Debate, and discuss, just dont Bore me.

I have always loved Dells (well since about the mid 90s).  And yesterday, I found I had an even better reason to love them!

My sister-in-law suffered a fire at her house a couple of years ago.  The house was a total loss (which is a shame - have you ever heard of the Hobbit House?  That was hers.)  By the time my wife and I got out there several months later, they had cleared the rubble and were fighting the insurance company over money.  In that rubble apparently was her laptop.

Too bad I told her.  The data may have been salvageable.  Well, lo and behold this year she found that she had not thrown out the laptop, and gave it to me to see if I could do anything with it.

Now this Dell is old.  The fire was 2 years ago.  The stupid thing only had 256mb of memory, so I suspect it was at least 3 years old when it was burned.  And it is not one of those sleek new notebooks that weigh about 1.5 pounds (this one clocks in at about 6-7), so it is rugged.  I was not really hopeful, but figured I would give it a shot.

I pulled the drive out, mounted it into an external USB case and plugged it into my laptop.  Brnnnnnggg!  Up came the drive with all the data!  ALL THE DATA!

I am very pleasantly surprised! I was able to recover all her data and saved it on to a memory stick (the drive was only a 60gb, only a quarter full - so a memory stick that holds all the data is cheap these days).

Over the years, I have had many good experiences with Dell.  I can add another one.  The computer itself is DOA, but the drive was protected by the "arm-breaker) case it was in and works fine!  I intend to give her the drive back to so she can have some temporary storage (I would not trust it for important stuff, just for a temporary back up).

Thanks again Dell!  You did it again!


Comments (Page 3)
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on Aug 04, 2010

I've worked on a lot of Dells and I can tell you, NEVER go for refurbished parts. A Dell Latitude with a refurbished hard drive is destined to crash within 2 months. A brand new hard drive is definitely the way to go. (This is at least my experience, we could be getting refurbished drives from a dude who sells them from the back of his van in Mexico for all I know)

I try not to judge Dell too much from my experience though, all the Dell computers I've worked with have had crappy corporate or school images put on them, which make for some ridiculous problems.

I salvaged data from a Dell Latitude D630 that got hit by a train once... 

and from a bunch that "fell down some stairs."

on Aug 05, 2010

starkers

(and no I do not work for NetAPP
But you bought shares???

If I was managing my own retirement, I sure would!

OMG_Teseer
I was part of the Your Tech Team contract, which you had to pay another $180 for. ALL just for talking to someone in the US.

I can believe that.  It does take a while to get through the chaff to get a new part, but after a while, I learned to anticipate each question and have the answer ready.

OMG_Splitshadow
I salvaged data from a Dell Latitude D630 that got hit by a train once... 

and from a bunch that "fell down some stairs."

Accidentally "fell down stairs"? Yea, I can see that excuse! LOL

on Aug 05, 2010

SpaghettiMon
If you want a good computer, learn how to put together a computer, it's fun and pretty simple these days.

Only reason to buy a manufactured machine is to get a laptop in my opinion.

I have put ones together myself (and prefer them for my own use).  I like picking out my own components.  But the reality is, for the average user, you cannot beat the prices of a manufactured one.

And I agree on the notebooks.  I would not even know how to go about getting the parts for those suckers!

 

on Aug 05, 2010

If I was managing my own retirement, I sure would!

I manage my own retirement.... I get a pension and I manage to spend it.

on Aug 07, 2010

On my first internship on my PC technician education (which is phony btw) I tagged along one technician that only dealt with Dell. He only ever replaced the motherboards.

 

On his checklist, there was a note: Temps ok?   But that doesn't meant CPU temperature. It was CUSTOMER temperature

 

Businesswise though, I got absolutely NO idea how they make ANY profit AT ALL on homeusers considering how much they must pay for service.

 

Joasoze

 

I don't know how it's called, but what you're describing is "brand loyalty on false premises". You attribute good components to Dell when it's really the manufacturers that should be credited.

Dell though have great support.

on Aug 09, 2010

On his checklist, there was a note: Temps ok? But that doesn't meant CPU temperature. It was CUSTOMER temperature

Got to have your priorities straight.

 

on Aug 09, 2010

Campaigner


Joasoze

I don't know how it's called, but what you're describing is "brand loyalty on false premises". You attribute good components to Dell when it's really the manufacturers that should be credited.

Dell though have great support.

I disagree. I dont care what manufactures should be credited. The point is that Dell buys good stuff from them and put it together. Your argument could be used on lots of products these days. Nike doesnt build a shoe themselves (the design them and buy them from factories around the world). Lots of cars have parts from other carmakers. I cannot keep a track on that, I will only try to find out if for example Toyota has a good track record before I buy. I dont check if the Toyota has a Volvo engine (I know it doesnt its just an example)

on Aug 09, 2010

I dont check if the Toyota has a Volvo engine (I know it doesnt its just an example)

How about if Volvo had a Toyota engine?

on Aug 09, 2010

What if you took a car with the engine in the front, and one with the engine in the back, and cut them in half and fused them together? Would it be significantly faster, or would the weight offset any extra speed?

on Aug 09, 2010

OMG_Splitshadow
What if you took a car with the engine in the front, and one with the engine in the back, and cut them in half and fused them together? Would it be significantly faster, or would the weight offset any extra speed?

Which way would it go?

on Aug 09, 2010

Dr Guy

Which way would it go?

Well obviously forward

The front mounted engine would power the front wheels and the back wheels would be powered by the rear mounted engine. You would definitely want the engines to be fairly close in power. You wouldn't want a V8 in the front and a V4 in the back

on Aug 09, 2010

You wouldn't want a V8 in the front and a V4 in the back

Would make some hell of great donuts in the road.

Seriously, I understood what you were saying.  But the idea of the Pushmi-Pullyu stuck in my mind so I had to be the jerk that asked the question.

on Sep 15, 2010

Any name brand computers you are basically wasting money. Get a good PC with quality parts made up for you, you will get a much better machine for a much better price

on Sep 15, 2010

Ravenstrike
Any name brand computers you are basically wasting money. Get a good PC with quality parts made up for you, you will get a much better machine for a much better price

On desktops I agree.  But I am not comfortable doing that with pads or laptops.  Just too much customization going on (to get it into the small form factor), so I want someone I can bitch to if it goes south.

on Sep 15, 2010

It's great (and lucky) that her data was recoverable. I used to buy Dell but these days I tend to go with the HP models. Except for the fact that they can't seem to design a proper power port I find them very reliable.

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