Board index › Coping in life › The Haven

Can't cope with computer obsession anymore.

Page 2 of 2 [ 21 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2

Previous topic | Next topic

polarity
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Feb 2006
Age: 46
Gender: Female
Posts: 502
Location: PEBKAC

09 Jan 2010, 11:07 am

Anyone who knows anything about computers, knows, you always need more than one.

How are you supposed to fix a broken computer, unless you can look up online how to fix it with another? (You may need more if you're doing stuff like testing networking).


_________________
You aren't thinking or really existing unless you're willing to risk even your own sanity in the judgment of your existence.


Dantac
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 21 Jan 2008
Age: 47
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,672
Location: Florida

11 Jan 2010, 4:46 am

if he should get another then he'd have TWO computers to drive him batty with.


I'd say try and learn some programming languages. Not only is it 100% structured but its also something that , if it doesnt work, is because of something you did and you can easily find and fix it.

Perhaps start with some HTML ? :)



miserylovescompany
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 Oct 2006
Age: 38
Gender: Female
Posts: 511
Location: UK

14 Jan 2010, 5:36 pm

Dantac wrote:
if he should get another then he'd have TWO computers to drive him batty with.


I'd say try and learn some programming languages. Not only is it 100% structured but its also something that , if it doesnt work, is because of something you did and you can easily find and fix it.

Perhaps start with some HTML ? :)


I've already thought about this, and I would love to do it, but I can't stay near a computer long enough to do it. I pretty much overstay my welcome after about 10 minutes. I can just about bear an hour or so at night & thats it.



Asmodeus
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Feb 2009
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,520

14 Jan 2010, 6:32 pm

Edit: already mentioned :silent:



sgrannel
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 20 Feb 2008
Age: 49
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,919

16 Jan 2010, 2:53 am

polarity wrote:
Anyone who knows anything about computers, knows, you always need more than one.

How are you supposed to fix a broken computer, unless you can look up online how to fix it with another? (You may need more if you're doing stuff like testing networking).


My computer has two hard drives, with an OS partition with full software installation on each. I have spliced into the ribbon cable and installed a DPST switch between the power supply and the second hard drive so that I can normally run with the second hard drive off, but if something goes wrong with the OS on the first hard drive, I can pull all my documents onto the second hard drive, nuke the OS on the first hard drive, restore the OS on the first hard drive from a Norton Ghost image, put the documents back, and revert to normal operation. I usually have to do this once a year or so when a file gets corrupted or I get malware or such. Recently I had to do this when a file got corrupted while I was on this site. In that way, I can fix anything that goes wrong with only one computer, but two hard drives. This also provides easy means of backing up the documents too. The ribbon cable splice has a switch in the master wire that lets me choose which drive to set as master without having to go in and move the cable.

Normal operation: Drive 1 set as master and drive 1 on, drive 2 off.

Nuke it: Drives 1 and 2 on, drive 2 set as master. Move documents from drive 1 to drive 2, then use OS on drive 2 to nuke OS on drive 1. Restore drive 1 OS from ghost image.

Backups during normal operation: Drive 1 set as master with drives 1 and 2 on, copy documents from drive 1 to drive 2.

All changes to choice of master and drive 2 on/off are made with the power off!


_________________
A boy and his dog can go walking
A boy and his dog sometimes talk to each other
A boy and a dog can be happy sitting down in the woods on a log
But a dog knows his boy can go wrong