We are having problems accessing the external hard drive on which all our Puzzleria! data is stored. We hope to provide you with a fresh helping of puzzles ASAP, however. Thank you for your patience.
LegoExternallyDrivenHardAndPutAwayWetBlanketed
LegoExternallyDrivenHardAndPutAwayWetBlanketed
>Not ready reading blog P!
ReplyDelete>Abort, Retry, Fail?_
Hmm, "Black Friday" takes on another meaning. I picture Lego's little chef-man madly dashing around trying to fix the hard drive. But happy Thanksgiving everyone! I am thankful for this blog, its proprietor, and its regular contributors, for providing such fun and clever banter and mind benders. Maybe Lego can get a Black Friday deal on a new drive.
Thanks, PlannedChaos, for your kind words about our blog. I am optimistic that I will be able to recover my data. But it is indeed a "Black Friday" for me, with shades of cloudy gray mixed in.
DeleteLegoWhoHopesToHavePuzzleria!SoonBackInThePink
Happy belated Thanksgiving, y'all. Good luck with your external drive, Lego. We know your internal (puzzle) drive is going strong!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Word Woman. I am getting some expert advice. This truly has been my worst nightmare. But I am hopeful.
DeleteLegoDrivenToDoBetterWithBackingUpFiles
Happy to help in any way possible, Lego.
DeleteIf you need a break from Black Friday, come on over to Colorful Friday and The CORUNDUM CONUNDRUM: Sapphires, Rubies, and Padparadscha .
Thanks for the link to PEOTS, Word Woman. Your wonderful blog is always worth our while and a time entertaining.
DeleteLegoAnUnabashed(ButBlog-Crashed)PEOTS-Fan
LegoDrivenToDIstraction, I desperately hope that you have NOT been the victim of 'ransomware."
ReplyDeleteIn the interim, a puzzle to get the week going.
ReplyDeleteThink of two common words in four and five letters that only share one letter in common but sound the same when pronounced. (I have one answer in mind, though there may be many—I'm interested to find out.)
Thanks, PlannedChaos, for this delightfully delectable enigmatic morsel. All thatcome tomy mind at first blush is FISH and GHOTI... but, of course, they share both an H and an I.
DeleteThanks, ViolinTeddy, for your "ransomware" warning. So I "ran some" malware diagnostics on my corrupted external drive and discovered that although no ransomware was present there, there might be a few traces of the dreaded and insidious Munsingwear present!
I quickly scrubbed that Munsingwear and hung it out to dry in the disinfecting sun.
LegoWhoIsAnUnablushedPlannedChaosAndViolinTeddyFan
As I take break from trying to recover my hard drive, another close-but-no-cigar attempt: PHASE/FAZE... at least all the consonants are different.
DeleteLegoIsAlsoCloseButNoCigaretteYetInHisRecoveryEfforts(AndLikelyNotReallyThatClose)
To be clear, the two words I'm thinking of are not synonyms but they do sound the same. They're homophones but not homographs.
DeleteTo be honest. PC, I don't think you thought there may be many. I think you thought there may be a few. I haven't thought of any, yet.
DeleteThink!
Paul, to be honest, I think the thoughts you thought I thought were not the thoughts you think, unless the thoughts you think I thought were thought up with a wink. And now that doesn't look like a word anymore.
DeleteI'm so, SO sorry that you are going through this torture, Lego! How I wish I knew something so that I could help you, but alas.....also, I had no idea EXTERNAL hard drives could get corrupted like this, but it must that any computer 'thing' can...more is the horror. I'm glad, at least, that there was no ransomware on it. Am not sure what "Munsingwear" is, despite looking at the link....clothing?
ReplyDeleteI know this doesn't meet the 'only one letter' requirement, PC, but 'file' and 'phial' [a small glass bottle] come close.
Here's another 'close one' (but no cigar): LYNX and LINKS
ReplyDeleteHere's a THREE-letter and five letter answer: NAY and NEIGH.
ReplyDeleteI'll tell you the one letter they have in common is not the first letter, and are not even the same number of places from the start of each word.
DeletePuzzle #2, creative challenge:
ReplyDeleteOne of my many grammatical pet peeves is when people use "its" and "it's" interchangeably. My challenge to the readers is to provide a sentence that is grammatically correct no matter which form is used. I have one in mind.
