I was using my laptop, on my lap, watching TV. My dad calls me, I turn... and the damn thing falls on the floor. I pick it up, hoping for best as I try to run Notepad. Nothing. The hard drive doesn't seem to respond. So I restart the computer, and lo and behold, it doesn't start up. It gives me an error that says "Failed to recognize hard drive". I go into BIOS setup, and it doesn't even show that a hard drive exists. I go into the Dell Setup and Utilities boot CD, and there's no hard drive or IDE devices in there either.
I call up Dell Technical Support as a last resort and they basically found out that I need a new hard drive. They also regretted to inform me that I had lost all the information on that hard drive.
Everything I had ever worked on for By the Sword is gone, for good. The walkthroughs I had written to help me plan out the entire game in detail: gone. The Poser files I was working on: gone. The characters...the web pages...the work-in-progress images...the scenes...the rooms...the objects...the entire source code for my game...all gone.
Oh, sure, I backed up my porn and free music on the external hard drive, but not my game, the most important thing on that hard drive.
So wish me luck as I start all over again. I'm only hoping that I sent somebody the walkthrough plans for BTS. I believe I either sent them to LGM or BOYD1981. If not, I am hopelessly screwed.
F*ck.
I only have the older scripts you sent me :( That fucking SUCKS.. Why don't you ever backup anything? What's the matter with yoU!?!?!
I'm guessing you mean the voice acting scripts, right? I never sent you the "BtS Details - Chapter XXX.doc" files? I think I may have sent them to BOYD at one time then.
Goddamn you!
Start working on something else, if you want my advice.
I heard there's ways of getting it to work one last time, by manually spinning. It's s'posed to allow a recovery. Google for tuts.
Are you sure it's gone?
There are places that can retrieve lost data from a laptop that was in a fire, I don't see how a guy on a phone can tell you all the data is gone.
Look for data retrieval places to send the harddrive too, it might be pricey...
You learn by mistkaes.. :/ that doesn't help but maybe you can go onto rebuilding it and make it better from the start
Oh crap... that really sucks. That really... sucks. :(
i'd ignore what dell told you about all your stuff being lost, dropping a hard drive won't delete everything on it, it's more likely that something on the motherboard is broken, try connecting the hard drive up to another laptop or computer as a slave, but if it is broken there are hard drive data recovery specialists, they're not cheap though, but it might be worth it in the long run.
so, what have we learned from this?
1. Back up often, you never know what's around the corner.
2. Laptops are bad, don't use them as your main computer,Ã, you can lose them, drop them and even perhaps accidentally sit on them.
3. Dell don't know what they're talking about.
damn, all those replies while i was writing this one...
/me still can't believe it.
This might be a stupid question ...
But did you try to open of the computer and make sure the connectors didn't get jarred off the hard drive?
I mean, just dropping the thing shouldn't erase the data,Ã, that doesn't make sense to me.Ã, It sounds like you got a lazy tech support guy over at dell.
I wouldn't give up on it ... the data is still on the drive.Ã, You can get it back I'm sure.Ã, Problem is ... it tends to be pricey.Ã, But check the connectors first ...
Good luck man.
Edit: - Boyd and I were thinking the same thing apparently :)
It can erase the data, quite rare but... seen those IBM 'airbag' adverts?
BOYD: Oh, yeah, like you, I carry around spare computers for no reason. :P
Well I could get it recovered, but Dell said that after I got the new hard drive, I would have to return the old one within 10 days or be charged for the new one. Now I can't find any info on trying to recover it myself, like that manual spinning idea. Does anyone else know where I can find more info on it? I've found several places to recover my data for me, but it might be too much
And who knows, maybe starting over from scratch is a good thing...I was planning on re-doing the graphics anyway. But BOYD, do you have the BtS Details files?
YOU FUDGING IDIOT! I HATE YOU WITH EVERY INCH OF MY HEART! YOU ANTHOLE! YOU ARE THE UTTER DESPICABLE SCUMM THE UNIVERSE THRIVES ON! WHY? WHY?
