Sometimes I feel like I’m cursed. Computers hate me. I don’t think I’m particularly rough on them — I don’t toss them around or poke at the screen or douse them in water (though, on occasion, I do forget to close my window here at the office, and my printer gets rained on) — but for whatever reason, my Macs all seem to die after a couple of years.
Maybe this is because I use the machines heavily. I’m almost constantly on a computer of some sort. (This isn’t a good thing, but it’s a fact.) I have a desktop computer at my office and a laptop computer for home and the road. If web browsing and text editing and Amazing Race watching can kill computers, well, then I’m guilty of datacide.
Over the weekend, my office computer (a 21″ iMac from early 2008) gave up the ghost. The motherboard has had issues for a while (with one USB port after another failing), and over the past few months, the hard drive has shown signs that it was about to go. It finally went. I came in Monday morning ready to write, only discover a computer that wouldn’t boot.
I used to be unprepared for computer catastrophes. Long-time readers will remember the last time my laptop died in October 2008: I had no backups, and had made no preparations of any kind. I lost dozens of half-finished blog entries, two years of digital photos, and a bunch of electronic Stuff.
Fortunately, I learned from that mistake. Over the past eighteen months, I’ve tried to take steps to protect my data.
- I’ve migrated some of my info to web-based apps. My contacts and calendar are all web-based. After losing two years of e-mail in 2008, I switched to Gmail, and haven’t looked back.
- I’m not keen on Google Docs, though, so I still do most of my writing in my beloved text editor, BBedit. However, I’ve become a convert of Dropbox, which lets my files live “in the cloud”. I save a text file to Dropbox, and it’s not only backed up, but it’s also available from any other computer I happen to be on. Very slick.
- Based on reader suggestions, I started using Time Machine, which is Apple’s automatic backup software. Every hour, Time Machine backs up my office computer to an external hard drive. (I back up my laptop every couple of weeks.)
It’s this last step that saved my bacon this week. As my existing iMac died, I was able to retrieve some of the data, but the hard drive would only work for 5-10 minutes at a time, so I had to do it in chunks. Fortunately, when I hooked up my new iMac (which has a glorious 27″ screen — wow!), I was able to restore my files and user settings from the Time Machine backup drive. In a matter of hours, my new machine had effectively become a mirror of my old machine. Happy days.
Though I’m glad to have recovered from this crash so quickly, the money I spent on the new computer causes me great pain. I have to keep reminding myself, “It’s a business expense. It’s a business expense.” (By which I mean that a portion of the money is a tax write-off.) Plus, if I don’t have my computers, I can’t do my work. It’s also some comfort to realize that once I repair the broken computer, I can sell it to recuperate some of the costs of the new machine.
In any event, I’m glad to be up and running again. It’s been almost an entire week since I’ve been able to write anything (I took a long weekend with no writing, too), and I’ve been scrambling to patch the holes here on the blog. I made it work, but it wasn’t fun. Now, however, I’m ready to get back to work on my lovely new 27″ iMac…which is probably doomed for failure in two years. Because I’m cursed.
Though I’ve made great strides in making backups and moving to “the cloud”, I’d love to hear more tips and suggestions. Are there other (free?) products I should try? What can you tell me about Mozy? How does it compare to Dropbox? How do you prepare for and prevent computer catastrophes.
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I’ve looked at several on-line backup solutions (including Mozy) and went with CrashPlan (http://crashplan.com). It’s automatic and for a price of 1TB drive I can backup all of my computers (unlimited storage!) to secure off-site location for 5 years.
You can also backup to an external harddrive or to another computer you own for a faster initial backup (they actually recommend it).
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I currently use Dropbox for shared access to certain files, but it’s not a real backup solution a la Time Machine. While I haven’t used Time Machine (despite using a Mac as one of my computers), I have previously used Mozy for Mac and currently use Backblaze. I cannot recommend Mozy as I found their Mac client to be unreliable and buggy. I ceased their service this January after several months trying to get the app to work reliably. I switched to Backblaze and cannot be happier (well, I’d prefer remote access to be backuped files like Amazon S3 services offer, but that’s an expensive proposition).
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Dropbox IS NOT BACKUP. Period. File sync, while it does provide you a second copy of a file the way a proper backup does, is not backup because as soon as you change or delete that file, it’s gone from Dropbox too. A real backup provides unlimited versioning (as opposed to Dropbox’s 30 days) and doesn’t change something once it’s been created; it just adds the changes on top while retaining the original.
