I’d forgotten how traumatic moving to a new computer could be. As I mentioned last week, I got me a shiny new Dell. It’s got enormous hard drives and a lot of RAM. Of course, I couldn’t leave it in the factory configuration. Oh no. And that’s when the trouble began.
For those who don’t know, in the computing world, RAID is not a bug spray. It stands for Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks and is used to protect you from data loss. My new Dell came with something called Dell Data Safe, which includes a form of RAID. Basically, the computer has an extra hard disk, which stores a mirror image of the primary drive. If my hard disk dies, I have a backup one. The Data Safe also incorporates a product called Norton Ghost for even more backup protection.
Anyway, all this stuff is great if you use your Dell the way they set it up. But as some long time readers may know, I’m insistent about having my data stored in a separate area. I’ve always had it on a separate D: drive partition. I asked the sales folk if that would be a problem and they assured me it wouldn’t be. But making it work was not a trivial exercise. In fact, partitioning the drive and making it work with the Ghost/RAID set up was so nerdy, I won’t go into it. However, I learned a number of lessons.
1. Dell tech support is worthless. If you want to do anything remotely technically challenging, don’t bother communicating with them about it. Basic chat support wouldn’t touch my question and I was told I needed “escalated” (read: expensive) phone support. When the guy in India couldn’t even get my name right, I decided the odds of them understanding disk partitioning and RAID were pretty much zero, so I saved my pennies and hung up. I found a link on line that explained what I needed to do (for the ultra nerdy among you: http://www.abxzone.com/forums/ showthread.php?t=103702)
2. Adobe software doesn’t understand RAID. It tries to reactivate itself endlessly. In this case, I again searched online, found out what the problem was, and called the Adobe “activation line” (1-866-772-3623). In this case, the support person actually was helpful and my Creative Suite has stopped nagging me.
3. Don’t forget to install the proofing tools when you install Office. It’s a bummer to press F7 in Word and get nothing.
The bottom line is that setting up a new computer is hugely time consuming and often frustrating. Be ready.