Ok look, there's these people, they can retrieve lost data, even if your drive has been in water, on fire etc. SEEK THEM NOW!
EDIT: Even if it is pricey, you're bound to make more money when BtS is done, right? right? Speak to me for heaven's sake!
Yes, I know, but it's expensive. Is there any way I can do it myself within 10 days? :P
How expensive? More expensive to the pr0n site you were subscribed to as you said on IRC? ::)
Hehe, I don't know...i saw an article in a PC format mag i have...
For God sake man!
Get your data back! Starting over doesn't cut it!
It happened to me. I was being lazy, operating my computer with the keyboard instead of the mouse. I hilighted the "My Folder" icon on my desktop with the arrow keys....then when I went to hit enter, I missed by about an inch and hit delete...
My crappy Win95 didin't bother to ask "Are you sure?"
And the worst thing is, they didn't appear in the recycle bin...
Thats 6 months of work.
I feel for you man.
search g4techtv.com for data recovery software
Um...how can I run data recovery software if I can't even run the laptop? I'm on my dad's desktop computer and there's no way I can connect my laptop's hard drive to this desktop, unless they make a special cable for it, and even then it wouldn't be worth it.
Vel: $100 just to LOOK at it, $500-$1,200 typically to fix it. It's definitely not worth it. And why do you want me to just work on something else?
Well that's what I'd do, I'd be waaaay too bored to redo the whole thing again.
I'd make a short game to get my mind off the loss. Not that I wouldn't continue with it...I'd just put it on hold. Sometimes it's nice to take a break from a game, even if no one but you see's what you made.
I'd try to get it recovered, but if it's too pricey, you're just out of luck. I don't back up my files like I should, I have an outdated backup of my game, but I think everyone just thinks everything is going to be okay. So if it makes you feel any better, I'm sure a few people will back-up their games now, which could potentialy stop this from happening to other people.
-MillsJROSS
My suggestion is to find someone with a Dell laptop that trusts you, and ask them to allow you to try your HDD. I would give it a try, but of course I don't have a Dell. :( As the general consensus suggests, it is extreeemly unlikely that the data would be destroyed. It is much more likely that a connector has been jarred, or possibly the drive heads are now out of calibration. Of course, there could just be a missing sector on the boot area.
Have you tried removing the old drive and replacing it again? That's sometimes enough to help it along.
You can usually connect one PC to the other quite easily.. With a serial port cable that can be bought at Best Buy. If there is a Best Buy or Circuit City or something around you, GO THERE and talk with a laptop specialist.. They can try a zillion things and one of them is bound to work.
I still can't believe after all this time you never backed up your game ONCE.. IDIOT!
I hate to say this, but not backing up files is really stupid. Even anything,like art-work, music, story....
When I lost my stuff, my back up only contained about 2 thirds of what I lost, but at least it was something.
Open up the laptop and see if can be fixed mechanically. HAve you tried that yet?
Quote from: [lgm] on Wed 14/07/2004 21:31:39
You can usually connect one PC to the other quite easily.. With a serial port cable that can be bought at Best Buy. If there is a Best Buy or Circuit City or something around you, GO THERE and talk with a laptop specialist.. They can try a zillion things and one of them is bound to work.
So far as I know, you can only use the serial port when both computers are on (so that they network with each other).
I agree with everyone else, the guy on the phone doesn't know what he's talking about (I've called Dell support before :-[). If you can get the HD to another Dell laptop with a CD burner, like someone else said, that looks to be your cheapest bet.
Oh yeah, and if you get a new laptop, ANYTHING BUT DELL. Dude, you're not getting another Dell, are you?
Quote from: shbaz on Wed 14/07/2004 23:17:59
Oh yeah, and if you get a new laptop, ANYTHING BUT DELL. Dude, you're not getting another Dell, are you?
