Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Things That Scare Me: Part 3

The last thing that well and truly scares me is the Big C. No, not cancer, but Crash, as in Computer.

My whole life is on my computer. Pretty much every project I have worked on over the past 15 years is floating around in there. I have something like 140 pages of D&D notes alone, which I hope someday to pass down to my son.

Some kids get cars or college tuitions. Mine will get a fully fleshed out universe, complete with multiple pantheons, a cosmology, and some mind-numbingly detailed histories of people that only exist in my head.

I also have numerous short stories, a completed novel, half-finished fiction of all types and a book for children called The Littlest Musketeer: How Syphilis Saved Aramis.

Not only that, but the computer is my primary source of amusement. I download games, play WoW and City of Heroes, read the news, and search for random things on YouTube.

Mine is a full life.

So if you ever hear a great scream from roughly Washington State, you will know that my hard drive has gone to the great formatter in the sky.

Cheers,
-Jason

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Um, dude. First, I wish my dad had something like that universe to leave me :) You've a lucky little man.

Second, I'm in IT and I know you aren't stupid at all, but what do you use to back up your stuff? I mean, all that in one location is a disaster waiting to happen.

Just curious,
Churchill

Anonymous said...

You could always back your work up on an external hard drive. That way, it's also portable and would be unaffected by any other calamities that might befall your computer.

Anonymous said...

Likewise with Shannon and anonymous. Like Shannon i'm also an IT Professional. You should definitely backup your stuff. Create an image of your hard drive on another disk or external drive. I would also suggest storing a copy of it somewhere safe. e.g., a fireproof and waterproof safe.

Anonymous said...

Also when a link on a name is created it is only directed to pages on blogger.com Not to an external link from this site. Very odd. Maybe there is something I overlooked. Either way. My site is actually www.coremd.net. On the post above it's at the end of the errored page's address.

Anonymous said...

nevermind. figured it our. You have to put http:// at the begining of your sites address. Sorry about three posts in a row.

Jason Janicki said...

Thanks for your comments :)

I have actually backed up my stuff. I sometimes exagerate my own ineptitude (but not by much).

My backups are all on floppys, so I do need to buy a good external hard drive. Do you IT guys have any recommendations?

Anonymous said...

Maxtor makes a line of external hard drives that we use all the time. You can get 200 GB for less than $150 now. If you go up to $225, you can get 500 GB. If you need more than 500 GB, it's time to buy a server :)

Now the bad news . . . backing up on floppy disc is about as useless as a screen door on a submarine. Much more often than not, a floppy only works on the computer that initially formatted it. Don't know why, but it seem to lean that way.

So, get a portable external HD and be safe.

Anonymous said...

I agree with anonymous. Get a maxtor. That's what I have for personal use.

Jason Janicki said...

Okay, Maxtor it is.

Thanks for the input, guys. I'll pick one up ASAP.