If the drive's a clickin'...

...it ain't good.

A brief explanation first: I have four computers. My main system (Prime), a five-year old custom built (by me) desktop; Onestar-Mobile, the new laptop I'm typing this on; a three-year old laptop I use for "experiments" (new operating systems, software I have to test, etc), and a workhorse desktop system I keep offline.

I can just see Julie's eyes rolling as she reads this. Yes, sweetheart, I need all those computers...and more, really...but that's not the point to this post.

I was working on Prime last night, doing a last bit of websurfing and getting ready to try my hand at making a new fractal (I was in a creative mood), when the hard drive started clicking.

I mean clicking loud.

I've heard enough bad hard drives in my day to know that ain't good a good thing.

I shut the computer down (cleanly) right away and decided to let it sit overnight. Give the drive a chance to cool down (it does help, believe it or not), and then dig out my backup external drive today to try and clone the dying drive.

I'm good at making backups of my disk, even if I only do it about once a quarter. I was a little behind...shit happens...and my last backup was in November before I left Pittsburgh.

When I found my ghost disk this morning, and the external drive, I hooked it up and started the imaging...only to have the disk click LOUDER and HARDER.

This is bad. REALLY BAD. If it gets any worse, I might have to use a bigger font.

It seems to be having problems cloning the "C" partition right now. If this is the case, and the worst of the damage is confined to "C"...this isn't as bad as it could be.

Warning: Eric is going to start speaking in geek right now. If you get confused, please be patient, and he'll try to translate for the non-tech savvy.

See, I'm rather old-school when it comes to computer drive partitioning. I don't believe, unlike current philosophies, that everything should be stored in "C". The only thing that should be in the "C" drive is the operating system. Programs, personal data, porn...whatever...should be kept in other partitions.

The only thing in my "C" drive right now, with the exception of a few programs who don't give me the option to install them on other drives (idiots), is XP. That's it.

Software is installed on "D". Personal data is stored on "E" and "F" is a swap drive, used for short-term storage. If the bad sectors are contained to the "C" drive, I can always revert to an earlier backup. There aren't too many programs that I've installed since then, so it won't be too, too bad.

This is the problem with computers these days, I believe. When you get your shiny new laptop or desktop with that massive 500GB hard drive, it's all one big "C" partition. Sure looks good, that you've got all that space, but if something happens, and you've gotta reformat your computer, everything in that "C" drive gets wiped.

Back at CMU, we used to argue that the "C" drive should be used to just have the OS, and nothing else. Userdata should be in another partition so should we have to nuke Windows (it happens more than you think), your dissertation that you've spent years on won't be affected.

Think of it this way: If you're a cook, would you store your recipes in the oven with the pot roast? Even if it's in a fireproof box, all it takes is one little accident and...whoosh...there goes all your recipes.

Okay, that's a bit of an extreme (and highly unlikely) example, but you get the gist of it.

It may not look it today by the sight of my dining room table, but I do believe in organization. Everything in it's place, and everything has a place it belongs. Maybe it's because I worked in a library for 12 years, but I like to have things properly organized. Dumping everything in one drive seems disorganized at best.

Sigh.

The cloning is still going on, some 12 hours after I started it. Looks like it's gonna run through the night, and I hope it's able to save my data. There's some things on there I haven't made backups yet on DVD, like pictures of Curtis, and I'm gonna be on pins and needles until it finishes.

Guess I'll head over to Newegg and order up a new drive. Thankfully, they're not that expensive these days. It's just a hope I don't have to reinstall XP again.

One more thing. If I haven't said it before, I'll say it again: BACKUP YOUR COMPUTER ON A REGULAR BASIS! I can't say that often enough. There's software programs out there to let you do it, and they're getting easier and easier to use daily. In fact, I saw this the other day...and besides looking cool, it's a simple and efficient and simple way to make sure your data is safe...until you hear it start to click. ;)