Are Dell laptops bad??? That's funny, because the old Dell desktop computer I got back in the late 1990s is still up and running fine. Maybe it's just the laptops.
Man Terran, I feel so sorry for you! I can't imagine having something like that happen, I sure hope that you can get your files back!
For someone thats just lost all this data, you don't seem to care much, except to start it over? Listen to yourself, it would be foolish to let it all go. :-\
At this point, I was ready to re-design the graphics in my game. If I start over from scratch, the only thing I will have lost is the dialog I was working on.
But what else can I do? I've gotten quotes from several places, and they are charging anywhere from $500 to $1,200. Thruthfully, it's not worth that much money to me to start over agian. Who knows, mauybe starting over will improve the game. The only thing that really bums me out is the fact that I have to re-write the dialog for Chapters 1 and 2 of my game. I try to look at the bright sid eof things...maybe the game will be better the second time around. :P
And, just so you guys know, the laptop runs fine, it's just the hard drive that shit the bed. Even if I did know somebody eolse with a Dell laptop (which I do), it would do me no good, because the hard drive is f*cked, either way. I DO care about this, it's just that I've resigned myself to accept the fact that I do not have $1,000 to spend on recovering my game, no matter how important it may have been to me. Like I said, I could just start over and it won't be that big of a deal. I could even re-design the characters so that they do not all look like John Malkovich. :P
$1000 is a LOT. It's a REAL shame you lost your game, and believe me, I can only imagine how bad it must be to lose the whole thing (I recently lost -one- sprite I'd worked hard on thanks to a glitch in PSP, and I wanted to jump out of the window to end the pain), but like you said, that's a hell of a lot of money (and is that in US$?). Don't feel pressured to recover the data, especially as you seem less devastated about it than others here :P Like you said, restarting it might make it better! Best at this stage to just take a deep breath, and get started again (recovering or writing down as many important aspects as you can).
Don't give up yet. I've had hard-drive failures before, but was able to recover most data on them.
The most successful way I found was to: First disconnect your old hard drive. Now put a new hard drive into your system, format it, install windows, etc.. It's now your new Master drive. Okay, I'm not familiar about your laptop, but, I think most laptops nowadays has room or slots for 2 hard-drives? If this is the case, set the jumpers on your old hard-drive to a "Slave" setting, then reconnect to the ribbon. Now, cross-fingers, when you boot up again with your New hard drive set as the "Master", and the old hard drive set as the "Slave", and if the data is still mostly intact, then you may in fact be able to read the data off your old hard drive, and then copy it over to your new hard drive.
You could of course take it into one of these places that can try and recover your data for you, but they can be quite expensive too as you've found out.Ã, There are also some emergency recovery utilities that sometime can be useful too, sometimes they work sometimes they don't. Depends on the state of the hard drive ultimately I guess. An example of such a utility:
http://www.quetek.com/prod02.htm
Ã, Using a utility such as that, run the program from a floppy, then if it finds files/data you can read, you can perhaps copy it to a CD, or secondary HardDrive, or perhaps even a External USB PlugIn HardDrive.
Best of luck.
installing a new hard drive and then adding another as slave isn't really that easy to do with a laptop
Quote from: Raggit on Thu 15/07/2004 00:10:24
Are Dell laptops bad???Ã, That's funny, because the old Dell desktop computer I got back in the late 1990s is still up and running fine.Ã, Maybe it's just the laptops.
Dell once made great computers with quality parts, but as they got more and more popular the quality went down and down. They started using the lowest bidder, rather than the highest quality part.
