How to smash a home computer

[whatelseisnew]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4003733.stm

An executive who froze his broken hard disk thinking it would be fixed has topped a list of the weirdest computer mishaps.
...
This last category includes the case of a man who became so mad with his malfunctioning laptop that he threw it in the lavatory and flushed a couple of times.

"Data can disappear as a result of natural disaster, system fault or computer virus, but human error, including 'computer rage', seems to be a growing problem," said Adrian Palmer, managing director of Ontrack Data Recovery.

[NegSpin]

1. Floppy disks

Does anybody know, did they ever perfect the floppy disk?

I always had problems with them, that is with Windows.

Then this week I needed to put a couple files on a floppy disk and THREE of them in a row failed for one reason or another. When a floppy fails I crunch it in half and toss it in the trash...but three in less then five minutes is pretty bad.

I wonder...was there just something wrong with floppy disks or was it just a problem with every computer I owned?

[hobbit709]

5. What version of Windoze

are you using? From personal experience win2000 has a real problem with floppys. I just burn everything on cd since i buy them in bulk and they cost me less than a floppy.

[Deja Q]

6. Floppy disks are horrible. Always have been. And if somebody claims

that they've NEVER had a problem and have been in IT for years and years, tell the liars to get stuffed. :-)

And I need to look up microsoft's own KB article, but Windows 2000 format's the disk differently than 95; and older floppys may not be perfectly readable on Win2k machines.

It's not you.

[PoiBoy]

8. I think they gave up on the floppy disk...

..and invented the ThumbDrive or FlashDrive instead... a small device designed to be clipped to your keychain, plugs directly into a USB port and has a storage capacity of from 32MB to 1GB (704 floppys)..

[Kellanved]

2. the freezer is actually the right thing to do in some cases

A certain batch of IBM/Hitachi drives suffered from bad design; almost all drives died shortly after the warranty expired ("click of death"). These drives could be "convinced" to run again for a few minutes by cooling them down in the freezer (the bearings were the problem). Of course the danger of frying the drive because of condensed water out-weights the possible gain of getting it to run for 10 minutes.

[trotsky]

3. Actually freezing a hard drive can sometimes work.

The contraction/expansion cycle can reposition a misaligned drive head. So I wouldn't call that the weirdest!

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. Worlds most favorite message.....

[hobbit709]

7. Actually

The scandisk message after the emergency reboot is the most insulting.

[GingerSnaps]

9. What floor do you live on and are your windows the type that open

Up and down? :evilgrin:

Drop it out the window but make sure the coast is clear before dropping it. :silly:

[sweetheart]

10. Ontrack data recovery

These chappies were the first ones that Dell pointed me to for
recovering my crashed hard disk. They were expensive, so i found
another company that does the same thing.

The worst unintentional computer screw up i've seen is spilled
coca cola on the keyboard.... and worst on a laptop. That sugary
shit can destroy a computer.

The article inspires... perhaps a new sport "extreme computer
destruction" Hurling a lap top off the top of mount everest, of
el capitan or the world trade center... the last one 'd be a bit
hard time travel and all. I'm sure a 306 rifle could put a hole
right through a laptop. A laptop placed on top of an anti-tank
mine would probably look interesting as well. Nothing could be
as satisfying as the old sledge hammer. ;-)