Hard disk crash aftermath

As I mentioned when I wrote about my hard disk crash last Wednesday, I had at least two sets of backups on a 500 GB Buffalo LinkStation networked disk server. One is a simple automatic weekly file backup made Friday night by the Buffalo HdBackup software that came with the LinkStation; this includes the entire My Documents directory, my Favorites, my Windows Address Book, my Outlook data files, and my Outlook settings. I don’t even need to restore most of that: I can leave the backup set in place, and access the files at need from the server.

The other backups on the LinkStation were managed dailies made by EMC Retrospect. I had the machine that crashed set up as a client to my development box, and interestingly enough the Retrospect log for that night shows the crash happening:

+    Normal backup using Network full backup to Linkstation at 1/20/2009 9:00 PM

    To Backup Set Backup to LinkStation…

–    1/20/2009 9:00:19 PM: Copying Ima (C:)

    1/20/2009 9:52:44 PM: Snapshot stored, 341.1 MB

    1/20/2009 9:54:13 PM: Comparing Ima (C:)

    1/20/2009 9:56:31 PM: Execution completed successfully

        Completed: 360 files, 1.6 GB, with 83% compression

        Performance: 691.5 MB/minute (704.6 copy, 678.9 compare)

        Duration: 00:56:11 (00:51:42 idle/loading/preparing)     1/20/2009 9:56:32 PM: Connected to mh-p4-2400

*    Resolved container mh-p4-2400 to 1 volumes:

        WinXP Pro (C:) on mh-p4-2400 –    1/20/2009 9:56:31 PM: Copying WinXP Pro (C:) on mh-p4-2400

    1/21/2009 12:28:35 AM: Snapshot stored, 169.8 MB

    1/21/2009 12:29:41 AM: Comparing WinXP Pro (C:) on mh-p4-2400

        File “C:Documents and SettingsmhellerLocal SettingsApplication DataMicrosoftOutlookarchive_full.pst”: can’t read, error -1101 (file/directory not found)

        File “C:Documents and SettingsmhellerLocal SettingsApplication DataMicrosoftOutlookmeheller_hotmail.ost”: can’t read, error -1101 (file/directory not found)

        File “C:Documents and SettingsmhellerLocal SettingsApplication DataMicrosoftOutlookOutlmartin.heller@gmail.com-00000019.pst”: can’t read, error -1101 (file/directory not found)

        Trouble reading files, error -519 (network communication failed)

    1/21/2009 12:59:23 AM: Execution incomplete

        Remaining: 218 files, 713.8 MB

        Completed: 404 files, 6.1 GB, with 24% compression

        Performance: 78.7 MB/minute (50.5 copy, 208.8 compare)

        Duration: 03:02:51 (00:16:24 idle/loading/preparing)

    1/21/2009 12:59:42 AM: Execution incomplete

    Total performance: 94.8 MB/minute with 35% compression

    Total duration: 03:59:21 (01:08:24 idle/loading/preparing)

So the crash happened after the system had been backed up for the night, but before the compare step could complete. I’m good: any files created Monday or Tuesday are in the Retrospect data store.

The machine that crashed was the one that hosted the printer and scanner for the whole network, and the piano keyboard I use for composing. I haven’t decided yet how I’ll rearrange the office to put those back in service.

I’ve been convinced not to go back to Circuit City to buy a quad-core machine at their so-called sale: the risk of getting a machine that’s DOA on a final sale basis from a company in Chapter 7, coupled with the not-very-good prices, makes it seem like a bad idea on balance. Instead, I’ve picked out an AMD quad-core machine from New Egg, and a friend found an Intel quad-core machine, and I’m working up the will to go ahead and order one. Yes, they are billed as gaming machines, but it looks to me like they are both solid designs that’ll do everything I ask of them without breaking a sweat. I’ll also order a second 500 GB SATA disk, a 22″ LCD, and if I choose the Intel machine another 4 GB of RAM.

The hard disk that crashed was a WDC WD400BB, according to the last PC Pitstop Overdrive scan the machine ran. It connected to a VIA Bus Master IDE Controller. I found an 80 GB IDE disk to replace the 40 GB disk that died, also at New Egg, for $35. If replacing the disk fixes the computer, I’ll either take it home for family use or set it up to test Linux builds in the office. In the unlikely case that the IDE controller is gone, I’ll probably scrap the whole thing and put the new IDE disk in another old computer.

Moving my applications is a little more problematic. It’s not as bad as it could be, since I was already running Office 2007 and Visual Studio 2008 on the development box.

E-mail is of course my top priority, since it’s how I do most of my business. I have quite a few e-mail accounts, and the machine that crashed used Outlook 2007 to pull two of them via POP3, Bayesian filtered with K9 and a highly tuned data set. Outlook also connected to my GMail and GMail Apps accounts via IMAP, and my Hotmail account via a connector. My old iPaq PocketPC synched with Outlook, primarily for tasks and calendar items, but also for addresses and some email.

I’m in no hurry to configure Outlook to run on my development box. As a temporary measure, I have configured my personal GMail account to pull some of my POP3 accounts and leave them on the server; I’m hoping I won’t run into server storage size limits. I currently monitor my email on the Web in two Chrome tabs, one for GMail and the accounts it pulls, and one for the corporate GMail Apps account I have through PC Pitstop. I’m charging the Pocket PC during the day, and maintaining my tasks and calendar directly on the device, but not synching it to any computer. I might try using the GMail calendar and task lists more to see how well they work.

What about my old email stores? I think I’ll have Outlook point at the backups over the network, so that I can get at them when I need to. But I’ll be lazy and wait until I really need to do that. I think the Friday backup files will be good enough: if not, I’ll delve into the Retrospect backups.

It’s probably going to be painful reinstalling Adobe Acrobat Pro, since it had been upgraded multiple times. I’m hoping I can get away with installing only the latest upgrade and showing it the CD from the previous version for authentication. And I may have licensing problems with my music software, Sonar and Finale, since the old machine died before I could even think about releasing the licenses. I’m sure I can resolve that with phone calls to their tech support people, but it’s yet another potential pain in the neck.

Restoring from backups is no picnic, but it’s a lot better than trying to resurrect a dead disk.