"Lady Jane" Just Killed My Old Computer

[qos]

I bought a new computer with some of the proceeds from the house buy-out, and have been struggling to transfer files all weekend. I purchased PCMover with my new laptop, but my old machine would not recognize the special USB cable, even after I worked my way to the very bottom of the online help.

So this morning I started doing it the old fashioned way, with a 6G USB memory stick. (I would have burned the data to a disk, but the CD-ROM is broken.)

All my documents have been transferred, and I've been working on my music. I had room to move my 1.5G video of Lady Jane and everything seemed fine. I left the table to give the stick time to process everything so I could "remove device safely."

Except that when I got back, the screen was stuck on a screensaver, and my computer was making an ugly, harsh clicking noise.

Ctr-Alt-Delete did nothing, so I did hard shut down and removed the data stick.

Now it's still making the ugly clicking sound, and it won't boot, saying it can't find the hard drive.

I still have (almost) all my emails on that machine (including many from Lohain), several G's of pictures, including family photos, and the other half of my music.

I am about to rouse the daughter, get dressed, and head for the PC Doctor with all possible speed.

Comments

[tx-cronopio.livejournal.com]

Yikes! I hope and trust it will something easy to fix. xox

[qos.livejournal.com]

Still not sure about the computer -- but I love your icon!!

[blessed-harlot.livejournal.com]

Argh, what a hassle! I suspect and hope your treasures can be saved, one way or another.

[oakmouse]

Oh dear. Oh DEAR. I know the situation isn't a bit funny, but the image that your header gave rise to in my mind... And I haven't read D.H. Lawrence for YEARS. *wipes away tears of laughter*

I do hope you were able to salvage the data from the hard drive...

[qos.livejournal.com]

Actually this Lady Jane is the mid-80's movie about the Nine Days Queen, Lady Jane Grey, starring Helena Bonham Carter and Cary Elwes.

As for the hard drive, its in the hands of someone I hope can fix it -- or at least remove it from the old machine and put it in a remove drive so the data can be accessed. If this person can't help, I have other friends who believe they might be able to pull it off.

But I'm still stressed out.

[oakmouse]

I gathered from the body of the post that it was a flick. but I saw the header first.

(J says to tell you it's his fault I thought of the Other Reference. It's not, but I have to admit he doesn't help. *g*)

Sending good mojo for the survival of the files!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_storyteller_/]

Let me know if you still need help, Chris and I can make a housecall.

I can probably adapt the cables to work so that you don't have to use the thumb drive, we will take a look at it when we get there if you still need help.

[qos.livejournal.com]

Thank you again for this offer.

My dad's contact is going to remove the hard drive and put it in a remote drive box, which I should then be able to access via cable. It seems like a sensible option, assuming the drive isn't damaged.

Whatever the hadware situation, are we on for Thursday dinner? I believe we had a grilling lesson under discussion before the recall crisis hit. Chris is welcome to come along.