Double Disaster …

Areal 'cracker', this one. First, my hard drives failed without warning. For the geeky, they were set up as a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent [or Inexpensive] Disks) array which, in non-geeky terms meant that everything written to one disk was mirrored to the other. A RAID setup (there are many levels) is a bit of overkill for a home computer and is normally found on a commercial server. But that is the way it was configured when I bought the computer about 18 months ago, and I didn't see any reason to change things.

Effectively this should mean that one never loses information when a disk fails, because the computer should automatically stop reading and writing to the failed disk and continue operating (seamlessly) using the second!

HAH!

So what happens when both fail at the same time? I guess that's a rhetorical question and needs no answer. I am sure everybody understands what the implied consequences are.

The failure, which I still haven't analysed, forced a trip to the local computer shops and I ended up with a new beast with all the bells and whistles. Never mind that there are still 3 perfectly working computers in the house.

I WANTED A NEW ONE (lying on back and kicking heels in air like a spoilt child).

So I bought it, even though the timing was a bit off. The release of Windows-7 is only three weeks away and I have pre-ordered my copy which will necessitate a 'clean-install'. That isn't such a big deal because I would have backed-up my data before installing and then copied the old stuff across.

But when you find yourself in a situation where you didn't have time to save all the important 'gubbins', you are faced with restoring from your latest backup. Something I do religiously, and on a Sunday, too! The most I am likely to lose is the stuff I've added between Monday and Saturday.

But worse was to come.

The new computer rejected the backups with total disdain. The new computer is a 64-bit OS; the old computer ran 32-bit. That shouldn't have mattered because 64-bit will run 32-bit perfectly well under normal circumstances. My circumstance was obviously 'abnormal'.

Much 'too-ing' and 'fro-ing', with the assistance of Maria who slowly but inexorably unzipped old backups to see what was where, and I've managed to put back some of the more important stuff. But my attempts have been rather listless, knowing I will have to do this all over again in a couple of weeks.

To add to the gloom my web hosts informed me that on Saturday they had a massive RAID failure (where have I heard that before?) and that all user accounts on that particular server would need to be set up from scratch. That would be OK under normal circumstances, but my circumstances at the moment are not. I'm sure I have relatively recent backups of the various accounts I run from that server (this is one of them), but there are a few things missing. And I really can't be bothered chasing down missing files.

So if this blog and Paradise have a graphic or two missing, please bear with me until such time as I can track down the little bleeders and restore them.

One 'positive' that has come out of this is that I was determined to reinstall Windows Live Writer (WLW). Cath had already contacted me, before the failure, to say that she had discovered that WLW didn't work with a 64-bit OS. I sympathised, looked for solutions and forwarded them to her, but couldn't help any further because I wasn't running 64-bit.

I am now. And Cath, I have to tell you that all I did was go to the download page and after checking the system requirements …

 

… I hit the download button and the programme installed itself without throwing a single 'hissy-fit'!

That's it for now …