Rebuilding a laptop is like Converting to Exchange

Sorry, laptop ran out of batteries and caused some problems. Here is the post.
It's just painful, especially when you didn't plan properly(we know it wasn't YOUR fault).
For admins even more painful is the magnitude of problems they will face.
Especially if you have missed a step or in my case a file or maybe 2.

Clients don 't think about the fact you now have to manage multiple servers compared to one previously(or multiply by at least 2 for moving off Notes to Exchange if ALL you want/use is Exchange, otherwise multiply by at least 4 to get the full package).

In my case I have multiple backups and drives now after getting my HP laptop returned with a new screen hinge, and a new drive(thanks tigerdirect for the 320GB for $60, maybe even get one for my ideapad) but these are killing me as none will "fix" vista. Not that XP is better, but I am better prepared now for the next backup. Bought an external 2.5" case and that works really well. But I digress.

So you have to get your whole network updated to 2008. But you knew that going in...didn't you? No? Your Microsoft rep forgot to tell you that one? And your Business Partner suddenly hit you up for extra consulting fees too? All this to change email platforms, now you have to upgrade your whole infrastructure of Microsoft pieces or nothing will talk to properly? You don't say.

Likewise I am reinstalling drivers and software and it is taking MUCH longer than expected. If I had only made the effort before hand to test my backup I would have noticed the thing missed some open files. Or had the external case.

I know some of you are thinking loser, and you are right. But there is no fun like reinstalling anything Microsoft. So much so I am tempted to try the MAC osX idea and dual boot my machine.

The moral of this story is I brought this mess on myself because of the following reasons(in no particular order) and most of the same goes to you if you are moving off of Domino:

1) I trusted my backup solution (The White House lost emails are legendary, they should have stuck with Lotus)
2) Microsoft told me their software could back up my drive and transfer my data and I believed them, well i wanted to at least, figured they could get this right...WRONG.(I could put almost anything here I guess that Microsoft says which is never reality for 2 more releases....or 5 years)
3) Listen to your friends on Twitter every time or Sametime.
4) HP made me do it, I didn't want to send them my hard drive (Substitute your favorite quote from lousy analyst companies and blame them)
5) It was done on the cheap and may just end up as a cutover and not a migration(how MANY migrations from Lotus end up this way because companies "suddenly" realize what they got into and can't change their budget(for 2-3x more) later in the cycle?
6) I read that other business people (Thanks Bilal for your tale of woe)sent their laptops back and had problems but this would never happen to me. (Other companies committed to Microsoft and never moved or have taken YEARS to do so, that won't happen to us....Riiiiight)
7) I like my new Ideapad so much I just can't go back to the old laptop. Just kidding, I do love it, but working on it the last week or so has reminded me why it is for TRAVELING. And the Ideapad is inheriting the 120GB from the HP soon and that is really needed on it.
8) My kids(clients) like the new stuff. (If you don't keep your server updated NOW by running older versions of Domino, what makes you think you will keep it updated on the new solution? Right you HAVE to otherwise the rest of your infrastructure will stop talking to each other)

So learn from my woes, spend the $10 and get an external drive case to do a perfect backup of your drive next time.

If only I could cluster my laptops, but that's a whole other post.

A Tale of 2 vendors

As some know I had sent my laptop back to HP for them to fix the screen hinge damage. An estimated 10-12 business days or in normal language 2-3 weeks was expected.
Imagine my surprise when the email came 48 hours later that it would be on its way back.
Very excited to hear this news I brought it to the office this morning and unboxed it to find a note that says the ominous words "Drive reimaged".

Uh oh! Yep, HP wiped the drive. Now to be fair, I believe they gave me a new drive as well as a monitor because the problems may have been heat from the processor or drive or both which burnt or melted the hinge. Well that is my story and I am preferring it over the fact that for no reason at all they restored my drive to day one.

My laptop I notice now is slower than before but only because I compare it to my Ideapad, which I love, aside from its wi-fi finickiness.

Now the problem is in restoring my data to the laptop will take hours, about 7+. And I won't know if anything works properly or not until it reboots.

Thanks HP, but next time when I ask if I should include the drive, just say no and also don't promise my data will be fine if you know it won't be.

So moving on to Seagate. My love, we've been through many drives together, some good some bad but when you have a monopoly you will be the one everyone comes to. So it's a good thing they stand by their warranty and sent me a new drive so easily. Online site to handle it all, includes directions for packaging and within a week got a new one, in fact it just came.

Can't wait to use it, it will be part of a new server I am building, a Red Hat version for our portable server line as a few people have asked about it.

No data was on the previous drive and if it was, well no big deal it was on our mule. So off I go to format a new drive and play with Red Hat.

HP and me, looks good so far

Some of you know my penchant for HP printers is historically heavy with bias to any others.

Others know I have a new Lenovo Ideapad. As Dilbert said once, I hope she doesn't ask about the laptop.

Others will recall seeing me with my gargantuan elephant of a 17" screen laptop at LS08. Well this elephant, an HP 9027US is headed back to HP. It seems, hard to believe I know, that this laptop can run a bit hot and evidently leads to a problem in the left hinge area.
I found this out the other night when opening my laptop produced a gut hurting CRACK and I knew immediately what happened. I was upset, what had I done, I take such great care of this monster? Well started trolling the internet looking for advice on where to get a new piece of plastic frame and such as we DIY people do and was pointed to a website from HP dedicated to this exact problem.

Realizing my laptop was out of warranty, it is now an elderly 20 months old, just slightly older than my baby, I figured I was out of luck. But no, my serial number and part number and all are included for a free repair, including shipping.

Needless to say I was ecstatic and depressed at the same time. I could get it fixed, yes, but I had already thought about looking into new laptops.

As a Lenovo dealer in Thinkpads and Ideapads you can bet what I will be next time.

So they are sending me a box to Fedex it back and after about 10 business days, or in normal terms about 3 weeks, my laptop will return.

So good news for the Ideapad, it gets to run around a bit more now. Now if I can just fix a quirky Wi-Fi problem on the Ideapad all will be well. So if you try to ping me Tuesday and i am not online, its because I am backing my hard drive up from the laptop to some other drive...just in case.