GAH! I'm getting a new computer at work, but...

[huskerlaw]

they're giving me ONE DAY...ONE. DAY...to clean off my hard drive and figure out a way to transfer everything to the new comp.

Are they giving me an external drive to assist in this feat? No. Will they let me hook the computers up and transfer everything? No.

FUCK.

To make matters worse, I have to teach a 2 hour-long class this afternoon. So I have to accomplish this between 3 pm and whenever I actually get to go home tonight.

I mean, I need a new computer and all, but give me more than a few hours to prepare for it!

:banghead:

On edit: Also, this piece of shit is a PC (Windows XP) and I'm used to Macs. I don't really even remember how to back up and erase a PC hard drive.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear huskerlaw!

Oh, sweetie....

Wish I could help...

I hope that some very smart computer person will come along and make it easy for you!

:hug:

[huskerlaw]

2. Thanks, Peggy!

I have a feeling I'm just going to have to triage my files and save what I can by tomorrow.

I'm really rather pissed off about the entire situation. But there's not much I can do about it. x(

:hug:

[TZ]

3. You don't have an IT person to do this for you?

That really sucks. And is stupid to boot...:hug:

[huskerlaw]

4. We have TWO...count them TWO...IT DEPARTMENTS

but I'm told this is my problem. Not that I really mind, as I don't particularly want random people looking at my files. But give me more than part of a day to do it!!

I shudder to think what will happen when they try to replace the computer of one of my co-workers who is ancient and took over a year to learn email. She'll probably think "wiping the hard drive" involves Windex or Pledge. :P

I'll figure something out...hopefully.

[Deja Q]

12. Windows Files and settings transfer wizard...

Do you have a private network drive? Save to it and spare this nightmare in the future.

:hug:

[huskerlaw]

16. We do...and I do...

Most of the important, non-sensitive stuff is on there already. At this point, I'm mostly freaking out about having nearly everything in only one place until the new computer is set up. The server doesn't fail often, but it does happen. And knowing our IT Department "tomorrow" means "sometime next week." Ugh.

And of course, this happens at the end of the semester when I have student grades sitting on my hard drive and all of their projects from class. If I lost that, I'd be fucked.

[blueraven95]

5. at the risk of sounding stupid

are you on an internal network that you can just dump everything onto and then grab it from the new computer? It would make it easy.

on edit: not really a computer person, so I hope that makes sense.

[huskerlaw]

6. It does make sense

and yes, we do have a shared drive. But there's a lot of things (student records, for example) that I don't want to put on a shared drive where anyone with a bit of computer savvy could look at it.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

7. Put the files into a password protected zip file

then copy the zip file to the shared drive.

Just use a "real" password- a long string of letters and numbers that you remember to write down so you don't forget it- and it'll be as secure as you can quickly make it.

If you have either Winzip or WinRar it'll be easy- either one supports password protection and they also support encryption.

[huskerlaw]

8. Alas...

I can't download any programs onto my computer without an administrator password. Guess who has those? Yup, IT...and they're not so very helpful.

[ThomCat]

9. I hope you find a way to back up everything.

:hug:

If they're not giving you an external drive to use perhaps you can simply e-mail ever file to yourself at a free online account. They give you more storage space now than it seems like one person could ever use.

[huskerlaw]

10. Good idea!

I do have a gmail account...and yes, it has more room on it than any human could possibly need. ;)

I'm putting most of it on the shared hard drive, but there's some things I really don't want on there. And god forbid the server crashes...

I'm currently going through my work email and trying to figure out how to save things. Unfortunately, I haven't cleaned out the inbox since January!

:hug:

[DS1]

11. That's BS

A big organization like a school should have all your profile (the stuff you want to save) data on a server so it wouldn't matter where you logged in, but I'll get back to the point.

One day is ridiculous, you should have been given much more time, so you could set aside some hours to get it done and get it done right.

Anyway, enjoy the new PC when you get it!

[huskerlaw]

14. We do have a server...

upon which we each have our own folders protected by our log-ins, and that's where I'm putting most everything. But there's some things I don't want on there (faculty information, student grades, etc.), since it wouldn't be that difficult to hack. Plus, I'm nervous that the server might crash...Murphy's Law and all...I just don't like having everything only in one place.

Regardless, they're lucky I could clear off the rest of the afternoon to deal with it. Otherwise, I'd be fucked. Of course, knowing our IT Dept., I won't get the computer for at least another week even though they said tomorrow. But better safe than sorry!

[DS1]

18. Actually, the server is the hardest part to hack in most situations

Your machine is the weak point, it can be hacked so fast. It could be rebooted in safe mode, or a linux cd could be dropped in to reset your password (if that's how they're running things) and everything could be compromised. I used to work in a College IT dept, and then I got transferred to the College Police Dept, and I saw so many hack attempts to the Police network it wasn't even funny.

Anyway, good luck backing up all your stuff!

[Duer 157099]

13. Why not just remove the hard drive and put it into the new box?

Is that out of the question? You can add it as a second drive, a "slave" drive so that you can still access all the data. And, you could even give it back to them at some later date, after all your data is transferred.

??

[huskerlaw]

15. Possibly

but when I mentioned hooking the two comps together to transfer info, they looked at me like I had three heads. So I better not count on it!

[Duer 157099]

17. Thing is, it's easier to move the hard drive than to hook them up

I know, it's doesn't seem like it, but it's actually true.

It's *extremely* easy to remove a hard drive. One philips head screwdriver is all you need. Assuming of course, that they don't have all sorts of security devices on the box so that you can't even open it.