Boy, do I ever agree with you, PC, on the "its vs it's" pet peeve!!! I usually want to scream when I see some news site, or even graphics lines on TV, whose writers SHOULD know better, but apparently, they don't.
DeleteLet me add that my OTHER huge pet peeve of the moment is the increasing misuse of "I" after PREPOSITIONS....as in "John went to town with Mary and I." Seems that hardly anybody alive now has ever learned that "ME" is always used after a preposition, even when there is an 'and' included in the object of that preposition. They don't seem to sample "John went to town with 'I' " to see how wrong that is. Grrrr....
No puzzle from ME, I'm just ranting!
I have a rather labored "pseudo-answer" to PlannedChaos' second "creative challenge" puzzle. My attempt works when spoken aloud (sort of), but when written down it falls apart. My best answer thus far is:
DeleteVersion 1: When it comes to real estate and family stability. the ideal scenario is for a couple to be able to buy, it's home.
Version 2: When it comes to real estate and family stability. the ideal scenario is for a couple to be able to buy its home.
In my "answer," notice that Version 1 requires not only an apostrophe in "it's" but also an added "fallen apostrophe" (also known as a comma).
I'm still ruminating over PC's first puzzle, which I believe should be easier to solve, although I am having no luck solving it.
LegoThePuzzlerIsNowLegoThePuzzlee!
You are having trouble, Lego! I just had difficulty getting my post published. Hope it works this time! Tough puzzles there, PC. You may be too clever for this site. You may even need to create your own! If Lego did it, so can you! As for me, this glitch takes a load off my mind knowing I won't have to do any heavy-duty detective work this week. Of course, there's always the Sunday Puzzle! See you on Blaine later today, Lego!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words, PJB, but I think there's enough blog fragmentation as it is. Puzzlers unite!
DeleteAnother wonderful challenge from PlannedChaos. Thanks to him!
DeleteI agree with patjberry 100%. PC is indeed too clever for this site...and he is not alone! I believe PC and all who post here would be capable of producing fantastic puzzle blogs. But most of you likely have more commitments and responsibilities, and therefore less time, than I.
Update:
My data recovery is proving to be a tough task. I have not given up, and I believe I will eventually prevail. But if we do salvage this week with a P!, it will be an abbreviated version: two or three puzzles, tops. You won't have much solving time, even if we extend our answer deadline to Thursday.
And, there is a chance we may just have to skip this week, although I would prefer to give you at least a morsel or two.
LegoSaysIfAnyoneDoesWantToLaunchHisOrHerPuzzleBlogHeHasSomeBlogTitlesYouCanUse
Do you have any idea yet, Lego, exactly WHAT happened to your data? Does it seem to have internally bombed itself somehow, rather than an external attack from somewhere?
DeleteViolinTeddy,
DeleteMy best guess, after consultation with people who possess much more computer savvy than I, is that the manner in which I handled my external drive (unplugging it from the USB port improperly, for example) is the likely culprit.
So, not ransomware but user error.
In the meantime, Will Shortz's Sunday puzzle this week (created by Mike Reiss, whose submissions to Will are usually very solid) is a nice challenge.
Also, PLannedChaos has graced us with a pair of dandy conundrums to paradiddle over right here in our comments section. They are so good that I shall reprint them below:
1.Think of two common words in four and five letters that only share one letter in common but sound the same when pronounced. (I have one answer in mind, though there may be many—I'm interested to find out.)
2. One of my many grammatical pet peeves is when people use "its" and "it's" interchangeably. My challenge to the readers is to provide a sentence that is grammatically correct no matter which form is used. I have one in mind.
Thanks again to PC.
LegoMeaCulpritMeaCulpritMeaMaximaCulprit
My best answer so far to PC's creative challenge puzzle #2 might be legit, but only if it is read aloud. It reads:
DeleteA: When it comes to real estate and family stability, the best scenario is for a couple to buy its home.
B: When it comes to real estate and family stability, the best scenario is for a couple to buy, it's home.
Notice that Sentence B contains not only the apostrophe in "it's" but also a "fallen apostrophe," the comma required between "buy" and "it's".
