use my computer the way I do my T.V. and PlayStation. Entertainment only. All of my important documents aren't getting wiped out in the blink of an eye. I've kept up to date with computer technology. When it comes to reliability, computers are like Ultrafire flashlights. :thumbsdow

I'm also a semi luddite when it comes to technology, I sometimes think the old fashioned way is good enough. I would reconsider your options. There's a very simple (and cheap) solution to your problem.....two backup hard drives. And if you're really paranoid, three. The chances of multiple offsite backup all going bad at the same time is practically nil. Storage is so cheap nowadays, I can't imagine why anyone would even risk it. If you've had a guy come back 3 times to fix your hard drive, you could have paid for a nice RAID setup many times over after just one visit and have the security of knowing your information is safe. Someone doesn't have to break in to burn your stuff one by one, ever had house fire, a flood, or a tornado? You'd better believe all your stuff can disappear in the blink of an eye. The question is can you grab all of them quickly and leave the house? What about if a thief steals your stuff, does he now have access to all of your important personal info? I've lost so many paper documents to random stuff that any important stuff I have gets digitized.

I know that hard drives aren't very reliable, and even SSD ones might be better against physical damage, but they're still vulnerable to other problems. The solution isn't to rely on one single point of failure. Multiple copies are as easy as pressing a button, so I keep redundant backups offsite, so no matter what happens, my information is safe. And they're all encrypted, so even if it's stolen I don't have to worry. Best part about it is that's it can be done very cheaply. An external HD enclosures and repurpose the old hard drive your old computers you have free storage. But 1TB hard drives are <$100 now and that should be more than enough to backup anything you have.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

I know that hard drives aren't very reliable, and even SSD ones might be better against physical damage, but they're still vulnerable to other problems. The solution isn't to rely on one single point of failure. Multiple copies are as easy as pressing a button, so I keep redundant backups offsite, so no matter what happens, my information is safe. And they're all encrypted, so even if it's stolen I don't have to worry. Best part about it is that's it can be done very cheaply. An external HD enclosures and repurpose the old hard drive your old computers you have free storage. But 1TB hard drives are <$100 now and that should be more than enough to backup anything you have.

This is the best approach. I make multiple backups of my critical information also on CDs, hard disc, thumbdrives and in some cases paper, and some of those are offsite. Any recording medium will eventually fail so I don't trust everything to a single medium. Hard drive bearings will fail, denser drives might fail due to superparamagnetism, flash drives will eventually lose their charge, the dyes in CDs and DVDs will deteriorate. Spreading the data across multiple mediums will reduce the possibility of permanent data loss.

 

[TheRev.]

Steps to fun with your PC friend

1. back up all files and stuff, save product key on the side for future fresh HD OS install

2. find your favorite explosive material or firearm

3. take it to a secure location and live out the fantasy of total distruction and PC carnage

that should work

 

[DM51]

There can surely be no doubt that CPF'er jtice had by far the best solution to these problems.

 

[nitesky]

My solution is to say, in a soft and low voice, to the computer or other device in question, "I have wire cutters."