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As great as Time Machine is, it has a fatal flaw… Your backup is stored locally. If you’re office gets burglarized, the roof leaks badly, or the place burns down, your backups disappear along with the original files. This is why I use Time Machine PLUS online backup. My data is worth way more than $50/year for the online service, so it’s stupid not to do it this way. If I have a hard drive crash, then I use Time Machine to restore. If something catastrophic happens, you have the online backup to fall back on.
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This reminds me of my own “The Great Computer Crash of 2005″ I am still in mourning over.
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Doesn’t it seem like computers have a shelf like of 2-3 years? So, it seems you were right on track JD!
Cloud living is great for mobility. However, I think having an external PLUS another backup service is a good choice.
What helps you sleep at night? I like having some things saved to an old USB external…That’s just me though. At times, I’ve woken up from a nightmare where all my Google Docs have disappeared.
Take Care, Mike
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I’m surprised nobody has recommended carbonite. It mounts a drive on your pc that you can pull files back from. I had my mom subscribe then her pc crashed. Carbonite saved her data.
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@ J.D. #40
The problem you are having with your registration is that your restore has been put onto a new machine.
Adobe products, as well as some other software, send data about your machine hardware when you activate your product. When you loaded up Photoshop, the program realized it was running on different hardware than what it was activated on, so it assumes this was malicious and will not run until you call Adobe and explain the situation unfortunately. This is a problem with Photoshop, not with Time Machine.
If you are interested in playing around in Linux again, may I suggest Sun VirtualBox. It’s free software that will allow you to run Linux with all your hardware working, while you are in OS X, so you can feel free to play around without breaking anything!
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Stop using Macs! They look beautiful but are poorly made. Go with an HP
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I use Time Machine for my off-site and on-site backups.
I have two identical 1TB external drives which both mount to the mac as “Time Machine”. The two drives are swapped every week or so from their off-site location. Works seamlessly.
I also use Unison to back up my important documents to a USB key – more so that I can edit them anywhere, but it is also a useful backup.
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Can’t believe I’ve been reading this blog as long as I have, J.D. I remember your last crash like it was yesterday. Glad to hear the preparation worked out and looking forward to finding out whether that warranty is worth it.
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Jd, I think your bad luck is more than coincidence. In your case, the root cause is either the hardware or the environment in which the hardware lives. Since the same fate has befallen multiple machines, I would bet on the environment.
An earlier poster mentioned power as a possible culprit, but I would bet on an overheating issue. Any computer throws off a lot of heat during operation and good circulation is required to remove the heat from inside the case. Higher internal temperatures can dramatically shorten the life of electronic components.
Make sure that all case vents are clear and that the case has an unobstructed supply of ambient air (keep the case out of confined spaces. Note also that a higher ambient temperature reduces the effectiveness of any computer cooling system, so keep your office cooler.
I will have to echo the previous comments about why you continue to buy Apple products after the premature failures you’ve experienced. Also, I say save your warranty money and use it to self-insure.
Especially if you use your computer to make your livelihood, why would you even risk relying on repaired hardware? What makes you think that the repair will last? I think you’re better off using the money you saved by not buying a warranty on a brand new system that you can trust. Usually the cost of downtime far outweighs any money you save waiting around for a repair (and waiting again when it breaks the next time).
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I haven’t read all of the comments, but here’s my take:
Mozy – This is what I use for documents. Plus stuff like my iTunes library file and a copy of my keepass database.
external hard drive backup – I don’t use this since I don’t have much data to backup. But this is best for large files (photos, video). Fast too.
CD/DVD – Eh…time consuming to burn and limited space.
I trust Mozy because they encrypt my data with 256 bit AES before uploading. If you’re super paranoid, you can use something like TrueCrypt to secure your files on your own before uploading.
I would keep doing Time Capsule, but add on Mozy or Carbonite for vital and absolutely cannot lose type files. If your house burns down, an external hard drive is useless.
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Hi J.D., I think you should give Linux another shot. I just switched from Snow Leopard to Ubuntu 10.04, and it’s rock solid. It’s got everything I want or need, and it’s free. No buyer’s remorse. I’m running it on a machine I built 6 years ago. Great way to save money.
