Tech issues
Jul. 10th, 2008 08:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhienellethLast night my precious MacBook did something very strange - Firefox shut down unexpectedly, and when I restarted it a warning window popped up advising me to restart my computer. I did. Instead of giving me that wonderful "on" sound like Wall-E uses, it did what in my Windows experience would've been considered a boot to DOS. Things scrolled by on a black screen that might as well have been written in Greek for all they mean to me. I had this instant of panic, wherein I realized that my many, many years of living with Windows had given me at least rudimentary knowledge about what to do in a similar situation, but with Mac I am absolutely lost.
I left to use the other computer to look up help online, and when I came back, my desktop was exactly as it should be, except for a little box that said "Mac OS X quit unexpectedly" and asking if I'd like to send a report to Apple. Cautiously relieved, I did, but then only about twenty minutes later, it restarted itself and gave me the same exact message.
Mark finally came upstairs and I explained my panic. He asked the reasonable question "Have you done all the updates recently?"
Er, no.
So I did them. Two in particular stuck out as possibly very important: A firmware update, and a Mac OS update.
Here's the real kicker: I have never backed up w/Time Machine. Yes, yes, I know. I am a moron! See, Mark had two portable HD's. He was supposed to take everything off one and give it to me months ago. He never did, yet he's backed up his Macbook via Time Machine several times. Unbeknownst to me, he had decided to keep that other portable HD strictly for school use. He says he told me that, while I don't remember any such thing. The upshot is, today I am ordering a portable HD from Newegg so I can back up my freaking Mac in case something terrible happens. It hasn't repeated its odd behavior since I did the updates, thank goodness, but it's past time I was more prepared.
And yes, we have AppleCare. :D
So, question f-list - how big a HD should I get? I am sort of tempted by this one, even though I can't actually imagine using up an entire terabite of space. Also, I sort of prefer to stick with brands like Western Digital and Seagate, I suppose.
ETA: I ended up getting this one. I like the handy portable size, I've heard nothing but good things about the WD Passports, and I think 320GB will serve me well.
I left to use the other computer to look up help online, and when I came back, my desktop was exactly as it should be, except for a little box that said "Mac OS X quit unexpectedly" and asking if I'd like to send a report to Apple. Cautiously relieved, I did, but then only about twenty minutes later, it restarted itself and gave me the same exact message.
Mark finally came upstairs and I explained my panic. He asked the reasonable question "Have you done all the updates recently?"
Er, no.
So I did them. Two in particular stuck out as possibly very important: A firmware update, and a Mac OS update.
Here's the real kicker: I have never backed up w/Time Machine. Yes, yes, I know. I am a moron! See, Mark had two portable HD's. He was supposed to take everything off one and give it to me months ago. He never did, yet he's backed up his Macbook via Time Machine several times. Unbeknownst to me, he had decided to keep that other portable HD strictly for school use. He says he told me that, while I don't remember any such thing. The upshot is, today I am ordering a portable HD from Newegg so I can back up my freaking Mac in case something terrible happens. It hasn't repeated its odd behavior since I did the updates, thank goodness, but it's past time I was more prepared.
And yes, we have AppleCare. :D
So, question f-list - how big a HD should I get? I am sort of tempted by this one, even though I can't actually imagine using up an entire terabite of space. Also, I sort of prefer to stick with brands like Western Digital and Seagate, I suppose.
ETA: I ended up getting this one. I like the handy portable size, I've heard nothing but good things about the WD Passports, and I think 320GB will serve me well.
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no subject
Date: 2008-07-10 07:29 pm (UTC)That plus Yamipod, I should be set.
[Yamipod is a freeware program that takes stuff from your iPod (including playlists) individually and puts them back on your computer. Very good if you lose your music files. It's what finally saved me.]
no subject
Date: 2008-07-10 08:13 pm (UTC)