I've been incommunicado lately. Here's why, if you're interested

[Tdarcos]

Some of you may have noticed I have been incommunicado, i.e. off-line, for quite a while recently. Well,it felt like quite a while, but the BBS says I was last logged on Aug. 6. But, I remember, that was when I was using my phone. Which is why I always put "Sent from a mobile device," at the bottom of those messages when that happens. So, other than a short visit, this it the first time I've been on a "real," computer - by real, I'm referring to one where it is possible for ordinary users having some programing skills, to write their own programs for it without permission required from anyone else - and I'm starting to get over,my "withdrawal," and I can go back to "normal." or something close (if there is such a thing as normal in my case).

The computer I just bought just stopped. No boot, nothing. Dead as disco. Changing the power cord does not improve the situation. Well, whether this one is repaired or I get my money back later, I can't wait potentially weeks for repair or the warranty claim to be paid, I have no choice: I have to buy another one. (When a computer only costs $250, repair is going to cost more than that, so "repair is not an option.") But I find, according to Amazon's list of all prior purchases, that when I bought it, which was May 2, that (1) it died on Aug. 2, exactly 91 days after Amazon's warranty expired; and (2) that I paid the $30 or so for an Asuron extended warranty. But, even at that, I need to recover my files first (not counting that I still need to recover my files from the other dead computer too, which, btw, is also covered on an extended warranty.) Do I have backups? Yes I do, but absent continuous backup, there are always going to be files you're working on which are not yet backed up. Because, if I am required to send the computer to a repair place, there's no guarantee I get all my files back. So this must come first.

Given my situation of this happening, again, I'm going to look for a free automatic backup, or, if I can't find one, maybe write one.

I'll do a separate thread on my replacements (yes, I bought more than one!) and my travails to recover everything.

[Casual Observer]

Asuron extended warranty.

Paul, what's your opinion of Asurion? My opinion is that it is the worst company ever created and if I had to guess the phone companies created it in order to have a fall guy when they want us to just fucking buy a new phone.

[raecoffey]

Asuron extended warranty.

Paul, what's your opinion of Asurion? My opinion is that it is the worst company ever created and if I had to guess the phone companies created it in order to have a fall guy when they want us to just fucking buy a new phone.

Totally agree

[Flack]

Paul, I thought you were actively backing up all your important/current files to iDrive? I think you said that after the previous computer crash -- or maybe it was the one before that.

I have a USB SATA Toaster. If you want, you can ship me the hard drives and, if they're not encrypted, I can pull files off of them and put them in some cloud location for you to download. If you have the manual dexterity and would prefer, I'll order a SATA toaster from Amazon and have it shipped to you.

I wish I had more to offer. I've thrown out every piece of advice I have in regards to backing up data and you have thwarted them all.

[Jizaboz]

I wish I had more to offer. I've thrown out every piece of advice I have in regards to backing up data and you have thwarted them all.

LOL This situation kind of reminds me of that Halloween I managed to delete a "haunted house" level I had been working on in the Doom III Alpha leak after I showed it to a bunch of dudes while tripping balls on shrooms. 2 days later I'm taking a shower and staring at the tile. The tile reminds me of the bathroom tiles I made for the alpha level. Panic hit me and I get out and run to my computer (This was before Dropbox was a thing) and find that I had deleted the map files of the level from not one, not 2, but THREE different locations while briefly frying my brain.