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As I think a few people have alluded to, Mozy and Dropbox are different. Dropbox is not necessarily a backup – If you accidentally delete something, it’s gone from all your machines (though I think you may have a window to get it back via the website?).
I’ve used Mozy for a while and it seems to work as advertised. Jungledisk is excellent, though it can get pricey quickly. Carbonite seem to suffer an amount (relatively) of downtime.
If you have a Mac, use Time Machine, no reason not to. Just set it to do your home folder and that’ll chug on for months.
If you use Ubuntu 10.04 you can try Ubuntu One – it seems to work as a cross between Mozy and Dropbox.
The key is onsite and offsite. I have Time Machine and an rsync session to my Linux box for local onsite, then Mozy for offsite (I also take cheap USB sticks/DVD+Rs to my parent’s place when I visit). Yes, I am paranoid about losing data – mainly pictures of my child, of which very few analogue paper versions exist.
Just my 2yen’s worth.
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I’d highly recommend going with AppleCare.
Whether I own a mac or pc, I run my computers ragged with tons of graphics and music software, so getting the AppleCare extended warranty for my MBPro was a pretty easy decision to make. Good thing too, because I’ve had to make use of it a few times now, though only one of them was a major hard drive replacement issue that caused backup headaches. Every time I have taken it to the Genius Bar, the technicians have taken a thorough inventory of my computer and replaced even mildly worn parts that weren’t mentioned in the original complaint with shiny new ones – as a result of which, my keyboard, bottom shell casing, lcd screen, battery, hard drive and RAM have all been swapped out at least once over the past 3 yrs. I think of it as an insurance against obsolescence – if they can’t fix or replace the part, as a last resort, they’ll get you a refurb model or in some friends’ cases, a brand new model.
I haven’t figured out the external storage issue myself, so I’ll be watching this space for suggestions. I’ve tried the online storage options but they don’t seem sufficient for the amount of stuff I need to back up, and I’m not totally sure that it’s secure. My current method is to keep a backup on one external HD, and keep additional copies of my most important files in DropBox, on my laptop hard drive and on a USB drive or some combination thereof.
It’s probably not a big concern for you, but I hate losing my bookmarks and I don’t really want to make them available to the world either (via Delicious), so I’ve started using Google Bookmarks. They’ve redesigned the whole thing in the past month, and it looks and works much better. I’m hoping they’ll keep debugging and updating the thing until it shines.
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JD, you are my fav blogger for sure, so it is with all the kindness and respect in the world that I say — please take another look at this statement:
“I find Windows frustrating, so I don’t like to use it”
From a personal finance perspective this seems like someone saying “I buy my clothes from Nieman Marcus because TJMaxx is icky”.
It seems that you have been overpaying for (multiple!) computers that have been consistent in one thing which is their unreliability.
No, PC’s are not as fun or cool as Mac’s, but they are repairable and if you do your homework they are also reliable.
As always, everyone is free to spend a little more for things they really care about — and as much as I wanted to make the point above — since your career revolves around your computers — you are more than justified in splurging on Macs.
In my mind, however, a Mac is a luxury — one that far fewer people than those that actually have them can afford.
I’ve considered getting a Mac many times, but keep going with PC’s. I would LOVE to see a post comparing the REAL lifetime costs of a Mac vs. a PC!!
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I’d also suggest setting up a NAS. You can get one with 2 drives set up in RAID-1 to provide redundancy with your backups, and keep these local for fast transfer times.
I picked up a D-link DNS-321 for about $80. Add in 2 HDDs and plug it into your router. Then schedule your computer to back-up to it as much as needed.
Cheers!
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I seriously have to ask what you do for a living that you can afford a new iMac every 18 months?!?!
I work in an IT department for a major insurance company, and the replacement policy for our (IBM) laptops is every 3 years, which I find to be about the right time considering the company buys computers with just enough memory and CPU to get the job done for 3 years. When our laptops are “retired” they often go on to other lives (refurb and donated).
My personal computers at home have also always been IBM based, and I have NEVER had a serious problem with ANY of them. I usually buy them with enough power that I don’t have to change them every 3 years.
I buy a new computer every 6 years or so. I am a computer programmer, so I buy good a quality PC with middle to top-end performance. My “old” computer goes to my wife who has somewhat less of a need for high performance, so she is perfectly happy with the old one.