I am still pondering PC's first puzzle, which I believe ought to be easier.
LegoThePuzzlerHasSuddenlyBecomeLegoThePuzzlee!
The Will Shortz Sunday Puzzle was NOT created by Mike Reiss, but by Henry Hook. See THIS.
DeleteYou know, Ron, it's possible for the same thing to be thought of by more than one person. It happens all the time.
DeleteBig-time congratulations are due to patjberry! He had not one, but two of his entries chosen by Will Shortz as Honorable Mentions in the recent two-week creative challenge to create "transposition riddles" (we here at P! have been calling them "Switcheroodles").
ReplyDeletepjb's two honorable entries were:
1) What is the difference between a traveler too sick to go and a husband with his feet in the way?
One misses the trip while the other trips the Mrs.
2) What is the difference between a happily married working man and a man getting a divorce?
One kisses his wife goodbye upon leaving his house while the other kisses his house goodbye upon leaving his wife.
Both are very clever, IMO (and the second one is also very funny).
LegoAsksWhatIsTheDifferenceBetweenpjbAndLego?pjb'sPuzzlesWereHonoredByThatShortzFellowButLego'sPuzzlesFellShort
Regarding PlannedChaos' first puzzle, from last Friday, which read:
ReplyDeleteThink of two common words in four and five letters that only share one letter in common but sound the same when pronounced. (I have one answer in mind, though there may be many—I'm interested to find out.)...
I wonder if anyone could COAX the KOCHS to vote for Trump?
Again, no cigar... two letters in common, O and C.
LegoWondersIfHeCouldCoaxTheKochsToDrinkCokes
Thanks for the mention, Lego. High praise indeed coming from the second greatest puzzlemaster in the country! I do hope we may have a few puzzles to solve this week, particularly since today's Sunday Puzzle was so easy I got it in less than five minutes. I no longer have to ponder that one. BTW I think you all deserve a little anagram to work out while we're waiting for tougher fare. This phrase sort of loosely defines a person in the news this weekend. See if you can figure it out:
ReplyDeleteRELIC SO DAFT
Hint: He's been around for a long time, even before my time, but no more.(two words, first name and last)
Thanks, patjberry, for the fine anagram. You are truly a faithful Puzzlerian! I believe this person was a proponent of the Great American Pastime.
DeleteLegoBelieveHeWasOnceABeerVerdorAtBriggsStadiumWhereHeTossedColdCansOfLocalBrewsAndPeanutsToFanaticalPayingCustomers
I have the answer, too. Are we supposed to post it, or wait for others to solve it?
DeleteWho knows that the highs and lows are the eyes and nose of the ayes and noes of the 2016 presidential national popular vote?
ReplyDeleteFind all the homophones.
Nice homophonopoem, ron. My piggyback poem:
DeleteWho knows, in the haze and malaise of these days,
With our eyes all aglaze at this recounting craze,
Confirming all yeas and reweighing all nays,
In a race short on praiseworthy horses,
But long on the name-calling neighs.
Who shall have it? The yeas'll?
No, for sure it's the nasal.
Hold elections, hold noses, deodorant sprays,
Something's rotten in Ballot-mark,
And it ain't mayonnaise!
LegoJustAChad-DimpledBallOnTheDoralCourseOfLife
HIGHS and EYES/AYES was my answer to the PC puzzle.
DeleteOh, that's a good one! I have another answer, though.
DeleteNice work, ron. You actually went above what PC was calling for!
DeleteLegoOnTheOtherHandHasSoFarStruckOut
I have another one BOWS and BEAUX, pronounced bōz in English.
DeleteNow this is what I was talking about! There must be lots of these. Great work.
DeleteOh, to be clear, I still have another answer in mind. But I see Lego has already unknowingly posted one of my two words. All will be revealed Wednesday.
DeleteLet's face it, I believe I have your answer, Planned Chaos.
DeleteWW, you can post it if you want.
DeleteHow goes the process, Lego?
ReplyDeleteThanks for asking, Word Woman.
DeleteI am getting some great help from a person very knowledgeble in computing. We are using tools that we hope will allow us to recover the P! data "trapped" inside the external disk.