Laptops are especially hard to design (if you're looking to create long-term reliability) because making stronger casing to resist drops is unpopular (people want the laptop to be super-light) and the intense heat that is created inside that tiny space causes the PC board to expand and contract a lot, which weakens the bonded metal wires and solder joints (causing open circuits inside your computer). Laptops have an expected lifetime of ~2-3 years, counting in drops and hardware failure. If you're one who leaves his laptop on a lot (like my old roomate) then your laptop will likely see an early death because of overheating and stressing the components. The cheap Dell parts don't help any at all. While my roomate's computer failed because of his blatant retardation (I warned him about this several times) the other two laptops on my dorm floor failed for other reasons.. shoddy hardware. One was a hard drive that was making weird noises as it spun after its failure, and the other stopped turning on its fan for some reason. So far as I know this was not abuse, but just something that suddenly happened.
My advice is to get something Japanese. Those people are great and dedicated engineers. My Toshiba has worked flawlessly, as I'm sure most do (discounting retards who leave their computers on 24/7 for no reason). I actually didn't pick it out, my father did, but I've been happy with it as have my friends with Satellites.
As you seem to NOT know, Shbaz, computers are actually better off in the long run if you do leave them on. They don't get that power spike at boot repeatedly, they are less likely to get old-fashioned viruses, etc. once a week is about good enough to restart. Just gotta listen for the fans going bad, that can happen in a laptop more often than a regular PC.
Leaving you're computer on is less retarded than you think. Every time I restart I have to go through a ritual of CTRL-ALT-DEL ing several processes that do bad things, and quick before they really take hold. There's one that makes it impossible to CTRL-ALT-DEL if I wait too long. So I just leave it on all the time. Got 6 fans, if one went bad I wouldn't be too bad off. ;)
Again TerranRich, sorry for the bad luck. I've saved drives now and again, but theres a reason the big companies charge so much, because they can. It is an art, to say the least. For everyone else, ALWAYS KEEP A BACKUP: If you have not lost data, you will.
i believe shbazjinkens was talking about leaving laptops on 24/7, i agree that leaving a desktop on 24/7 make sense, but i wouldn't leave a laptop on for that long, same as you're not really supposed to leave consoles on that long, the smaller space creates more heat and it's not so easy to add additional fans to a laptop, the simple solution is to just not use a laptop as your main pc and always keep a spare pc plus discs to keep backups on, a computer is a lot harder to lose and snap than a cd (and a laptop)...
if i were going to get a laptop as a main machine i'd get an Alienware, they use top-notch components (i almost did get an alienware laptop instead of a desktop, but then i saw sense)...
I think it totally floated over your head that laptops aren't like desktops man. They have one fan, one tiny 1 inch fan, to keep the entire thing cool. I leave mine on hibernation or standby a lot but never on unless I'm using it.
It is also still arguable that leaving a desktop on all the time could be good. There is a reason that there are standby and hibernation modes, which solve some of the problems you're talking about. Other problems are probably to do with you not knowing the cause, rather than having anything to do with restarting. If you have to shut things down with ctrl+alt+del then your computer is slowed by all of the crap you are running and probably locks up when you open more than a few programs at once too. Defrag your hard drive in safe mode after deleting everything you don't want (recycle bin, temp internet files, old unused files). It'll make a huge difference, and it is important to do it in safe mode so that as many system files as possible will be defragged.
You must not know alot about computers if you just live to deal with the startup stuff..
You need a program called CodeStuff Starter (http://members.lycos.co.uk/codestuff/). Run that and you can stop all those frickin' programs that plague you.
Then, you'll need to go on and grab a program called RegScrubXP (http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=2048) Run this program once or twice (It's pretty self explanitory] It cleans all the gunk out of your registry. Makes your computer noticably faster most of the time.
Now for some Spyware detection. Get Ad Aware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/), if you haven't already.. Make sure it's updated all the way.. Then run that. Get rid of all your spyware and crapware.
Then, if you feel like being extra safe, get Spybot: Search & Destroy (http://www.safer-networking.org/) and run this a few times.. And you can hit the immunize button and prevent that shit from coming back.
Now would be a good time to restart.
Once things boot up again, you shouldn't have to close those programs anymore.