Now for ecoonomics 101: I looked at the current (May 2010) price of an iMac. The cheapest one (21.5″ screen) was $1200. For the under $900 I can get a mid to top-end IBM-based model with a 22″ monitor.
Now lets compare a typical 6 year period for the two of us…
You – iMac every 6 months @ $1200:
6 x 1200 = $7200
+ misery everytime it crashes
Me – IBM every 6 years @ $900:
1 x 900 = $900
+ I get to “recycle” my old one to my wife
I save about $6000 or $1000 per year by purchasing IBM. Assuming I live about 60 “computing” years, that would be a $60,000 savings (there you go, bon).
That figure seems to me like it is well worth the time to get to know how to get around the frustrations of Windows.
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If you saw your motherboard was “going” and “had issues”, why didn’t you immediately get it replaced? Why did you ignore it and hope that the problem would magically go away?
It’s akin to closing your eyes and continuing to drive your car when the “check engine” and “oil” lights go on, and then complaining about how traumatic it was when your car died and left you stranded on the side of the road.
I also don’t “get” the freqent Mac failure rate. I use Dell PC laptops (the business line, not the cheaper consumer line which are more poorly constructed) intensively in my business and have for the past 10 years. I’m a research scientist and laboratory director and we run them 16 hrs a day for computation and image analysis in addition to the usual microsoft office applications. In 10 years, I’ve *never* had even one motherboard fail. We have had a couple of HD failures but those are easy to switch out. Everyone backs up their data once a week (or more frequently, depending on what we are doing) to maxtor external hard drives that we archive in a cabinet. Sure, they’re on site and if the university burns down we’re screwed, but then I figure we’ll have so many other things to worry about the loss of the data will be least of it.
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Nice post JD! You just reminded me I need do my scheduled back-up!
I’ve got the AppleCare warranty, and I use Time Machine for back-ups, which I do every 2 weeks.
I also use a little financial gimmickry as a ‘back-up’. Thanks to your blog, I started that emergency fund, and also have an account for yearly expenses (insurance, dentist, etc). What I ended up doing was including a replacement computer as a ‘yearly’ expense. I figured I’d plan to replace my computer every 4 years, so I started placing those funds in that yearly expense account. Now I’ve got a hybrid savings/emergency fund for my computer for that day when it does die.
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I know you can manage the motherboard, if you can change a hard drive. It’s just more screws and connectors, really. Take a couple pictures of the existing motherboard setup (ie, where all the connectors go!!) before you start, if you’re nervous.
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I’ve used both MOzy and Dropbox and like someone else said they are totally different services for totally different needs. For backup purposes Mozy is the way to go. I use it for home use so it’s cheap but the home account can’t be used business use according to their agreement. That being said the big difference between Mozy (or any other backup service) and an external hard-drive is that Mozy has built in fail safes. A fire/flood in your home would wipe out your local backup as would unintentional damage to the HDD.
Something else to consider is that fact that you’ve experienced a dead HDD several times what if this happens to your backup drive? Do you have redundancy built in meaning that you have more than on HDD you backup to? Just some things to consider w/Mozy being external. Time wise I’ve never had a problem restoring from them but never had to restore an entire drive so can’t comment on the time factor.
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I would also highly recommend taking another look at Linux.. I recently installed Ubuntu 10.04 on my home PC (hadn’t used Ubuntu since 8.10), and it has made giant strides. If you have the time and patience to learn a new OS it can be very enjoyable.
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Thanks Al P (#69), but I think your estimates are favoring our pro-PC perspective a bit much
I would guess the average 10 year cost of a Mac is probably more like 1500*5 = $7,500 (generous 2 year lifespan)
and a good quality PC more like 1000*2.5 = $2,500 (4 year lifespan)
And then you have the cost of applecare (I’ve never purchased or needed a warranty for a PC) and then all of the proprietary software/cables/etc? Then what about the additional investment in tight jeans, chunky glasses, and other hipster clothes? (kidding, kidding)
but seriously… I’d love to hear from Mac users on what your real average lifespan & additional costs look like!
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Curious as to why you keep buying Apple products if they die on you that often?
EDIT – I see your answer above, but is Windows really THAT much of a pain that you’re willing to basically be shut down for 2 days to recover? To each their own I guess.
