Frustration is real....

[AnakinSkyobiliviator]

How should I say this without getting mad again? Okay, I will just get to the point:

So. Two weeks ago my computer refuse to open my browser, so I decide to take it to the computer shop, like any sensible man would. A few days later, I got the computer back with a shocking horror:

The guy fixing the computer had no idea what to do an....RELOADED my computer. :dry: Yup. All my addon from Orbiter gone just like that! He didn't even call to ask if it was alright, just bloody reloaded it and expect me to be fine. He also replace my Window XP to Window 7, which my netbook isn't used to and it lags like crazy from time to time....Now I have to try and find the good addons that I download from before.... :facepalm:

 

[Andy44]

Backups, man, backups. External hard drive, or whatever it takes.

Even though in your case it was a knucklehead problem, hard drive crashes can happen at any moment. I try to back up my computer at least once a month, or more frequently if I'm working on new stuff or storing new music or something.

Sorry about your situation, but you live and learn.

 

[orbitingpluto]

Write a bad review of the shop online, and then order some DVDs to so your can begin the process of accumulating backups of the important computer stuff you'll no doubt be re-downloading.

So, in the future it's not ", all my data is gone", it's ", I'll have to spend X amount of time restoring from the backups, instead of getting stuff done before it's back to normal again".

 

[AnakinSkyobiliviator]

Backups are nice solution one of the problem is that the original chunk I did, there was already a few bugs here and there and I had no idea which is causing it so I can't exactly root it out. Creating the backup at that time fix the bugs. I hope I can avoid it this time.

 

[Linguofreak]

The guy fixing the computer had no idea what to do an....RELOADED my computer. :dry: Yup. All my addon from Orbiter gone just like that! He didn't even call to ask if it was alright, just bloody reloaded it and expect me to be fine. He also replace my Window XP to Window 7, which my netbook isn't used to and it lags like crazy from time to time....Now I have to try and find the good addons that I download from before.... :facepalm:

Reimaging a machine, or reinstalling the OS, is standard procedure for a fairly broad class of problems (in some cases it's the only solution, or a consequence of the only solution, such as if there's a physical problem with the hard drive and it needs to be replaced). Of course, it's also generally standard practice to let the customer know before you nuke the machine to the ground, but that might not take the form of a callback. They might just say "there's a good chance we'll reinstall Windows" as part of their standard spiel when you drop the machine off. In any case, any time you send a computer in to be fixed, you should *always* assume that it *will* be reimaged and make a backup before you send it in. In fact, there are a lot of problems for which you can save yourself a lot of time and money by reinstalling the OS yourself rather than sending a machine in for service. For issues that don't require that, it's often good to send the machine in without the hard drive.

As for the shop having installed Windows 7 on the machine, unless you provided them with the original Windows XP install media that came with it, there's a good chance that they didn't have any XP media around.

 

[jedidia]

So. Two weeks ago my computer refuse to open my browser

Let me guess: Google Chrome.

so I decide to take it to the computer shop, like any sensible man would.

... No, that action does not seem sensible at all. Googling sounds like a much better alternative (unless ALL browsers stop to work, but even then you probably got a cellphone or a friend with one to look some things up).

 

[garyw]

So, in the future it's not ", all my data is gone", it's ", I'll have to spend X amount of time restoring from the backups, instead of getting stuff done".

Yes but at least you can GET STUFF DONE once the backup has restored as to right now where you are not getting stuff done but complaining about the perfectly normal step of fixing a computer with a process the IT industry calls "nuke and pave".

If there is a computer problem it is FAR easier to fix it with the "nuke and pave" option than trying to fix it. This goes double for any computer infected with malware.

 

[Artlav]

Reimaging a machine, or reinstalling the OS, is standard procedure for a fairly broad class of problems

Hm?
Back in the days when i was running around fixing PCs, reinstalling Windows was a last resort option for cases like dead HDDs and clinical idiots deleting all the files on C disk.

 

[sitha241]

I work part time in repair shop and I usualy try all but reinstaling windows..
For my self I keep orbiter and important stuff on different hard disk in pc..

 

[Spacethingy]

Do you have an XP compact disk, perhaps one that came with the computer? If you want XP back, and you have a CD, it's actually fairly easy to erase a computer and install an operating system from scratch. We could give you a few pointers.

 

[jroly]

Terrible someone would simply wipe the disk and reload the operating system on it, in some cases that is necessary but the drive contents should have been copied first and the data available to you to go through and copy back over.

You said the computer was running XP, sounds like it is old, should have not paid for the service and let them keep your computer, you could have purchased a new higher spec PC instead.

With that said, It's good to start fresh again with Orbiter, my install from all the addons took almost 30 seconds to load, a few days ago I started with a new install and it takes only 5 seconds now.

 

[orbitingpluto]

garyw, I was trying to contrast between being in a bad situation, verses being in a bad situation with a plan and expected time to being normal again. Perhaps I should have used "and then I can get back to getting stuff done" as opposed to "instead of getting stuff done", but I don't want to edit my post too much. My apologies.

 

[AnakinSkyobiliviator]

Even if removing data is a part of the process, I would've preferred that they at least call instead of notifying me three days later that they decide to nuke my data. If given the choice, I probably would have saved quite a few things or perhaps just get a new computer and keep this one for offline usage.

 

[rseferino]

I worked in technical service especially in banking agencies, the information comes first, the second and the third. In my case except all my information on two hard drives, one 500GB and a 640GB, excluding 320Gb hard drive of my laptop. The 640 is full of downloaded stuff, music, movies and series, have to see what I like and start deleting.

 

[Urwumpe]

Even if removing data is a part of the process, I would've preferred that they at least call instead of notifying me three days later that they decide to nuke my data. If given the choice, I probably would have saved quite a few things or perhaps just get a new computer and keep this one for offline usage.

If you didn't back it up, it wasn't that important to you.

 

[Andy44]

If you didn't back it up, it wasn't that important to you.

I don't think the poor guy needs us to keep beating him over the head with this fact. Chalk it up to a lesson learned the hard way...

 

[RisingFury]

I decide to take it to the computer shop, like any sensible man would.

Reading the rest of the story, I imagine you quickly learned that taking your computer to the computer shop is NOT what sensible men do.

Stories like yours is what I hear over and over and over again.

 

[sitha241]

Reading the rest of the story, I imagine you quickly learned that taking your computer to the computer shop is NOT what sensible men do.

Stories like yours is what I hear over and over and over again.

It is because in comp shops work people who have little or no skill in computers or electronics..
In my town out of all repair shops I can maybe count few of workers who know how to get the job done right way..

 

[Urwumpe]

I don't think the poor guy needs us to keep beating him over the head with this fact. Chalk it up to a lesson learned the hard way...

Not meant that way... rather as explanation why nobody bothered about his lost data.

 

[jedidia]

I would've preferred that they at least call instead of notifying me three days later that they decide to nuke my data.

That would definitely have been the proper action. I don't know how the liabilities are, but if there was anything of actual monetary value, the shop could potentially be sued... would be an interesting precedent.

It reminds me a bit of that time when I brought my laptop in because my fan was making noises (it wasn't just loud. it was outright unhealthy) and asked him to see "if he could do anything for the fan", because I didn't have the time to take it appart myself.
He removed the fan and replaced it with a non-original one, that required... slight modifications to the case to fit in. I would have liked him to call me too before doing that. But that was in Bosnia, so I wasn't that much surprised...