Then you'll want to get a nice little Gem called TuneXP (http://www.driverheaven.net/dforce/) Just follow the manual that comes with this and you can tweak the hell out of your system and make it run tons faster and shtuff. One of the cool features is re-organizing your boot files to make bootup time 3-5 times faster. It's great stuff.
If you wanna clean up the registry further, you can get EasyCleaner (http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm) and use that. Again, self explanitory.
And for good measure, run RegScrubXP again.
Restart your big beast of a computer, and all should be 230823 times faster and better..
If not, consider reformatting.
(Note, all these programs are freeware. No pirating will be necessary. Of course, if you're one of those crackpots that think software you pay for is alwats better, than this HOWTO isn't for you.)
What LGM said.. I didn't want to type all of that though. Defrag after you do all of that, in safe mode, as I said before and you will be doing fine.
Safe Mode isn't really necessary, is it?
Also, the Disk Cleaning Wizard is neat too.. It got rid of over 2 GB one time just by compressing old files
Quote from: [lgm] on Fri 16/07/2004 05:53:51
Safe Mode isn't really necessary, is it?
Also, the Disk Cleaning Wizard is neat too.. It got rid of over 2 GB one time just by compressing old files
I already explained that, sort of.
When you boot in safe mode only the essentials are loaded. This means drivers and background programs that cannot be defragged because they are running in normal mode get defragged. These are the programs you MOST want to be defragged (so they will load and run faster, since they are constantly on), and you can't do it in normal mode because they are being used.
To enter save mode, press F8 during boot-up or hold ctrl (most likely F8). Or, your computer sounds so messed up that it probably asks to boot in safe mode every time you restart anyway. :P
if you're harddrive is formatted as NTFS you don't need to defrag that often, also the default defrag tool is a pile of crap, get Norton Systemworks and run SpeedDisk, it's better and faster than defrag, plus it has all sorts of other nifty utils
You can't just tell someone to get software that costs money.. and don't assume they want to pirate, either ;)
Well, here's an update. I am currently using the brand new, spiffy hard drive Dell sent me (a different brand and model, but works still). Of course, it was blank. Completely and hopelessly blank. It took me over two hours to re-install Windows XP and all of the drivers...manually. Ah well, now I'm starting from scratch, re-installing all my applcations, setting up all my programs, Firefox, etc. It's not so bad. I've done it plenty of times before, so I'm pretty much used to it by now. But to have to start BTS over again....
Truth is, I'm puttiing it on hold. Indefinitely, but not for long. I have several other ideas for games, two of which are a Quantum Leap game and another idea I've have tinkering around...somewhere...oh shit. All of the information for that game was lost too.
Fuck.
Quote from: [lgm] on Fri 16/07/2004 07:16:20
You can't just tell someone to get software that costs money.. and don't assume they want to pirate, either ;)
systemworks doesn't cost that much, and i am totally 100% against piracy, my pirating nearly every piece of software i own is merely in retaliation of piracy, the only way to deal with these nasty pirate people is to keep using pirated products and perhaps then they'll learn!!!
say no piracy kids, it'll make you impotent
Quote from: Hollister Man on Fri 16/07/2004 04:54:20
Every time I restart I have to go through a ritual of CTRL-ALT-DEL ing several processes that do bad things, and quick before they really take hold.Ã, There's one that makes it impossible to CTRL-ALT-DEL if I wait too long.Ã, So I just leave it on all the time.Ã, Got 6 fans, if one went bad I wouldn't be too bad off. ;)
You could just turn off these items in the start-up section of windows (run msconfig on most versions).
I wont repeat what has been said a zillion times in this thread already, other than to agree that dell are poo.
Programs I've used and, to some extent, liked:
Win Patrol
Notifies you if start up has changed, and lets you block things from happening when you do start up.
Disk Keeper:
Defrags while you idle.
So, BOYD, you don't have any BTS "details" files, right? Because I could've sworn I sent them to you and/or LGM.
nope, you didn't send me anything, we just discussed lots of stuff over MSN, i have log files, but they're on my other computer which is packed away right now...
