If this God-sent God-ly friend had not suggested me to write some (sort of) tech stuff on my blog I probably wouldn't have made a conscious effort to think of something like that. Thanks to his encouragement I did type something about my experience with data loss and data recovery. However I myself was not satisfied with what I wrote. How could I make such a thing my first-of-its-kind entry on this blog. That too when I am calling it a dedication to this friend. So here I go modifying that post. I wouldn't call this one a very techie post but for a start this would do.
Compaq CQ40 was my first laptop. It came with a 14" screen, 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD (don't remember the remaining specification) and fortunately or unfortunately, with a preloaded Windows Vista Home Basic, latest Windows OS of its time. I was in my 1st semester of bachelor's and was of the opinion that I would be taking that laptop to college once I enter 2nd year. However something happened and I decided to buy a new laptop jointly with a batch-mate, to keep the CQ40 with my dad. I went on to buy a Lenovo on which I installed an RTM version of Windows 7. I still remember formatting that laptop almost every month because I had doubts on the correctness of the install. It is as if I practised installing Windows 7 and XP (with drivers) on that laptop. In another year I bought a different laptop (Compaq) for myself (the other guy retained the Lenovo). Did a whole lot of stuff, learnt a whole lot of stuff on that laptop, for two years and sold it before leaving university. All this while CQ40 was at home, being used by dad. Sometime after I joined my job I convinced my dad (saying that he should use his company provided laptop) and got it here to use. This bugger gave me some unusual experiences. I, sort of, witnessed a HDD crash for the first time in my life (trust me, you start feeling totally helpless after it happens). I made me read a whole lot of stuff on data recovery, I even tried getting professional help, but at the end I couldn't really recover any of it. Moral of the story, all those software and websites yelling "take back up of data" "back up your data" are not dumb. It is a good advice. If you don't trust online resources like Google Drive or Dropbox or some other cloud storage you can still think of keeping an external hard disk inside a locker in which you can store your personal data and from where no one can have a sneak peak on your "shame shame" photographs of childhood.
Well after multiple repairs/replacements motherboard of that poor little thing (My CQ40) finally gave up (or so said the technician). He agreed to buy the laptop (for the remaining components that worked). It is a different sad story how I am yet to receive some money from him. I was probably too attached to the laptop and was not giving attention to its age. It occurred to me only after a friend mocked me for using it beyond its afterlife, that it was nearly 6 years old. In these years, as many of you may know there has been like a revolution in the laptops. They have become faster, more compact, light weight and what not. It is only after I bought my new Dell Inspiron 3000 series laptop (and also while I was choosing it) that I saw the whole lot of upgrade in the laptop hardware that has happened over the years. In a later blog post I will try sharing my ideas on how to choose a laptop (just my opinions based on what could be your requirements). But do remember this, being attached to some gadget/device is one thing, but expecting it to survive and endure your lifetime is just not fair.
Compaq CQ40 was my first laptop. It came with a 14" screen, 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD (don't remember the remaining specification) and fortunately or unfortunately, with a preloaded Windows Vista Home Basic, latest Windows OS of its time. I was in my 1st semester of bachelor's and was of the opinion that I would be taking that laptop to college once I enter 2nd year. However something happened and I decided to buy a new laptop jointly with a batch-mate, to keep the CQ40 with my dad. I went on to buy a Lenovo on which I installed an RTM version of Windows 7. I still remember formatting that laptop almost every month because I had doubts on the correctness of the install. It is as if I practised installing Windows 7 and XP (with drivers) on that laptop. In another year I bought a different laptop (Compaq) for myself (the other guy retained the Lenovo). Did a whole lot of stuff, learnt a whole lot of stuff on that laptop, for two years and sold it before leaving university. All this while CQ40 was at home, being used by dad. Sometime after I joined my job I convinced my dad (saying that he should use his company provided laptop) and got it here to use. This bugger gave me some unusual experiences. I, sort of, witnessed a HDD crash for the first time in my life (trust me, you start feeling totally helpless after it happens). I made me read a whole lot of stuff on data recovery, I even tried getting professional help, but at the end I couldn't really recover any of it. Moral of the story, all those software and websites yelling "take back up of data" "back up your data" are not dumb. It is a good advice. If you don't trust online resources like Google Drive or Dropbox or some other cloud storage you can still think of keeping an external hard disk inside a locker in which you can store your personal data and from where no one can have a sneak peak on your "shame shame" photographs of childhood.
Well after multiple repairs/replacements motherboard of that poor little thing (My CQ40) finally gave up (or so said the technician). He agreed to buy the laptop (for the remaining components that worked). It is a different sad story how I am yet to receive some money from him. I was probably too attached to the laptop and was not giving attention to its age. It occurred to me only after a friend mocked me for using it beyond its afterlife, that it was nearly 6 years old. In these years, as many of you may know there has been like a revolution in the laptops. They have become faster, more compact, light weight and what not. It is only after I bought my new Dell Inspiron 3000 series laptop (and also while I was choosing it) that I saw the whole lot of upgrade in the laptop hardware that has happened over the years. In a later blog post I will try sharing my ideas on how to choose a laptop (just my opinions based on what could be your requirements). But do remember this, being attached to some gadget/device is one thing, but expecting it to survive and endure your lifetime is just not fair.
Cheers
