We have a server (or servers?) that check computer's health as they're on the network. They check the load version, look for bad sectors, check the fragmentation, check the virus protection, and so on.
When a computer fails one (or more) of these checks maintenance tickets are cut and put in the maintenance bucket. These tickets are not considered a high priority but help us be proactive so we can eliminate issues before they happen.
One such PC came up flagged as having bad sectors on the hard drive.
Now, all hard drives will develop bad sectors but when they start to get really bad the drive can become toast (dead). If enough damage happens, not only will the PC not see it, the data on it will be irrecoverable.
I send the user an email telling them that all I need to do is swap the drive. The process would take a few hours but at least I could try to get most of their data copied over to the new drive (as long as no bad sectors popped up in the data).
The user makes appointments and always cancels them. This went on and I ended up closing the maintenance ticket since he never showed up.
Then I get an email. His laptop won't boot up - it says unmountable boot volume (very bad). He insists that I get to his PC ASAP and fix it now. Guess what? That isn't going to happen. I'm busy now and since the user skipped out on previous appointments.
I finally get the drive swapped out but wouldn't you know it - his data is gone. I can't recover the drive.
Of course, now the user is pissed at me and escalates to my boss (like emailing them will make me able to copy the data?). Of course I just forward some of the emails I had with the user previously about this issue.
Don't ignore us - we know what we're talking about.
When a computer fails one (or more) of these checks maintenance tickets are cut and put in the maintenance bucket. These tickets are not considered a high priority but help us be proactive so we can eliminate issues before they happen.
One such PC came up flagged as having bad sectors on the hard drive.
Now, all hard drives will develop bad sectors but when they start to get really bad the drive can become toast (dead). If enough damage happens, not only will the PC not see it, the data on it will be irrecoverable.
I send the user an email telling them that all I need to do is swap the drive. The process would take a few hours but at least I could try to get most of their data copied over to the new drive (as long as no bad sectors popped up in the data).
The user makes appointments and always cancels them. This went on and I ended up closing the maintenance ticket since he never showed up.
Then I get an email. His laptop won't boot up - it says unmountable boot volume (very bad). He insists that I get to his PC ASAP and fix it now. Guess what? That isn't going to happen. I'm busy now and since the user skipped out on previous appointments.
I finally get the drive swapped out but wouldn't you know it - his data is gone. I can't recover the drive.
Of course, now the user is pissed at me and escalates to my boss (like emailing them will make me able to copy the data?). Of course I just forward some of the emails I had with the user previously about this issue.
Don't ignore us - we know what we're talking about.
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