Computer disasters

Jonny69 · 20-04-2009, 21:23

Today Windows 98 killed my computer. For years I've been happily bumbling along with XP Home, legit, but missing one critical file: a font I once had back when I used Windows 98. Pan Roman is where the 69 in my sig comes from. I don't know exactly where it came from but I had it when I was a student using dodgy graphics software and it was the perfect match for what I wanted at the time. I made an Adobe Illustrator layout, the black 69 in a white circle, converted it to a Photoshop psd and history was made. Or so I thought.

Several years later and I find myself sitting here in my pants needing the original Illustrator file. I managed to find it on an ancient CD but when I tried to open it I found my critical font was missing. Damn, it must have been on the older version of Illustrator which is long, long gone.

Adobe are kind enough to keep back copies of trial versions so I tried downloading them all but no luck, so I assumed it was part of my rocking Windows 98SE I had as a student. No probs then, I did IT for a bit, I'll just install 98 on the spare partition...

No joy, it's a partitioning thing with XP on the primary partition running on NTFS so I killed the session and went to boot back to XP. NTLDR cannot be found. Oooo that's not good. But that's no problem for me, I've got my system hacked to hell on two partitions so Windows links to my files, emails, desktop etc on the second partition and the system partition is ghosted for quick recovery. Anything can happen to Windows and my files are safe and intact.

Or so I thought. Today it decided to corrupt the ghost image and after a bit of messing about and formatting trying to get it to work I now have to reinstall everything and I mean everything, so that's my smug grin thoroughly wiped off. I think I'm most annoyed that I've lost my internet bookmarks as these were the only bit I didn't have backed up.

What are your computer disasters then?

Mark · 21-04-2009, 07:34

But did you get the font you were after?

VMWare is most definitely the solution to this sort of problem. If the install goes bad, trash it and do another.

Jonny69 · 21-04-2009, 09:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark

But did you get the font you were after?

Only after someone posted it on OcUK

Fayshun · 21-04-2009, 09:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonny69

Only after someone posted it on OcUK

Saved by OcUK, oh the shame...

Belmit · 21-04-2009, 09:58

At university my hard drive corrupted and lost the naked pictures of my housemate's girlfriend he'd inadvertantly shared on the network. Bad times.

iCraig · 21-04-2009, 10:10

My colleague once created an XP install, added on CAD, Office, AV, Photoshop, configured everything etc. Over 2 hours this build took. The plan was to the ghost the image onto 15 of the other identical machines going to this office. Once they were all cloned, they'd get their own ID and would be boxed up.

He whacks the first HDD in to the case and loads up Ghost. Clones the one disk to the other but notices it took seconds, rather than several minutes.

He'd cloned the blank HDD over the fully setup one. When he realised he now had two perfectly empty HDDs in his case and all that installation down the drain he looked like he was going to collapse. We were on a deadline and every minute counted, it was a disaster.

20-04-2009, 21:23	#1
Jonny69 Noob Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Socialist Republik of Kent Posts: 5,032	Computer disasters Today Windows 98 killed my computer. For years I've been happily bumbling along with XP Home, legit, but missing one critical file: a font I once had back when I used Windows 98. Pan Roman is where the 69 in my sig comes from. I don't know exactly where it came from but I had it when I was a student using dodgy graphics software and it was the perfect match for what I wanted at the time. I made an Adobe Illustrator layout, the black 69 in a white circle, converted it to a Photoshop psd and history was made. Or so I thought. Several years later and I find myself sitting here in my pants needing the original Illustrator file. I managed to find it on an ancient CD but when I tried to open it I found my critical font was missing. Damn, it must have been on the older version of Illustrator which is long, long gone. Adobe are kind enough to keep back copies of trial versions so I tried downloading them all but no luck, so I assumed it was part of my rocking Windows 98SE I had as a student. No probs then, I did IT for a bit, I'll just install 98 on the spare partition... No joy, it's a partitioning thing with XP on the primary partition running on NTFS so I killed the session and went to boot back to XP. NTLDR cannot be found. Oooo that's not good. But that's no problem for me, I've got my system hacked to hell on two partitions so Windows links to my files, emails, desktop etc on the second partition and the system partition is ghosted for quick recovery. Anything can happen to Windows and my files are safe and intact. Or so I thought. Today it decided to corrupt the ghost image and after a bit of messing about and formatting trying to get it to work I now have to reinstall everything and I mean everything, so that's my smug grin thoroughly wiped off. I think I'm most annoyed that I've lost my internet bookmarks as these were the only bit I didn't have backed up. What are your computer disasters then? __________________

21-04-2009, 09:58	#5
Belmit The Mouse King of Denmark Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: The Winchester Posts: 6,476	At university my hard drive corrupted and lost the naked pictures of my housemate's girlfriend he'd inadvertantly shared on the network. Bad times. __________________

21-04-2009, 10:10	#6
iCraig iCustom User Title Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 2,250	My colleague once created an XP install, added on CAD, Office, AV, Photoshop, configured everything etc. Over 2 hours this build took. The plan was to the ghost the image onto 15 of the other identical machines going to this office. Once they were all cloned, they'd get their own ID and would be boxed up. He whacks the first HDD in to the case and loads up Ghost. Clones the one disk to the other but notices it took seconds, rather than several minutes. He'd cloned the blank HDD over the fully setup one. When he realised he now had two perfectly empty HDDs in his case and all that installation down the drain he looked like he was going to collapse. We were on a deadline and every minute counted, it was a disaster. __________________

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21-04-2009, 07:34	#2
Mark Screaming Orgasm Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Newbury Posts: 15,194	But did you get the font you were after? VMWare is most definitely the solution to this sort of problem. If the install goes bad, trash it and do another.