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Posted by gabe on July 11, 2007, 6:27 am
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My PC was hit with lightning and now Microcenter is looking at it. I
replaced the Video card, but that's not it. It's probably the hard
drive or the motherboard.
I need my computer up and running pretty quick and rather than
thinking about it, I took it Microcenter to do a diagnostic.
Here's the silly question, 'How safe is my data?' ...ok, stop
laughing.
I have few questions.
If I ever did want to take my pc in to have it serviced, can I just
pull the hard drive? Can they diagnose a problem without the hard
drive? (unless it is the harddrive)
I'm thinking of starting an online business (haven't yet). What's the
best and most cost-effective way to do this and maintain security, and
get my pc up and running if this sort of thing happens in the future?
VMWare, backup or ghost software, RAID
What should I use?
Thanks,
Distressed Gabe.
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Posted by Mark Shroyer on July 11, 2007, 8:15 am
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> My PC was hit with lightning and now Microcenter is looking at it. I
> replaced the Video card, but that's not it. It's probably the hard
> drive or the motherboard.
>
> I need my computer up and running pretty quick and rather than
> thinking about it, I took it Microcenter to do a diagnostic.
>
> Here's the silly question, 'How safe is my data?' ...ok, stop
> laughing.
>
> I have few questions.
>
> If I ever did want to take my pc in to have it serviced, can I just
> pull the hard drive? Can they diagnose a problem without the hard
> drive? (unless it is the harddrive)
That shouldn't be a problem, but I'd call them beforehand just to
make sure. If they do insist on having a hard drive present in the
machine, see if you can dig up a spare drive somewhere to
temporarily put in the computer and install an OS on.
> I'm thinking of starting an online business (haven't yet). What's the
> best and most cost-effective way to do this and maintain security, and
> get my pc up and running if this sort of thing happens in the future?
> VMWare, backup or ghost software, RAID
VMware is an interesting idea if you need to ensure very low
downtime on your workstation. I've used it several times in a
similar capacity, on projects which required a very particular set
of applications or a highly configured operating system. If the
physical machine you're using gets borked you can move the whole
setup to another piece of hardware in a heartbeat.
Most of the time I simply rely on frequent on- and off-site backups
of my project itself, though, because not much of the stuff I do
requires a highly specialized development environment (beyond what I
already have on my other machines), and because I have a few extra
computers that I could restore a backup to and use in a pinch.
> What should I use?
A good UPS and surge suppressor, if you aren't already. A
line-interactive UPS has its power supply and its load connected
only indirectly; there is a transformer, a rectifier, a battery, and
an inverter separating the two. At the cost of electrical
efficiency, this characteristic makes the line-interactive UPS
especially good at protecting equipment against voltage
irregularities and even direct lightning strikes.
> Thanks,
>
> Distressed Gabe.
Good luck fixing your computer!
Mark
--
Mark Shroyer
http://markshroyer.com/
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Posted by Leythos on July 11, 2007, 9:20 am
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> My PC was hit with lightning and now Microcenter is looking at it. I
> replaced the Video card, but that's not it. It's probably the hard
> drive or the motherboard.
Your PC was not directly hit by Lightning, at least I'm assuming that
much, but was hit by a surge on either the AC line or a Modem line.
Typically this does not fry the Drives or CPU or RAM, but it will fry
the motherboard and any card/device the surge rode in on.
A Quality UPS would have prevented this.
> I need my computer up and running pretty quick and rather than
> thinking about it, I took it Microcenter to do a diagnostic.
>
> Here's the silly question, 'How safe is my data?' ...ok, stop
> laughing.
Anytime a repair shop has your PC they will typically format the drive
and reinstall the OS since that eliminates most of the OS related
problems. You should have been doing daily backups of anything
important. There have also been cases reported where Tech (from any
company) have snooped a drive, even though it's against the rules.
> I have few questions.
>
> If I ever did want to take my pc in to have it serviced, can I just
> pull the hard drive? Can they diagnose a problem without the hard
> drive? (unless it is the harddrive)
If the problem is related to hardware and just passing the BIOS Test,
then they can test without your drive. If the problem is related to your
installation of apps/OS then they need your drive to test with.
> I'm thinking of starting an online business (haven't yet). What's the
> best and most cost-effective way to do this and maintain security, and
> get my pc up and running if this sort of thing happens in the future?
