If you happen to be reading these blogs from the bottom up, or for some strange reason actually reading them as they are posted, then you know that my computer had a major harddrive crash.

I used SpinRite to repair the drive as much as it could be repaired. Did its job well enough. But no miracle in data recovery. Okay, I know that grc.com (Gibson Research) doesn’t promise data recovery. But I was hoping that somehow fixing the bad sectors would magically make the data come back.

I would have had better luck waving a bowl of Lucky Charms over the drive.

So the next step was google and the long dive off a short pier into the murky waters of data recovery. Man, there is a ton of bull shit websites devoted to taking advantage of some poor sucker desperate to get data back.

Fortunately my karma musta been good (alright not too good or maybe the drive would not have gone belly up) but still, I managed to stumble across a helpful website.

I’m sure there are more. There may be much better. Don’t know. Since I only needed one working tool and no one is paying me to do a comparative study of recovery tools, I quit looking when I found runtime.org and GetDataBack.

I was a little put off by the fact that I had to know what type of drive I had. Might be nice if they made a little tool to tell me. Don’t laugh. Do you know if you have a six or twelve volt battery in your car? What, they come in different sizes?

Much to my surprise, and the reason I decided to give these guys a chance, they have a totally enlightened approach to retail on their site.

They give you a free download of a fully functional program with one exception — the ability to save your files. Other than the fact you can’t save the files it functions 100%. Might sound like a major bummer. You put all the time into discovering if you can get your data back only to find out you can’t save it.

Well, that is exactly what I wanted. I wanted to know if I could save my data before I shelled out $79. As bad as it is to have totally lost data, it is even worse to spend money then find out the data is totally lost.

But what about all that time spent waiting while the GetDataBack rebuilds new directories and scavenges around for files? Not a problem. If you find that you have access to your data, you buy the program, they give you an instant registration, you input the registration into the STILL open program, you save your files.

So basically you can poke around and see if your data is recoverable before you shell money out to recover it. I like that.

An interesting side effect of this was a serious talk with myself about the value of the lost data. Before I found the data I *knew* it must be valuable. After I found the data and was staring at it (face to face) I finally confronted the real question “Are those missing files worth $79 to me?”

In my case the answer was yes. And fortunately the GetDataBack performed as promised.

Notably I am so shell shocked as a consumer on the web that I am still waiting for the gotcha. Whether it be spyware, backdoors, identity theft, or ????… I can’t quite shake the feeling that I’ve been screwed. Why? Because as a consumer on the web every time I turn around I’m getting screwed — or almost screwed.

In this case, so far so goo….

Don’t know if you caught the full story. My iMac was displaying bold blue text in red and bold red text in blue. Regular blue text was showing up blue and regular red text was red — as one would expect. But, the bold was reversed. Red for Blue and Blue for Red.

I didn’t even call Microsoft on the issue. After twenty some years they have trained me well to expect nothing in the way of support.

Apple has these wonderful commercials that make them sound so bright and cheerful and willing to help. I expect they might be — unless you call about an issue with Boot Camp and the functioning of Windows in the Boot Camp environment.

I had the wonderful experience of trying to get support from Apple Care on this red to blue and blue to red issue.

Lord, the minute you mention the dreaded words “WinXP” they stop listening. “Not our problem.” Just because it doesn’t happen on any other machine in the universe than the Mac running Boot Camp does not seem to phase them. Just because it is only happening on the piece of hardware I purchased with the wonderful apple logo does not phase them.

Their only suggest was to delete the partition and reinstall Boot Camp and WinXP from scratch. All data gone, all programs gone. And this was of course just a way to trouble-shoot the problem. Not a promised defined solution. Not a “hey sorry dude, we know it’s a bitch to do it. But everyone that has this problem finds the only solution is to delete the partition and start over.” No it was “hey, it’s not a problem. If you insist on making us give you any kind of help on this issue the only thing we can think of is to have you delete the WinXP and start again.”

A little harsh dude (or dudette depending on which support call I am referring to).

Fortunately before doing this I gave one more try at something else. I reinstalled my video drivers.

First I did a repair using my Leopard disk. Then I went to the amd.com website http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/mac/bootcamp-xp.html and installed the drivers there.

The trick here is that when you go to the general driver page http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html you need to scroll down in the OS selection box to notice an option for Apple Boot Camp WinXP. I use iMac and it fixed it for me. Don’t know if it will work for others or not. But this is very well worth the effort before deleting the partition and reinstalling Windows. Especially since that is only a trouble-shooting test.

I call myself a Zebra. Apple loves their animal names for the OS. So I figure Zebra is a good name for the idiots such as myself that want to make serious use of Windows on the iMac. I would consider switching to 100% Leopard if I could. But there are many applications I use that simply do not exist in Mac osX. Even if I wanted to shell out the thousands of dollars to buy new Mac versions of the software, the mac version does not exist — period.