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J.D., make sure to check out iFixit.com when it comes to replacing the Logic board on the old iMac. My best guess is that these are the instructions for your machine:
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-iMac-Intel-20-Inch-EMC-2266-Logic-Board/932/1
As for backup, I like using Time Machine because I know I always have a local copy that is immediately available. In addition, for redundancy, I keep all of my important documents backed up via Mozy’s free service (up to 2 GB, I think).
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In regards to Mozy, my advice is to stay away. I had a hard drive fail and when I logged into Mozy to restore files it only listed backup jobs from a year earlier. After opening a case with their support it took almost two months before they fixed the problem and the recent backup data became available for restore.
During the course of fixing the issue Mozy support exposed data from other subscribers to me through the restore interface. I did not test a restore of other peoples data so it could be that only the file names were listed and I wouldn’t have been able to restore – who knows. The lesson there is to use your own private key for encrypting backups…
Another problem I had with Mozy is that the Mac client decided to stop backing up folders on my external hard drive. One day it was backing them up, the next it was not. I didn’t discover this for a few weeks.
Once I got to third level support they were very helpful (support was terrible before escalating). Just last night the support engineer said Mozy would refund every charge made to my credit card.
I’ve since moved to CrashPlan for the online portion of my backup strategy. My internal drives store critical data with backups using TimeMachine and CrashPlan. My external drive with less important data is CrashPlan only.
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All due respect to the other commenters, Mozy/Dropbox/ExternalHD/burning CDs is just a tactical response to what is happening. You need to find the root cause of your hardware failures and address it with a strategic solution before the next failure.
The first thing that came to my mind, was dirty power. A surge protector will only protect against surges or spikes in the power, but does nothing to protect against momentary drops in power, which can be just as damaging to sensitive electronics. When an a/c or refrigerator compressor kicks on, it can pull electricity from other circuits. Ever notice the lights dim when someone is using a hairdryer? This can be especially noticeable, though not restricted to, older homes which weren’t designed with modern power needs in mind. Rural and suburban areas may also suffer worse than city dwellers, but that’s not set in stone.
My recommendation is to look into a line conditioner, preferably for the whole house. Research “dirty power” and see if you don’t notice any similarities.
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I agree with what others have mentioned above: this sounds like a power source problem to me. The life cycle you’re describing is FAR too short for the systems, especially when repeated like that.
A surge protector is not enough. You need something with “voltage regulation” or “power conditioning” capability, to ensure that the power that does reach your computer doesn’t have uneven peaks and valleys. Continued ‘brown’ power, small surges instead of large shocks, will destroy a system in time, every time, without fail.
I’d suggest talking to an electrician to get someone to check the power flow over a period of time. You may be surprised. Good luck!
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I’m an avid Linux user and proponent, but I believe more in finding the “right tool” for someone’s job. I would actually recommend that you stay with the Apple platform if you like it. The built-in tools like Time Machine and the availability of backup solutions like Mozy let you set up your system and then forget about this stuff. As polished as Linux has become, it’s nowhere near as “dead simple” as Apple makes their stuff. In addition to the Time Machine functionality, you can do things like System Restore, net boot and a whole other range of stuff you would need to seek out tools for on Windows.
As for Mozy, restoring files (and backing them up) is highly dependent on your connection speed. With backup, you should probably think in “tiers”. In your “local tier” you can back up pretty much everything — including keeping an image of your system because you have access to high speed, high-bandwidth data transfer — so you can back up gigabytes of data in relatively short order. However, there is data you likely don’t want to lose — ever — like photos, tax returns, wills and so on. This will likely be a much smaller data set that would be good to backup somewhere else to guard against physical harm or complete system failure. Granted, the building doesn’t burn down every day, but if it does, you don’t get a chance to run in and save everything, either — and you get no notice. So having the data somewhere else is key, even if waiting for a restore takes a while, since we are talking about data that is literally priceless.
The benefit of these solutions (Time Machine, Mozy, etc) is that they are automatic. So they never get “put off” — the computer does it, day in, day out and you don’t have to think about it one bit.
I would also echo the other commenters who are encouraging you to look into why these things might be failing so often. I’ve kept even inexpensive machines running under high load conditions for half a decade before they develop serious issues. You should investigate your power supply — perhaps add a line conditioner and a battery backup. Also, look at how well your equipment is cooled, as well. Heat does not help computer equipment lead a long life.