> VMWare, backup or ghost software, RAID
LOL - Host your online business outside your home at a quality hosting
provider. At home, make FULL backups daily, keep at least 1 weeks worth
of them and a monthly tape, install a firewall (which is not the same as
a cheap NAT Router), have some other company provide the credit card
processing....
RAID is in case of a drive failure, it's not a backup method, it
strictly is in case of a SINGLE drive failure.
Ghost is good to copy a drive to an image or another drive.
VMWare - forget it, buy another computer.
BACKUPS - Tape or Multiple USB Drives.
> What should I use?
Multiple USB External drives, but that's not cheap, Tape, but it's every
expensive...
GET A UPS (APC Backups 700 or larger) and make sure that the outlet is
grounded and that all COMPUTER parts are connected to the UPS, even your
printer needs to be on the SURGE protection side.
--
Leythos - spam999free@rrohio.com (remove 999 to email me)
Learn more about PCBUTTS1 and his antics and ethic and his perversion
with Porn and Filth. Just take a look at some of the FILTH he's created
and put on his website: http://www.webservertalk.com/message1907860.html
3rd link shows what he's exposed to children (the link I've include does
not directly display his filth). You can find the same information by
googling for 'PCBUTTS1' and 'exposed to kids'.
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Posted by Todd H. on July 11, 2007, 10:29 am
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> gabedog@gmail.com says...
> > My PC was hit with lightning and now Microcenter is looking at it. I
> > replaced the Video card, but that's not it. It's probably the hard
> > drive or the motherboard.
>
> Your PC was not directly hit by Lightning, at least I'm assuming that
> much, but was hit by a surge on either the AC line or a Modem line.
>
> Typically this does not fry the Drives or CPU or RAM, but it will fry
> the motherboard and any card/device the surge rode in on.
>
> A Quality UPS would have prevented this.
I'm afraid this is a naive statement for several reasons.
For one, many UPS's actually have less voltage surge energy handling
than quality surge suppressors (these are rated in Joules, APC specs
these for comparison). Compare a Backups Pro 650's surge rating to,
say, a Surgearrest Pro strip.
Second, when it comes to lightning, no little bits of MOV are going to
defeat the energy in a close lightning strikes voltage signature
induced on the lines. Without knowing whwere the OP lives, how their
power is fed, the geography of the area, where the strike was, saying
unqualified "a quality ups would have prevented this" is foolish.
Finally it's not terribly uncommon to take the hit via an attached
modem telephone cable, or a network cable coupled to a cable modem or
DSL line. Electric lines are typically far more succeptible because
in areas of overhead lines, they're far more exposed and uninsulated
on the distribution end, but few people implement any MOV protection
at all on their phone lines, co-ax, or network cables.
Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/
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Posted by Mark Shroyer on July 11, 2007, 10:35 am
If you were Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options >> A Quality UPS would have prevented this.
>
> I'm afraid this is a naive statement for several reasons.
>
> For one, many UPS's actually have less voltage surge energy handling
> than quality surge suppressors (these are rated in Joules, APC specs
> these for comparison). Compare a Backups Pro 650's surge rating to,
> say, a Surgearrest Pro strip.
>
> Second, when it comes to lightning, no little bits of MOV are going to
> defeat the energy in a close lightning strikes voltage signature
> induced on the lines. Without knowing whwere the OP lives, how their
> power is fed, the geography of the area, where the strike was, saying
> unqualified "a quality ups would have prevented this" is foolish.
With respect the cheapest consumer-grade offline UPSs, you're
correct -- their surge suppression capabilities are fundamentally no
different than those of a surge suppressing power strip. On the
other hand, a quality line-interactive UPS should be able to stop a
lightning surge in the power lines from damaging equipment.
> Finally it's not terribly uncommon to take the hit via an attached
> modem telephone cable, or a network cable coupled to a cable modem or
> DSL line. Electric lines are typically far more succeptible because
> in areas of overhead lines, they're far more exposed and uninsulated
> on the distribution end, but few people implement any MOV protection
> at all on their phone lines, co-ax, or network cables.
Telephone lines are particularly vulnerable. The only hardware I've
ever lost to lightning was a modem.
--
Mark Shroyer
http://markshroyer.com/
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