Okay, I don't claim to know anything about this sort of stuff, or whather or not this could help, but I was just watching "The Screen Savers" and there was a goy on talking about a data recovery program called "SpinRite", which can be found at grc.com
ANYway, I thoght that it may be worth looking into, as the guy even mentionned something about people recoverring data that had been thought lost to fire damage...
Not sure if you even have that old hard drive anymore, of course... but still...
It's been a month, so the hard drive is long gone and I'm over it all. Thanks anyway though! :)
Quote from: Hollister Man on Fri 16/07/2004 04:54:20
There's one that makes it impossible to CTRL-ALT-DEL if I wait too long.Ã,Â
Well, I had that same one, but if you get a spyware deleter you can cure it. Most of the time it's an explorer error. Mine did the same thing except when you click close, everything goes blank.
Eek... I've had my laptop for nearly four years (A Fujitsu, very outdated one) and I've never backed anything up elsewhere then on the hd (like, if I screw my work in AGS, I have a backup to unzip ontop of the old work, undoing the damage, but aswell the changes since) and it still works like a charm... only the usb connetor's bust, battery is dead and the power cord connector's a bit fubar, but works when I don't move the computer while it's on. I'm getting a new laptop soon though...
Are you sure that the drive haven't
ejected itself out from it's socket ?
Hapened to my built-in cd-player
for no reason on a stationary computer
The power worked, it started to 'spin' the cd,
but then the message came 'can't find cd-player'
Quote from: QuantumRich on Fri 20/08/2004 01:26:25
It's been a month, so the hard drive is long gone and I'm over it all. Thanks anyway though! :)
Erhm.......
I'm supposed to be getting a laptop from Mr. Panda.. But still no dice.. :(
Man, I really sympathise with QuantumRich - I just went through something similar after a lightning strike seemingly screwed my hard drive. I thought I'd lost my game in progress, but much more importantly, I thought I'd lost two years worth of my music stuff that was irreplacable and extremely important to me. Luckily today I found out my hard drive has been completely fixed, so I'm pretty happy, and I've learned a valuable lesson to boot - back up EVERYTHING that is even remotely important to you, right now.
The most interesting thing is that Terran, as opposed to the weeping ones who give him their condolences, seems calm, almost joyous and in relief that his game went to hell.
Can it be that our games are daemons that suck on our minds and hearts?
"The... horror! The horror!" - as Kurtz used to say.
lgm, thanks for those utility suggestions! they're great! I've always suspected there was tons of junk on my box, i just didn't know what to do about it. And i was right, there was all sorts of crap on it. so anyway, thanks!
Anytime.. Glad I could help SOMEBODY.
Anyone else who's interested, I've written a total guide.. Yup..
http://lgm.no-ip.com/docs/tweaky-clean.doc
Enjoy.
Quote from: [lgm] on Fri 20/08/2004 17:56:38
I'm supposed to be getting a laptop from Mr. Panda.. But still no dice.. :(
ok, dude. I found out what the deal is. I need your adress one last time, then I promise...PROMISE...it'll get there. PM me.
Sounds like another P-P-P-Powerbook scam to me.
Quote from: Goldmund on Sat 21/08/2004 01:00:21
The most interesting thing is that Terran, as opposed to the weeping ones who give him their condolences, seems calm, almost joyous and in relief that his game went to hell.
Can it be that our games are daemons that suck on our minds and hearts?
"The... horror! The horror!" - as Kurtz used to say.
The truth is, I had been feeling...almost trapped by my game. I kept working, working, working on it, and it seemed as though nothing was gettinig done. There is still hope: I can get Chapters 4-6 from Gravator and perhaps re-work the first three chapters. But I feel that I needed a break from BTS, and this might have been the only way. I figure, there's nothing I can do about it, so I might as well continue along, making other games and projects, etc.