Hence, I have to function as a Zebra. Some of my work in Leopard, some of my work in WinXP.

I’m not saying that Apple Care should be responsible for all my Windows issues. Would be nice if someone was because Microsoft has demonstrated no ability in that area. I don’t expect Apple Care to handle much of anything other than hardware issues. And for me, I consider drivers to be part of the hardware. The hardware manufacture is responsible for drivers that run their devices.

Now if Apple supplied an empty box which I would fill myself with odd bits of hardware purchased off the internet then I expect that I would need to bug the individual hardware dudes for support. But, since they assemble all the pieces and sell me a fully loaded box, I kinda expect some support when the hardware and drivers go whacky. Well I can expect free beer to fall from the sky in 40 ounce bottles. That won’t happen either.

As I said, I didn’t even dare to dream that Microsoft would care or help. But I fell for the marketing and allowed myself to dream that with the iMac I was coming home after a long journey in the woods to a warm fire and the friendly support of folks that would care. Well, they do care. As long as I’m not a Zebra. Apple Care and Microsoft share one thing in common — neither of them will give much support to us black and white stripped freaks.

It’s a bit odd writing a thread when you know that most folks will encounter the pieces of the thread back to front. Definitely a different headset. At the moment my only concession to this oddity is to periodically drop a hint on what the hell the topic is referring to. Such as “recall that this thread started as a result of hard drive turning into burnt toast.”

Even though I’m working on my brand new (alright, it’s a year old but it really is hardly used) computer with its new hard drive I can’t escape the feeling that I might need to go through all of this again very soon.

These feelings of dis-ease come from two sources 1) the sting of recent events, 2) every time I turn around on the apple support forums for bootcamp and winxp they are advising re-install windows.

What the bleep is up with “re-install windows” as the first “go to” answer when encountering a problem. Don’t these guys have more than one or two programs they run? Don’t these guys have a life? I’m running on into the third day of this installing my way back into a working environment. The flippant manner in which it is advised to *try* reinstalling windows knocks my breath away. It’s not like they are saying: “yo, I know it’s a pain, but I can assure you that if you install windows it will solve your problem.”

Well, I’m on the phone as we speak (or I type in the present and you read in the unknown future) with AppleCare. Lord have mercy, if you are thinking about buying an iMac and using bootcamp as a way to transition from the Windows world to the Mac world give it some hard thought.

Basically, if you don’t actually need to use any windows applications then by all means consider the switch. But, if you truly need any of your windows applications then look out. After calling Apply Care with an issue the first thing they determine is “are you having the problem in Leopard or in WinXP?” If the answer is WinXP then they instantly stop listening.

The way it goes is this. The computer is Apple. Boot Camp was written specifically to allow the installation of Windows on the computer. But Windows is most definitely a distant (and not looked upon fondly) third cousin. The official line from Apple Care is “If the problem is occurring in the Windows side it is Window’s problem not Apples.” Actually it is not Windows problem it is mine. It is my problem running Windows on a piece of hardware that I was led to believe would run it.

Frustrating? You bet.

Boy this was a tough one.

Back when I stumbled across and installed my favorite plugins they didn’t seem so difficult to find. I guess the “stumbled across” part is what made it easier.

However, there is another factor now, massive competition in the plugin world. Doing a search for plugins turns up a zillion possibilities where a short while ago it was just a few. So now, I need to wade my way through a fair number of “maybe this” and “maybe that” to find the plugin that is the one I used.

Might sound like I use a ton of plugins. Not so. I just like the few I use.

Web Developer 1.1.6
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60

Html Validator 0.8.5.2
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/249

IE Tab 1.5.20080823
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1419

HttpFox 0.8.2
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6647

I’ve listed them here. So that maybe next time I go through this maybe I won’t have to hunt so hard. I’ll just read the above and “ta-da” there they’ll be.

As the hard drive recovery saga continues, I am finding a near endless litany of small adjustments necessary to my computer environment.

For example, Sound. Why in the hell does Microsoft think it is necessary to make a beep sound every time a confirmation box pops up on my screen. Do they get a royalty for each time the beep is played like a radio jock playing their tune on the air?

In any case, it is off to Control Panel, “Sounds and Audio Devices”, Sounds Tab to turn some sounds off. I’m happy enough to leave the “Yo! your computer is about to melt” sound on. But the “Default Beep” and “Exclamation Beep” had to go. Just highlight the option, then select “None” from the drop down list of possible sounds.

I like to use the play sound button to confirm this is the offending sound. So far default and exclamation have been the only true irritants.

Found Sony Vegas Pro. Hidden away in a “safe place”. One of these days I will learn to stop putting things in a “safe place”. That makes them almost impossible to locate later. I would be much better of it I put them where they belong.

