(no subject)

[bardic_lady]

Resnet won't help. Fuck them.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Hmmm...you should check out -> http://www.veryliberating.com

[seino-chan.livejournal.com]

Hey honey,

I talked to Renee, and she suggested doing what Sarah suggested, plugging it into another computer. Megan and Nick have their computers set up to handle multiple hard drives, and probably know how to plug it in without damaging the drive. I knocked on their suite door, but right now they are either not home or sleeping, so I left a note asking them to contact me as soon as they have a chance.

In the meantime, I'd suggest calling Sarah and telling her that Resnet won't help, maybe she'll be able to pull some strings and get them to help you. I'll let you know as soon as Nick and/or Megan get in contact with me.

*hug* hang in there, baby. We'll figure this out.

[dramaturgca.livejournal.com]

It's with Greg at the Realms of Imagination House right now, hopefully that will be fruitful. Will was able to diagnose the problem. Apparently the partition table blew. Urgh.

Resnet are fuckers. I hate them.

[pat-trick.livejournal.com]

in all fairness, resnet is not equipped to handle an issue of the type you are describing. realistically, anything they might try to do at this point would only make it worse. thus, it is a good thing that they aren't looking at it.

[dramaturgca.livejournal.com]

What is a partition table and why is it so debilitating that mine has gone to hell? Words like "attrition" and "Sector 0" don't really tell me much.

[pat-trick.livejournal.com]

a hard drive has all of its data laid out in little portions on the multiple disks, or platters, that make up the physical drive. there is a portion of the drive that keeps track of the layout of the data and makes sure that it is in the correct location. this is called the partition table. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_%28computing%29

if a partition table in a hard drive becomes corrupt, it usually means that the data is still on the hard drive, just that the hard drive doesn't know where that data is. it's like knowing exactly where a needle in a haystack is, then suddenly loosing that piece of paper that tells you where.

there are data-recovery tools that can attempt to rebuild the partition table on a hard drive, which i'm sure your friend is trying out. resnet does not have such tools. an off-campus computer repair place might have more advanced tools, but data recovery is very costly.

this once again stresses the importance of always keeping multiple backups of important data. one on your hard drive, one on an external drive, on one the school's server, one on a floppy disk, one burnt to cd, and one on a usb drive. you are the only one who can be responsbile for keeping backups of important information.

[dramaturgca.livejournal.com]

What causes the partition table to become corrupt?

[pat-trick.livejournal.com]

any number of things, ranging from a bad write to the drive, power surge, dropping the drive in a mannr that the hard drive platters become damaged, moisture entering the drive somehow, drive read/write heads going bad...

really, the number of possible causes are numerous and each can be potentially worse than the other.

it all boils down to one thing: does the drive still function mechanically? if so, the data is more than likely recoverable with a little work. if not, then you can kiss the hard drive goodbye or pay $1000+ to send it to a data recovery center.

[racetrack0.livejournal.com]

...and to expand on Pat's answer, with an external hard drive, that power surge/failure, or even turning off before fully parked and the write head discharging... plenty of things can happen. Stuff like this happens (rarely, though with frequency increasing proportionate to mechanical wear-and-tear) even with system-mounted drives. Externals add an extra gamble. A mistimed bump off the desk or trip on the power cord, and it could be all over.