The studio laptop started throwing BSOD error messages a couple of days ago. So I began running a series of deep-scan diagnostics which, eventually, firmly pointed to a non-peripheral hardware failure.
The final utility did a l-o-n-g comb through the system config, and eventually popped its head up to say ‘It’s your Hard Disk, man.
The Hard Disk continued to work, but on boot-up I would get an error message that said (I’ll paraphrase) ‘backup and get off this thing now!’
Backing things up, whether the things are data, audio and/or video files, isn’t an issue, because all of my data sits on the NAS.
Obviously, my hardware is covered by maintenance contracts and, as a result, Mr Dell is booked to come and fit a new Hard Disk.
So it’s not the data that has me hacked off, because everything is protected.
And I mean ‘everything’ is protected. Everything. Right down to my bookmarks and favourites in various browsers.
But what’s not protected, and will have to be reinstalled, are all of the applications.
Some will be very easy to get installed, configured and up and running again.
Some just won’t.
And it’s the latter, the applications that have so many complex installation and authentication hoops to be jumped through, that are the real pain in this exercise.
If the disk is still working (at the moment), can’t you – or Mr Dell – just take an image?
Nah, these are cunning applications that register to the manufacturers code on the physical HD. So users have to get a reissued authentication code. Which is doable. But it’s just a ‘jump through the hoops’ arseache.
However I’ve already re-authenticated one application, and I thought that was going to be the difficult one. So despite the cough, snot and general ill health I’m feeling a little bit ‘yay’.
Get a Mac.
Ahahahahaha!
The one product, the only single product that has given me any trouble on this reinstallation is Apple’s iTunes.
This unmitigated sack of complete shit that dares to be called ‘an application’ has eaten up 3 hours of my time and has, on the resync, lost me 387 tracks.
Apple’s iTunes architectural plan is non-existent, the library seems to shift around with every single fucking release. And the inability of iTunes to deal with the simple reinstallation process is breathtaking.
I’ve heard many people complain about iTunes’ inability to get simple upgrades right in the past, you amongst them.
But this one experience has left me with such a vivid anti-Apple flavour, I think it’s safe to say that I shall be unlikely to ever buy another Apple product.
This user’s experience of Apple is way off the deep end of Totally Unsatisfactory.
Re iTunes: I agree.
Re Apple: You know my address, so you know where to send your iPod. Piece of shit that it is, like all Apple products.
Re one bad product writing off a company’s entire product line: You’re still using Windows aren’t you? I’d wager Office too. Please tell me with a straight face that neither of those products have made you swear loudly on many occasions.
In context and to reiterate. This was a straightforward re-installation. The only product that has given me any issues is Apple’s iTunes (and it has given me hours of issues and lost valuable data).
That is not acceptable.
I agree that iTunes is a train wreck and that reinstalling, moving music libraries and such is a hideous undertaking.
This makes zero difference to my original comment/suggestion: Get a Mac.
This was based on the phrase “Some just won’t” in the post. Some meaning more than one.
My wife’s iMac’s hard drive packed up last year, as did one of my sons’. In the case of my wife’s I reinstalled the latest OS and then said “Yes” to the offer to restore from backup. That was the sum total of my effort and she was back to square one.
My son elected to start from scratch as he had had a bit of a mess and had also (grrrrr) not plugged his back up drive in for ages.
For my own upgrade I also elected to start from scratch but was simple able to drag most of my apps off my backup drive to the new machine. The only ones that gave me any trouble were Adobe ones and that’s because they don’t do things in a “Mac-like” way.
So, to re-iterate, in context, my suggestion: If you hate reinstalls, get a Mac. If you hate iTunes, get a Zune.
And please don’t “hate Apple” because of iTunes. The Apple world is no bed of roses, but I will never consider going back to Windows. That said, I don’t hate Microsoft. I love and use Excel, I respect (though have never owned) the XBox and I have a respectable Microsoft Sidewinder joystick.
I know you love your iPod too.