Non-techie Christmas
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So the wife's desktop hard-drive died just before Christmas. Took it to my local IT repair place, but they couldn't resurrect it. No matter, both our machines are backed up to well-known angel (I assume angels are beings that live in clouds :) ) So I agreed to take back her netbook that she never uses, and give her my laptop. I managed to get my data off the laptop and onto the netbook, so that was sorted. But we both decided that the laptop wasn't useable for her with Vista on it, so I installed Win7 from an OEM disk. Next problem, getting the data back off the cloud. Downloaded the backup/restore app, and tried to transfer the subscription to the new computer. Must have done something wrong, and ended up with a new subscription on the laptop. Hmmm. Deleted the subscription and phoned the angel, who must have been busy because it took 38 minutes to get through. Then life got really interesting. According to the angel, the wife had stopped backing up in 2010 and I had never backed up at all. After being quite rude to the angel, I opened up the backup console on my computer and found it was in the middle of a backup. So where was it going to if I didn't have a subscription? At his request, I read off the email address that was configured on the console - the same address I had given him seven times already! He still couldn't find my subscription until we had tried the radio alphabet ("ITEM ALPHA NOVEMBER, DOT, DELTA, ECHO, NOVEMBER ... ) and then all of a sudden the angel found my subscription. YAY! And my wife's (which I must have linked to my account in 2010). So I followed instructions to transfer her subscription to the correct hardware, restored her data, and installed MS.Office (Home Use Program - only cost me $10), and her Expenses application, and linked both to the restored data. All I've got left to do is set up a new backup schedule and we'll be good to go. Oh - and I found that my netbook battery won't hold a charge, so I've got a new one on order - and a docking station for the laptop for when she wants to use it in her home office. So, when I said I had a non-techie Christmas, I meant that we were without techie over Christmas but, as usual, I was her IT hero!
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So the wife's desktop hard-drive died just before Christmas. Took it to my local IT repair place, but they couldn't resurrect it. No matter, both our machines are backed up to well-known angel (I assume angels are beings that live in clouds :) ) So I agreed to take back her netbook that she never uses, and give her my laptop. I managed to get my data off the laptop and onto the netbook, so that was sorted. But we both decided that the laptop wasn't useable for her with Vista on it, so I installed Win7 from an OEM disk. Next problem, getting the data back off the cloud. Downloaded the backup/restore app, and tried to transfer the subscription to the new computer. Must have done something wrong, and ended up with a new subscription on the laptop. Hmmm. Deleted the subscription and phoned the angel, who must have been busy because it took 38 minutes to get through. Then life got really interesting. According to the angel, the wife had stopped backing up in 2010 and I had never backed up at all. After being quite rude to the angel, I opened up the backup console on my computer and found it was in the middle of a backup. So where was it going to if I didn't have a subscription? At his request, I read off the email address that was configured on the console - the same address I had given him seven times already! He still couldn't find my subscription until we had tried the radio alphabet ("ITEM ALPHA NOVEMBER, DOT, DELTA, ECHO, NOVEMBER ... ) and then all of a sudden the angel found my subscription. YAY! And my wife's (which I must have linked to my account in 2010). So I followed instructions to transfer her subscription to the correct hardware, restored her data, and installed MS.Office (Home Use Program - only cost me $10), and her Expenses application, and linked both to the restored data. All I've got left to do is set up a new backup schedule and we'll be good to go. Oh - and I found that my netbook battery won't hold a charge, so I've got a new one on order - and a docking station for the laptop for when she wants to use it in her home office. So, when I said I had a non-techie Christmas, I meant that we were without techie over Christmas but, as usual, I was her IT hero!
ian dennis wrote:
("ITEM ALPHA NOVEMBER, DOT, DELTA, ECHO, NOVEMBER ... )
I believe the accepted international standard is now India rather than the old Item (which, I think , was used during WWII as that's what my pater taught me) Your tale reminded me... now I'm going to worry all day until I can get home and check my backups!
