Crash & Burn

Well, quite unexpectedly, I find myself in the process of buying a new computer. Sunday morning, I come in to find my desktop hard drive had hosed itself again. Mind you, this was the drive that I put in brand new back in January after the previous hard drive had hosed itself several times over the course of a week.
Back then, I was able to use a program to recover most of my data and pick up again with the new drive. This time, I was not so lucky. I've been doing a better job of backing up, but I've still lost the last couple of months of email and my Itunes database is lost along with my ripped CD's. So, I'll be starting from scratch with Itunes when the new machine comes in.
And speaking of the new machine - I guess I'm getting old. I've just about always built my computers from parts that I've selected, including this last one that has failed me miserably after three years, the shortest by far. All my older machines continue to serve in some capacity, such as providing one for my daughter. I'm pretty certain that it was not the drives that were bad. Two failing the exact same way in six months from different brands is to much of a wild chance. So, being about 99% sure there wasn't a virus involved either time, I have to conclude that either the memory, processor, or motherboard has developed problems. Since a new hard drive didn't "fix" it, I'm chucking them all and getting a new machine....a preconfigured machine.
It took me a while to stop convulsing at even considering buying an assembled machine, but I finally got over it and put in an order for a new HP that should arrive in a couple of weeks. I picked my components well and got a good deal. It won't be the ultimate gaming rig (although, I can upgrade the video card later if I want). Truth be told, I just don't have the time for gaming on my PC like I did before the kids. Imagine that. These days, the computer is mostly for surfing, photo editing, and video editing. This new machine will do all that better than the dead one.
The other bonus is that I got no interest and no payments for a year from HP and I'll be getting miles for Continental. Now, I just have to make do with this old laptop we have until the new machine makes it in.