And, of course, take care of things when anything starts acting strange. Dying USB ports and other oddness should not happen and should be addressed quickly since they indicate that something very wrong is happening on your machine. Would you drive your car a long time with a flat tire or a horrible noise coming from under the hood?
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JD, please, please tell me you keep at least an external copy of your data off site. Even if you just do it once a month and drop it in a safety deposit box or keep a copy at home and work.
If something ever happened to the location that had all the data, instead of just the computer, you would need an external copy.
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I’m not a platform junkie–we use both PC and Mac in our house. I don’t feel fanatical about either; they both have pros and cons.
I am suspicious about your repetitive Mac problems. The first problem on all our Macs has been minor mechanical components. Right now, our 2003 Powerbook needs a new front latch. That’s all.
I definitely agree that you should trace this to the source before you start looking into online backups. This is too frequent to be a coincidence, and not in line with the way Macs tend to fail, IME.
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Hey, all. I agree that there may be an issue with the power, actually. Remember, I live in a 100-year-old house, and it has some quirks. My electrician actually saw me post about these issues on Facebook (!!!), and he suggested a couple of solutions. How’s that for the power of social media?
Anyhow, I wanted to note that aside from these last few years, my Macs have generally been long-lived. In the modern era (since 2000), I’ve owned three desktop Macs: one purchased in 2001, its replacement in 2008, and this new one. I’ve owned several laptops. The first, purchased in 2001, lasted until 2007. The second, purchased in 2004, lasted until 2007. But the new laptop I bought in 2007 was the one that failed in 2008 — it had issues from the start, issues the Mac geniuses couldn’t diagnose. (And it was after that I started getting AppleCare on laptops.)
Anyhow, I feel like these problems are really only recent. And, as I said, I have friends who have also experienced woes with recent Macs. Maybe build quality has declined? I don’t know.
But, I’ll definitely look into surge protectors. These sound like very cheap insurance.
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Keep in mind that with the switch from PowerPC to Intel, Apple went from hardware for which they were a “big fish in a small pond” to a place where they are much smaller player. They are using the same commodity parts that other players are using, but they deliver their value by tightly controlling the actual specs of the hardware. The Mac you buy is identical to the ones in their test labs, so you avoid a lot of the driver issues and glitches that can make the Windows and Linux worlds far too interesting. But you are indeed using parts which are intended for desktop and consumer use, so hardware failure rates should be consistent versus a Windows or Linux box running a similar form factor in a similar box.
I will also add that the all-in-one design of the iMac (while beautiful from a design/aesthetics perspective) does put the motherboard, hard drive, memory and display in near proximity, and all those devices generate heat in a small space. In a more traditional tower-monitor setup, there’s a lot more room for ventilation across these components.
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@Jason (#85)
Oooh. Interesting connection I hadn’t made. All of my problems with Apple products have come since the switch to Intel. Obviously, I’m a sample size of one, and this could all be coincidence, but it’s still a connection. My goal is to treat my latest machines with care and respect.
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You don’t need to treat them with care and respect, you need to treat them like Kleenex — entirely disposable! When you put zero trust in the hardware and have a solid recovery plan, the eventual failure of a bit of hardware is a non-issue.
You may want to buy two and periodically swap them entirely to make sure there’s nothing dear to you that you can’t swap out in a few minutes!
My day job is managing a compute farm with thousands of nodes, we make it very clear to the people who use these machines that any data left on them is left there at their peril, and can be removed at pretty much any time we see fit, with no notice at all! Of course, we run about two dead machines a week for one reason or another, so sometimes we don’t even get to choose when a system is rebuilt!
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Glad you got it worked out. PCs can be a real pain sometime. Still need to work out a backup system.
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I use dropbox and love it for syncing data between computers. I’ve use Picasa web storage through google to backup my family pictures. Mozy sound good enough to try out though. at $5/month with unlimited back-up space I would backup my video as well.
Thanks for the links and comments!
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I hope you look into the power issue, since a lot of people seem to think that’s the problem.
Just in my own personal experience, Mac has been the best computer I’ve ever had. I got this one in Spring 07, and it’s going good with no sign of collapse (knock on wood!) now in Spring 10. Before the Apple laptops, I as an individual and we as a family had a TON of non-Apple laptops… maybe 5 or 6, and the longest lifespan we ever got was 2 years. I’m not a heavy user, in terms of quality, I don’t run games, anything that takes a lot of memory, etc, but in terms of quantity, it is on pretty much all day every day.
