10.26.2007 arrived with a roar, a Leopard roar.
In late August I finally moved away from the much dominated Microsoft world with a purchase of a new MacBook Pro system. I had many hesitations and many worries. There are some things I love about Windows, perhaps because I have become so ever familiar with the famous errors and the famous resolutions. Face it, to run Windows you need to be software tech as well as hardware tech. For some this is like being a brain surgeon as well as being a lawyer. There was a challenge of maintaining your Microsoft environment, every morning could be a sunny or rainy day. I enjoyed the beauty of the Microsoft trials and tribulation.
Time moves on.
My migration did not go smoothly. I purchased a 500 gig Seagate drive for back up purposes, in doing so I was accustom to certain rituals that are ever so deadly to the OS X operating system. So here I am with a shiny beautiful glowing piece of art and moving all my required files and music over to my new system. As hours pass with excitement and sweet Apple tastes I finally decide to call it a night, and unplug my drive cable directly from my laptop. A soft yet urgent message is displayed on screen. I felt like a Mother seeing two young military boys coming to her home with a letter, they are not smiling.
I have broken the largest Cardinal rule ... I did not unmount my drive, in doing so, my master file table is completely wasted. I do not think much. I have done this before with Windows and everything would be fine.
After a few hours of restless sleep I awake with a panic. Realizing over 10 years of my family history is stored on this senseless drive. I panic. I attempt to resolve the issue be calling AppleCare, which was wonderful. It was amazing how nice they are to virgins.
No success.
Panic has a weird impact on people, it can make you lose your calm, in doing so, you loose clarity and the world becomes ever so small. I plugged my external drive into Windows hoping that my comfort dummy would resolve the issue. No success.
After countless hours of fighting, biting and crying ... I found a small German company that scans broken down drive to pull and rescue data.
Danke.
48 hours, I have burned all my files from the 500 gig drive and safed my own life. A wife without her child's photos is a dead man's omen.
And that is history.
Leopard, grrrr, nah, more like ROOOOARRR !
I have gone through many OS upgrades. So many, I would never be excited and wait until the service patch would arrive. This time it was different. I waited all day hearing trucks roar up and down the street, and here I was like a kid waiting in a candy store.
My time came. The Fedex guy upset and sputtered " What are these things I have twenty of these in my truck and they are all to be delivered by 4:00 PM ".
Shame on him.
" It's Leopard the new Apple OS ". He walked away disappointed. I on the other hand was quite the opposite.
An Apple boy meets his dream.
... TO BE CONTINUED.