Where do these people come from

Slaphead

Slaphead

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Andy
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OK, I'll admit that IT can be confusing for those uninitiated with, but sometimes you come across something which entirely beggars belief.

Had a situation with a computer that wouldn't start. Turning it on immediately revealed the CLACK CLACK CLACK associated with spinning rust death. It's never a good thing having to call somebody to tell them unless they have a backup then you can either kiss goodbye to the last few years of their life, or kiss goodbye to a couple of grand to recover their life. Not having a backup is stupid, right.

So I called the customer and informed her that the disk is a complete write off. To my relief she replied that she had a backup disk. Great I said. If you can bring it over I'll put a new hard disk in and copy the data over.

Half an hour later the customer arrived and happily handed me her brand new, still in cellophane, external backup drive.

:bang:
 
oh dear...

fortunately we get to wash our hands of anything that isnt stored on the network (hence stored on redundant disks/servers, backed up to LTO3 overnight everynight)..
 
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Been off work today with a stinking migraine(all beter now after a lovely concoction of tablets) and this made me smile for the first time today.
some people ha ha!!
 
I am one of those people that don't back up often enough,

However I know it's cruel but I couldn't help but chuckle,

Now watch karma come and bite me on the a&£?
 
neil_g said:
oh dear...

fortunately we get to wash our hands of anything that isnt stored on the network (hence stored on redundant disks/servers, backed up to LTO3 overnight everynight)..
Click to expand...

we are on middle ground. *technically speaking* we can wash our hands of stuff that isn't stored on the server, as we advise people not to store stuff on their local hard disk. Some clients have roaming profiles which are backed up though, and others are too volatile to simply say "well sorry we told you not to store stuff on your PCs"... it's part small company mentality and part the kind of people that we deal with but we'd lose business if we did that...
 
trencheel303 said:
we are on middle ground. *technically speaking* we can wash our hands of stuff that isn't stored on the server, as we advise people not to store stuff on their local hard disk. Some clients have roaming profiles which are backed up though, and others are too volatile to simply say "well sorry we told you not to store stuff on your PCs"... it's part small company mentality and part the kind of people that we deal with but we'd lose business if we did that...
Click to expand...

in reality we can/do help people if they supply enough biscuits :thumbs:
 
we are the same, and I don't mind it either. I do hate it though when people make unreasonable demands. IT people really aren't all that bad!
 
As do we. I've explained the options to the customer, and while she's not happy, she's not prepared to pay for a specialist data recovery service. I said I'll do a last ditch attempt on Monday after cooling the drive - I know it's an unproffesional method but I've had around a 20% hit rate in terms of getting drives functioning long enough to at least get the most important data off. However the failure the drive has experienced has virtually no chance of being temporarily cured by cooling.

So currently the drive is in a plastic bag, surrounded by silica gel packs, sitting in the canteens freezer.
 
That's on thing I do miss from the old it days (were talking twenty odd years ago) I do still giggle at the apparent urban myths of tea cup holders broken as we did get those calls back in the day :)
 
Lynton said:
well that's my Friday evening taken up for the next 30 mins.............
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and mine:)


I have to say this is one of the best I have seen for a while :lol:


ME: Here are the photographs from the shoot yesterday

CLIENT: Nice shots - I like this one from behind the man. Can you just flip the image so we can see his face and not the back of his head?

ME: You want me to turn him around in the photograph so you can see his face?

CLIENT: Yes - and maybe we can make him black. Do you have Photoshop?
 
People seem to forget the anally retentive and restrictive rules are there to stop you screwing up your computer then whining like a baby when it doesn't work. That's why you are limited in what software that can be installed, not allowed an admin password, told to back up onto a network drive. There are always some that kick off about such rules but those that scream the loudest usually end up needing the most help to fix whatever they've ended up breaking through their own stupidity. The most dangerous are those that know a little. Just enough to start messing with things but not enough to know why they shouldn't!
 
End users. Can't live with them. Can't knife them in the guts. :)
 
neil_g said:
oh dear...

fortunately we get to wash our hands of anything that isnt stored on the network (hence stored on redundant disks/servers, backed up to LTO3 overnight everynight)..
Click to expand...

Make sure you take the previous night's backup tape off site EVERY night.....we have had 1 office burn down and one flooded twice.
 
srichards said:
People seem to forget the anally retentive and restrictive rules are there to stop you screwing up your computer then whining like a baby when it doesn't work. That's why you are limited in what software that can be installed, not allowed an admin password, told to back up onto a network drive. There are always some that kick off about such rules but those that scream the loudest usually end up needing the most help to fix whatever they've ended up breaking through their own stupidity. The most dangerous are those that know a little. Just enough to start messing with things but not enough to know why they shouldn't!
Click to expand...

Or the "ex IT" types who think they know everything because they dabbled in IT in their last job 20 years ago and think that gives them the right to tell you how to do your job... Its ever tempting to say to them "well save me the bother and do it yourself" but that's not the right answer... :nono:
 
Slaphead said:
As do we. I've explained the options to the customer, and while she's not happy, she's not prepared to pay for a specialist data recovery service. I said I'll do a last ditch attempt on Monday after cooling the drive - I know it's an unproffesional method but I've had around a 20% hit rate in terms of getting drives functioning long enough to at least get the most important data off. However the failure the drive has experienced has virtually no chance of being temporarily cured by cooling.

So currently the drive is in a plastic bag, surrounded by silica gel packs, sitting in the canteens freezer.
Click to expand...

As expected no chance. I've put a new drive in, installed the system and what few programs she actually had the original disks/licenses for - you guessed it, the vast majority of her software was hooky, as is always pretty much the case with home/consumer users.

I've explained to her how the backup function works, and how to attach the backup disk, and I've tested it.

I've also given her back the faulty disk with the contact details of a specialist recovery outfit on the off chance she suddenly decides that the data is worth the large recovery fee.

Not much else I can do really.
 
Lol my grandad bless him I told him that he needs a computer being as he's all on his own now with nothing but jeremy kyle to keep him entertained.

"oooh no, I'm not risking any of those computer viruses i keep hearing about, I got enough medication to keep me alive."

and that clients from hell website just absorbed my entire afternoon.
 
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