Unplugged – Lessons learned after a hard drive crash

It’s been nearly a month since I turned on my computer and came to the stark realization that the hard drive had kicked the technological equivalent of the proverbial bucket.

I admit that a mild form of panic set in as I struggled to remember the last time I had backed up my files. It had been fairly recently, but I guesstimated that I was most likely going to lose at least 10-15% of the more recent files.

At this point I did what most semi computer literate folks would do. I begged, threatened, cajoled and desperately attempted to revive the computer for one last go, hoping that I could grab those files. Alas, it was not to be. I came to the conclusion that that the HD had suffered a physical flaw within the operating system section.  Every time that I tried to engage the repair program it crashed, restarted the computer and took me back to square one. I grudgingly accepted the fact that I was going to have to replace the HD.

About a week later I headed up to Springfield and picked up a replacement drive and a transfer cable at one of the big computer stores. Personally, I think they are staffed by a bunch of pretentious kids, so I won’t give them a plug. They had the drive, but not the x-fer cable, but advised me that their staff could take a look at the drive to see if they could recover the files, for a fee…… Uhm, no thanks.

When I got home I hit up E-Bay and found the item I needed and ordered it. I hope that the cable would allow me to slave the HD and view the files. When the cable arrived, a week later (thank you USPS for the outstanding job on 1^st class mail delivery!), I set about taking the computer apart. Once I had the new hard drive installed I attempted to obtain a copy of the Windows 7 IOS. In the past, this meant a quick trip to Digital River to download the file. However, I soon found that that Microsoft decided back in February to sever their ties with them and now hosts their own files. Ok, no biggie, I went to Microsoft and prepared to download the file. At least that was my intention.

During the download process, when I was asked, I plugged in my Windows 7 key. Imagine my surprise when I was coldly informed that my key was not recognized. I checked it, even snapping a photo of the Microsoft decal, and re-entered the info. Again, no love.

I made my way to the Microsoft boards where I was informed that Microsoft does not view software, which is pre-loaded into a computer, as a valid key. WTF? Seriously?

I bought a computer, preloaded with a Windows operating system, but since I didn’t buy the system from them, they didn’t view it as legitimate…… Are you friggin kidding me?

No, they are apparently serious, but, for a nominal fee of about $30.00, they would mail one to me.

I was incredulous. Microsoft, that storied tech firm worth somewhere in the area of $175 billion dollars, the very same one who’s founder, Bill Gates, is worth in the area of $75 billion, requires me to send them more money for the honor of getting a copy of the operating system I already own?

My New York came out in all its glory. Bumper sticker / G rated version version: Microsoft, you can kiss my royal Irish ass.

I tried to load a copy from a torrent site, but couldn’t get it to read properly. Frustrated, I went to E-Bay and bought a copy on USB for less than ½ the price. Then I waited. The seller got the item out in the mail the next day, the USPS, leaving up to its stellar reputation for timely deliveries, took another week to bring it to my door.  With that kind of service, I guess we should get ready for another rate increase.

In the interim I meandered over to the HP site and downloaded all the device drivers for my system onto a USB. The consolation is that, should this occur in the future, I now all the necessary software to get back up and running in a timely fashion. Once I had everything in front of me, it took less than a day to get everything up and running. On the positive side, I have none of the pre-loaded garbage that systems generally come with. That should make things run a lot better.

I still have to load a bunch of programs I need, as well as get my A/V software back on. I dread the thought of having to log into all my sites, and enter the 20 gazillion passwords I have. Fortunately, those were all properly backed up on good old fashioned paper.

So what exactly has this month away from technology taught me?

Well, for starters, back up your files regularly. I nearly had a coronary when I realized that one of the books I had been working on might have been lost. Fortunately, the document was able to be recovered as well as a 1^st gen cover graphic. So I only had minimal work to do to redo it. Still, the initial stress wasn’t exactly what I would call fun.

That being said, I learned a very valuable lesson: There is life beyond technology, and it is good.

A month away from E-Mails, Twitter, Facebook, etc., didn’t kill me. In fact, I rather enjoyed it. I chucked the whining, bitching and narcissistic posts, which are common to this medium, and felt myself actually begin to relax. I didn’t miss the complaints, the senseless arguing, and mindless posts. In fact, I went so far as to unplug from the TV as well. I didn’t care what was going on in the world, and if I watched anything, it was either a baseball or football game.

I got outside and did real, honest-to-God work. I got my hands dirty. I moved several tons of rock and dirt, with nothing more than a shovel and wheelbarrow, I cut down trees, moved bushes and helped my neighbor stack two cords of wood for the winter. I cleaned my garage and used some of the tools I had been allowing to gather dust. I got more off my to-do list in a couple of weeks, than I managed to do in a year. It was back breaking labor and I loved it. My body hurt more at the end of the day, then after 2 hours spent each day at the gym.

I also found that my family was actually interesting to be around.

No, being away from technology wasn’t a bad thing.

Unfortunately, I knew that I needed to come back to it. It’s kind of hard to run a business and write books when you are not connected. Even when you dread it, you know you still need to do it. It’s the nature of the beast.

So I am back, but on a limited basis. I have come to realize that we spend entirely too much time behind our computer monitors and smart phone screens. We are caught up in the flashy and mindless things of the moment, and don’t realize that a world is passing us by, just outside our window.

I have a list on my desk of the things I want to do before the snow arrives, so I’m going to impose limits on my tech time. I suggest you do the same. Put down that mouse, turn off the device, and go outside for a little while. Grab a tool, before the weather gets too cold, and do something really productive. You’ll find that after a few days you won’t even miss the computer, after a week or so you’ll even dread going back to it. At that point you will realize that there is a lot more to life then pixels on a screen.