The install for Sony Vegas is so unsettling. Actually it isn’t the Vegas that’s a problem, it is the .NET framework that is a bit weird. The progress bar will move along fairly rapidly then when it gets to 99% it just sits there forever. Did I forget to click a button? Is my computer a doa? Just about the time I figure, let’s push cancel and try again up pops another window’s progress bar giving me some assurance that things are progressing according to plan. Just wish that plan had some room for putting the poor computer user at ease — at least a little.

Of course the trick here will be remembering all of the plugins that were installed. I could look through my browser history, I suppose, to find the sites I’ve been visiting, except for two little problems 1) I delete all history over 30 days old, 2) All of my bookmarks and history were on the C drive (remember C and G died). Those of you reading top down might have missed the beginning of this adventure — my computer hard drive went the way of burnt toast.

Camtasia Studio was slightly easier to locate. It was still sitting in the place I reserve for putting things that I haven’t figured out where to put them yet.

Started with Wings3D for no apparent reason other than I remembered the website address first.

Wings3D
http://www.wings3d.com/

Nice little modeling program, and good for massaging models in other formats. It is falling out of use a bit now that I am settling down into a Maya/FragMotion partnership.

MilkShape
http://chumbalum.swissquake.ch/

Very happy I have this. Don’t use it much at the moment. (Again the Maya/Fragmotion taking over most functions.) But it has been good for converting some formats that FragMotion doesn’t deal with. Between the two of them I’m covered for most low-end, street urchin level modeling formats.

FragMotion
http://www.fragmosoft.com/

This is my workhorse animation program at the moment. Why? Because our target platform required md2 models. “Yikes! Are you idiots still using MD2?” Yes. We are still using MD2 models in our games. And, we actually find they are useful as part of our keep it simple philosophy of programming. Would we use a different format given the chance? Perhaps, but given a chance means we stumble across another lead programmer that is willing to work for nothing (not next to nothing, for nothing) on a non-profit charity project. At the moment the few chumps (i.e. worthy volunteers — of which I am one) are busy handling other aspects of the engine. Notably lighting, particles and physics. Next we tackle mp3/ogg. Later, we might get around to tearing everything apart so that we can use a more modern model. However, for me, I’d rather jump back into the AI a bit more. We already have one of the best AI systems available this side of Arcturus. But, games can always use a little more AI.

Also worthwhile but maybe not required:
MD2 Viewer
(available from the MilkShape folks) http://chumbalum.swissquake.ch/md2v/index.html

I use then when I can’t tell if a model is whack or if the game is misbehaving. If the model behaves in MD2Viewer, I figure it should behave in most games that use MD2.

As I’m going through the list of stuff to re-install, the point that I do too much stuff with too many programs is made painfully clear.

This will give me an opportunity to reevaluate whether or not I want to continue along certain creative avenues.

I suspect the answer will be “Yes! Of course”. But it doesn’t hurt to pose the question to one’s self periodically.

It will be the minor almost invisible things that will end up being the largest annoyance. For example, all of my special dictionaries are gone. That means I will need to teach several programs how to spell — once again. Or, I could stop using jargon that is out of the norm for most spelling program data files.

While waiting for the OpenOffice.org to download (127meg) I figured to fight my way through the install of Notepad+ from Rogsoft. It is an ancient piece of software that I happen to love as a replacement for the standard windows notepad.

Available at http://www.mypeecee.org/rogsoft/notepad.html as an archival download this replacement for notepad is worth the hassle (as far as I’m concerned.) It will edit huge (big big) files, and has many nice features missing from the standard notepad.exe

The hassle part comes from my desire to replace notepad with this program rather than just install then edit every stupid association to point to the new program. Turns out there exist more than a few hard coded references to the notepad.exe file. Leastwise it seems that way to me. So, I go through the trouble of poking and poking and prodding my way through a replacement.

I’m sure there is a systematic approach to this. But for me it mostly involves copying in the file, windows replaces the new file with the old (original [proper]) version. I turn off one option or another, copy in the file, windows replaces the new file again. I try turning off yet another restore option or other and retry. After doing this enough, windows will eventually give up.

Of course I need to replace the file in several folders (including some hidden system folders). If you do a search on notepad*.* and select the look in hidden/system folders that helps.

Yep, the hard drive on my main work computer died today. Actually just the C and G drives. That means I’ve only lost all of my programs (on C) and all of my games (on G). Yikes!!!

Now the real work of establishing a new working environment on a second computer starts.

To keep myself amused and perhaps even capture of record of steps for future such disasters, I’ve decided to blog my progress.

I suppose if you’re reading this log, you’ll need to work your way backwards if you care for a historical (or perhaps hysterical) account.

So while I take stock of the situation and muddle around trying to find which of the backup disks is the most recent, I’ll download OpenOffice. No way will I use the MSWorks that comes preinstalled on most windows systems.

More later. Off to http://www.openoffice.org to download my text editor.