Just as she was making progress (she had to deliver to the customer in 2 days) Windows 8 decided to install some patches. Not an issue you would think, however, the install failed and as it is supposed to do, roll back the installation.
System advised rollback was successful and a reboot was required. Reboot was performed and the system restarted...well it tried to, but the PC kept saying there was no boot media...oops.
It looks like the "rollback" had been so successful that it not only deleted some of the critical files, it also corrupted the MBR.
I recreated the MBR, still no luck. Following instruction on various forums (yes this is a common problem with Windows 8) - no luck.
So here she was, no PC, customer files inaccessible and 2 days to deliver.
As a workaround I removed the drive, copied ALL her files onto another laptop and ran a quick scan to confirm all files were present....they were. Running a quickly thrown together script I was able to identify the latest versions of the photos she required & copy them onto a USB key for her customer. A few hours work and a VERY relieved friend.
I'll be rebuilding her laptop over the next few days, installing Windows 7 as it's what she knows and hopefully won't have similar surprises.
I'm also burning a copy of all her critical files onto DVD AND copying them onto an external USB drive. I'll leave it to her as to where she keeps the backups. My recommendation - one copy (preferably the DVDs) to be kept off-site.
Lesson to be learned:
- Backup up critical files when they change
- NEVER allow patches to be applied when you are working on something critical
- Keep the phone number of your "technical guru" on speed dial
- When in doubt (especially with IT) stick with what you know
Until the next disaster.
Thursty
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