How to smash a home computer

[whatelseisnew]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4003733.stm

An executive who froze his broken hard disk thinking it would be fixed has topped a list of the weirdest computer mishaps.
...
This last category includes the case of a man who became so mad with his malfunctioning laptop that he threw it in the lavatory and flushed a couple of times.

"Data can disappear as a result of natural disaster, system fault or computer virus, but human error, including 'computer rage', seems to be a growing problem," said Adrian Palmer, managing director of Ontrack Data Recovery.

[NegSpin]

1. Floppy disks

Does anybody know, did they ever perfect the floppy disk?

I always had problems with them, that is with Windows.

Then this week I needed to put a couple files on a floppy disk and THREE of them in a row failed for one reason or another. When a floppy fails I crunch it in half and toss it in the trash...but three in less then five minutes is pretty bad.

I wonder...was there just something wrong with floppy disks or was it just a problem with every computer I owned?

[hobbit709]

5. What version of Windoze

are you using? From personal experience win2000 has a real problem with floppys. I just burn everything on cd since i buy them in bulk and they cost me less than a floppy.

[Deja Q]

6. Floppy disks are horrible. Always have been. And if somebody claims

that they've NEVER had a problem and have been in IT for years and years, tell the liars to get stuffed.

And I need to look up microsoft's own KB article, but Windows 2000 format's the disk differently than 95; and older floppys may not be perfectly readable on Win2k machines.

It's not you.

[PoiBoy]

8. I think they gave up on the floppy disk...

..and invented the ThumbDrive or FlashDrive instead... a small device designed to be clipped to your keychain, plugs directly into a USB port and has a storage capacity of from 32MB to 1GB (704 floppys)..

[Kellanved]

2. the freezer is actually the right thing to do in some cases

A certain batch of IBM/Hitachi drives suffered from bad design; almost all drives died shortly after the warranty expired ("click of death"). These drives could be "convinced" to run again for a few minutes by cooling them down in the freezer (the bearings were the problem). Of course the danger of frying the drive because of condensed water out-weights the possible gain of getting it to run for 10 minutes.

[trotsky]

3. Actually freezing a hard drive can sometimes work.

The contraction/expansion cycle can reposition a misaligned drive head. So I wouldn't call that the weirdest!

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. Worlds most favorite message.....

[hobbit709]

7. Actually

The scandisk message after the emergency reboot is the most insulting.

[GingerSnaps]

9. What floor do you live on and are your windows the type that open

Up and down?

Drop it out the window but make sure the coast is clear before dropping it.

[sweetheart]

10. Ontrack data recovery

These chappies were the first ones that Dell pointed me to for
recovering my crashed hard disk. They were expensive, so i found
another company that does the same thing.

The worst unintentional computer screw up i've seen is spilled
coca cola on the keyboard.... and worst on a laptop. That sugary
shit can destroy a computer.

The article inspires... perhaps a new sport "extreme computer
destruction" Hurling a lap top off the top of mount everest, of
el capitan or the world trade center... the last one 'd be a bit
hard time travel and all. I'm sure a 306 rifle could put a hole
right through a laptop. A laptop placed on top of an anti-tank
mine would probably look interesting as well. Nothing could be
as satisfying as the old sledge hammer.