The hard drive on my G4 died this weekend. I've never had a hard drive die on one of my Macs before? It was very sad. Luckily my friend Joe had me back up all my files on an external drive and everything made the transition to the new drive. Plus the guys at the Apple Store in Mission Viejo helped me very quickly over the weekend and it's better today. Thanks guys your assistance was inimitable.
These are the stages of my drive dying:
1. Denial -The "No, not me" stage.
"Hell no! My computer isn't making a little weird clicking sound! -It's got to be an software issue."
2. Anger/Resentment - The "Why me" stage.
Anger at the situation, your computer and others are common. You may end up blaming your partner or children because you know damn well you didn't download anything stupid and install it.
3. Bargaining - The "If I do this, you'll do that" stage.
You try to negotiate to change the situation. If you've lost a hard drive to death you might bargain with God, "I'll be a better person if you'd just bring it back". You might approach your computer who is asking for release and say "If you'll stay I'll change. I'll start paying for software and music!".
4. Depression- The "Its really happened" stage.
You realize the situation isn't going to change. The death or catastrophic collapse happened and there is nothing to bring the other data back. Acknowledgement of the situation often brings depression. This could be a quiet, withdrawn time as you soak in the situation. Or alternately -it could be time to have some real quality interaction with your X-box.
5. Acceptance - The "This is what happened" stage.
Though you haven't forgotten what happened you are able to begin to move forward. You've backed up all your data and purchased a new hard drive. Soon you stop thinking so much about what you've lost and just start working with the new data. You start thinking about how the Genius bar at the Apple store isn't so much minded by geniuses -but guys that used to be regulars at comic and/or Star Trek conventions. And that's -okay.
Adapted (loosely) from Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, On Death and Dying