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Here’s my anecdotal info:
I buy about 15 computers/year for work. The PCs go on and on and on and the Macs almost always die before their time or require repairs. Sure, we get applecare, but taking them to the “genius bar” is irritating at best. Apple only just started offering our company on-site repair. We’ve had that from Dell for years. You have to wonder why. Probably because their computers aren’t as durable as Dells.
Based on my experience at work, I would never buy one for home.
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For everyone throwing out ‘failure’ you need to define how things are failing. Failure can mean malware has invaded to the point that the OS won’t boot. It can mean your HD won’t spin. It can mean your processor overheated and fried. It can mean your power supply is shot. Many users don’t have the technical know how to diagnose. All of these are different failures with different causes and different way of avoiding.
It’s like taking your car into the mechanic because it’s not running: is it not starting? Is it not running? Is it not going into gear? Are the tires missing? HUGELY different things.
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A new imac? Sounds to me like the opposite spirit of this site!
I’m a firm believer of having companies pay for their shortcuts.
So if it brakes early, I’m gonna be a major pain in their behind, and not add to their revenue by simply getting something new.
My 2006 imac, smoked its psu late in 2008, I didn’t give up until I had it fixed, on their bill of course, and it has now been ticking another year and half, and being stubborn saved me $1K.
Not sure what the US customer rights are like. But here in commie Sweden, you’ve got a 3 year factory fault guarantee which comes in handy for stuff like this.
I remember my first call to the retailer… “yes, but is IS two and half years old you know..”. I almost hung up. I have a 20(!) year old Apple LC that boots up just fine. Different times I guess.
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Seems like mozy and dropbox are the perennial favourites around here and even though i use the latter i also use ZumoDrive. Sort of works like a constant time machine, you set “Linked Folders” and anytime you make any change its automatically uploaded, that second.
You get 2GB Free and i find its great for essential text-based files which don’t take up much space or bandwith.
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Dropbox’s backend is Amazon’s S3 storage service. I use that directly, with a Firefox add-on called S3 Organizer as the user interface. $0.15/GB
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I use Mozy plus Time Machine with an external HDD, just to be safe. Anyone else read the Tao of Backup? (http://www.taobackup.com/) Always makes me laugh.
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My #1 tip is something you may not have thought of- are you plugging your computers into the wall, or into a power conditioner? Computers are much more sensitive to variations in current. The constant fluctuations in ordinary current wear machines down. A combination power conditioner/ battery backup is excellent protection for your electronics.
I have used many computer platforms in my 23 years of computing and I like Apple products for home use. I also use Time Machine and bought AppleCare for my first new computer. It paid for itself.
The best way to buy Apple products is to buy from their website when new models come out. The “old” ones are still great (do research to make sure it has the connections you want) and are hundreds of dollars cheaper as well as ship to you for free. The very best prices are on their website under “Refurbs.” Huge discounts on machines that have been more closely inspected than when they were first built, and can also be covered by the Apple warranty.
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Just a PS to my previous and that is looking at the electrical load on the house. Have you bought new or additional major appliances, or moved existing ones to new locations? A circuit could now be overloaded, that wasn’t previously. Or maybe you have older appliances that are ailing, and drawing more power than they should be. Your utility company can tell you if something’s amiss in your usage.
It’s harder in home offices than in commercial buildings, but housing the computer away from windows that open, is best.
And an old computer user rule: Never set liquids above or on the same surface the computer rests on.
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My husband was a die-hard Mac fan until he got a job doing IT support for a Mac environment. Funny…now we are PC people.
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I’d think harder about your electric system being an issue. I had a perfectly good computer go belly-up when I moved to a “new” rental place that had a really old, bad electric system.
My current macbook has been plugging for 4 years. I had to replace the hard drive in it this winter, but that was way cheaper than getting a whole new computer. It still works just like new. I back it up every couple of months or whenever I put on photos that I don’t want to lose. Plus, replacing the HD was super easy. The only thing actually falling apart on my computer is the case itself; those white plastic cases are prone to cracking after a year or two because of the magnetic clasp. I’ve had the plastic replace once, but now I’m out of applecare, so I just tape up the cracking part.
Maybe you just got a bad laptop? I’d definitely stick with applecare, as they’ll help you out for a whole 3 years, which is longer than computers are lasting you right now.
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