In which I try to buy a new computer whilst smelling suspicious

[grrgoyl]

Oh Lord, what a day.

It all began when my computer died, for good this time. It's been terribly cranky about waking up in the morning for about 6 months now, but today it was well and truly DOA.

My plan was to bring it back to Micro Center based on the phone tech support guy's belief that it was just the power source and therefore an easy fix. On my way I had to stop for gas first, where I encountered my second problem. When I finished pumping, the trigger was stuck on the nozzle and it wouldn't stop. I panicked and, quite stupidly, pulled it out of the tank, dousing my coat with gasoline. GodDAMMIT.

I got to Micro Center and disappointingly was told that the power source was fine, but the motherboard wasn't passing the message along to power up. The guy assured me that replacing the motherboard might cost almost as much as getting a new machine, but they wouldn't know anything for sure without running diagnostics. Fabulous. So I ponied up 60 ill-afforded dollars just to have them diagnose the problem. Then, even though I had stripped down to my sweater, the guy 20 feet away behind another register asked the room in general, "Why do I smell gas?" I red-facedly explained I had had an incident at the pump.

I stopped to pick up some cables in a (probably useless) attempt to bring my crappy old laptop up to snuff so I could at least work in the interim (where another sales associate sniffed the air suspiciously and I had to own up to my condition yet again), but I couldn't resist swinging through the sales department to price new computers, where I saw a brand new unit with all the trimmings I needed for only $450. Thank God computer prices have dropped so much. I retreated to my car and discussed with Tery, deciding it made no sense to try to fix a nearly 4-year-old machine when new ones were so cheap.

So it was across the street to an ATM to empty my savings (*sob*) and back into the store (after changing into a clean sweater I had in my trunk) to cancel the work order and reclaim my much-needed $60. Out again with the old CPU, back in again to buy the new one.

As I stood at the register waiting for the clerk to count the sizable stack of $20's, someone tapped on my shoulder and offered to shake my hand. "How are you today? I'm the store manager. Just wanted to thank you for shopping with us!" Okaaaaaaay. Either he's a VERY friendly store manager, or my admittedly erratic behavior set off some warning bells on the security cameras. I wouldn't be at all surprised (or offended) if each and every one of my $20's received the counterfeit pen test after my departure. Nor would I be surprised if I was heretofore referred to as the "gas girl" (though that MIGHT offend me).

So here I sit with an awesome new machine. Everything would be shiny if I could stop thinking about all the stuff I've lost. All the downloaded music, all the family photos, all the very valuable internet bookmarks that I used for work, not to mention a fairly impressive collection of Snarry fiction and art (which, I'll confess, I wasn't too keen on the tech support folks at Micro Center catching a glimpse of). This is even worse than a system crash because the data isn't destroyed, just inaccessible. Does anyone know anything about transferring data from one hard drive to another by using the same CPU? (or, for that matter, the best way to get gas out of clothing? Everything still reeks after two laundry cycles.)

Comments

[metatronis.livejournal.com]

If the hard drive isn't damaged, I'd think you could get/pay someone to extract the info you want and put it on discs or a flash drive or something. That's what they said they would've done the first time a computer died on me, except that the problem WAS my hard drive being fried. I hope you can save your stuff! I know the pain of losing those memories. :(

[grrgoyl.livejournal.com]

I looked at a few sites last night, but none of them mention any kind of price. If you have to ask, you can't afford it? Tery and I know two bona fide computer geeks who we are hoping to ask about this (if they'd only answer their phones!) I'd prefer to do it myself if possible, as much of the data is, um... sensitive ; )

[metatronis.livejournal.com]

Heh...I understand your concerns. Maybe if you find someone who has the proper equipment, they can show you how to do it so you can choose what to extract. (Is it just me, or does that sentence sound very dirty?)