MVVM# - See how I did MVVM my way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')
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So the wife's desktop hard-drive died just before Christmas. Took it to my local IT repair place, but they couldn't resurrect it. No matter, both our machines are backed up to well-known angel (I assume angels are beings that live in clouds :) ) So I agreed to take back her netbook that she never uses, and give her my laptop. I managed to get my data off the laptop and onto the netbook, so that was sorted. But we both decided that the laptop wasn't useable for her with Vista on it, so I installed Win7 from an OEM disk. Next problem, getting the data back off the cloud. Downloaded the backup/restore app, and tried to transfer the subscription to the new computer. Must have done something wrong, and ended up with a new subscription on the laptop. Hmmm. Deleted the subscription and phoned the angel, who must have been busy because it took 38 minutes to get through. Then life got really interesting. According to the angel, the wife had stopped backing up in 2010 and I had never backed up at all. After being quite rude to the angel, I opened up the backup console on my computer and found it was in the middle of a backup. So where was it going to if I didn't have a subscription? At his request, I read off the email address that was configured on the console - the same address I had given him seven times already! He still couldn't find my subscription until we had tried the radio alphabet ("ITEM ALPHA NOVEMBER, DOT, DELTA, ECHO, NOVEMBER ... ) and then all of a sudden the angel found my subscription. YAY! And my wife's (which I must have linked to my account in 2010). So I followed instructions to transfer her subscription to the correct hardware, restored her data, and installed MS.Office (Home Use Program - only cost me $10), and her Expenses application, and linked both to the restored data. All I've got left to do is set up a new backup schedule and we'll be good to go. Oh - and I found that my netbook battery won't hold a charge, so I've got a new one on order - and a docking station for the laptop for when she wants to use it in her home office. So, when I said I had a non-techie Christmas, I meant that we were without techie over Christmas but, as usual, I was her IT hero!
I can't say that I think the term "angel" is all that appropriate. Wait until the 578th case of cloud data-mining, and you'll probably come up with a better term.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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So the wife's desktop hard-drive died just before Christmas. Took it to my local IT repair place, but they couldn't resurrect it. No matter, both our machines are backed up to well-known angel (I assume angels are beings that live in clouds :) ) So I agreed to take back her netbook that she never uses, and give her my laptop. I managed to get my data off the laptop and onto the netbook, so that was sorted. But we both decided that the laptop wasn't useable for her with Vista on it, so I installed Win7 from an OEM disk. Next problem, getting the data back off the cloud. Downloaded the backup/restore app, and tried to transfer the subscription to the new computer. Must have done something wrong, and ended up with a new subscription on the laptop. Hmmm. Deleted the subscription and phoned the angel, who must have been busy because it took 38 minutes to get through. Then life got really interesting. According to the angel, the wife had stopped backing up in 2010 and I had never backed up at all. After being quite rude to the angel, I opened up the backup console on my computer and found it was in the middle of a backup. So where was it going to if I didn't have a subscription? At his request, I read off the email address that was configured on the console - the same address I had given him seven times already! He still couldn't find my subscription until we had tried the radio alphabet ("ITEM ALPHA NOVEMBER, DOT, DELTA, ECHO, NOVEMBER ... ) and then all of a sudden the angel found my subscription. YAY! And my wife's (which I must have linked to my account in 2010). So I followed instructions to transfer her subscription to the correct hardware, restored her data, and installed MS.Office (Home Use Program - only cost me $10), and her Expenses application, and linked both to the restored data. All I've got left to do is set up a new backup schedule and we'll be good to go. Oh - and I found that my netbook battery won't hold a charge, so I've got a new one on order - and a docking station for the laptop for when she wants to use it in her home office. So, when I said I had a non-techie Christmas, I meant that we were without techie over Christmas but, as usual, I was her IT hero!
Congratulations on recovering the situation. In my view, the terms "backup" and "cloud" in the same sentence are a non sequitur. Given how cheap external hard drives are (I've seen 2TB drives for $100), I'd go with a local backup that you know you can access. Buy two drives and alternate them, keeping one in a separate location from your home. Swap them periodically.
Software Zen:
delete this;