In the process, I am learning a little more about how my computer works... and, more important, learning how to never let this happen again!
Its it too early for a preview of your great PEOTS blog for this week?
LegoWhoIsBusyAnalyzingCylindersNotOnHisInternalCombustionRideButOnHisExternal"Combusted"Drive
Rounding up topics for Partial Ellipsis of the Sun this morning, Lego.
DeleteAny suggestions?
And as to your cylinder analyzing work, Lego, 11111100000 sure is turning out to be a bear on many levels. . .
DeleteWow, great find, WW. I hadn't realized it was so clean in binary.
DeleteAnother anagram for someone that has passed in 2016, a description of this year's politics:
ReplyDeleteLYIN' ONE, NATCH.
Hint: the death was sudden, unexpected, and especially tragic given his/her young age.
Have the answer to this one, as well, PC....do we post it or not? (Assume not, so everyone has a chance?)
DeleteI'm afraid I'm not familiar with this person. Might we have another hint, PC?
DeleteNever mind. I just got it.
DeleteRELIC SO DAFT = FIDEL CASTRO
DeleteLYIN' ONE, NATCH = ANTON YELCHIN
For you "anagram people." TWO + ELEVEN = ONE + TWELVE. Each side of this equation is an anagram of the other side and "II + XI = I + XII" is a palindrome. See THIS.
ReplyDeleteron, I enjoyed your link; awesome anagrams and palindromes. Thanks!
DeleteAnd, of course, 13 is a Fibonacci number, for a little extra flourish!
Futility Closet is one of my regular haunts! Love that site.
DeleteGot a fairly easy one for you, if you know popular music or names in the news. See what you think:
DeleteThink of the name of a Middle Eastern newsmaker, first and last names. Both names by themselves are common girl's names, except the first name was the title of a pop song from the late 70s which also mentioned the titles "Tears On My Pillow" and "Ave Maria". Add a letter to the last name, and it becomes the subject of another pop song from the late 70s, this one having the distinction of being parodied many times, most notably by a very well-known novelty act who's had amazing longevity for a novelty act. He's been around long enough to change his look over the years, but his parody of the song was in fact his first official song parody. Who is the newsmaker? What songs are referenced(and for extra credit, name the acts who recorded them)? And for even more extra credit, name the novelty act and his song parody.
Am pleased to say I solved your puzzle right away, PJB.....somehow, the newsmaker's name immediately hit me, and it was all downhill from there! Like all the others, will save answering until tomorrow.
Deleteron,
DeleteThanks for posting that truly amazing anagrammatical-Roman-numerical "perfect storm." No triskaidekaphobia on this blog...more like triskaidekaplilia!
patjberry,
Thanks for your great wedding of the East and the West to concoct an enigmarriage made in Puzzlerian! heaven. You've got a real knack for puzzlemaking... and dominating NPR 2-week challenges.
LegoSincerelyThanksPuzzlerians!ForSteppingUpThisWeekAndFillingThePuzzleVoidCreatedByTheHollowLego!
I never could solve PC's homonym puzzle, but here at least are answers to the others posed this week:
ReplyDeletePJB's: FIDEL CASTRO
PC's: ANTON YELCHIN
PJB's Pop Music Puzzle: ARIEL SHARON; song ARIEL by DEAN FRIEDMAN; song MY SHARONA by THE KNACK plus others; parody MY BOLOGNA by Weird Al Yankovic
The answers I had in mind:
ReplyDeleteHomophone pair: once, wants. (Commence arguments about regional dialects in which these don't sound exactly the same.)
"Its/it's" creative challenge: the phrase "milking this for all it[']s worth." Some other interesting answers here.
2016 anagram: "Lyin' one, natch", indirectly referencing the intemperate 2016 political climate, becomes Anton Yelchin, who was killed at 27 when a known flaw in his new Jeep Grand Cherokee allowed it to roll down a driveway incline, pinning him against his mailbox, and he died of blunt traumatic asphyxia. Fiat Chrysler has refused to take responsibility for the incident, even though the model has been recalled for transmission errors leading to unexpected rolling. But sadly that's exactly the kind of cost/benefit analysis I expect from car companies these days: it's cheaper to litigate than to fix the problem. Bernie Sanders warned us about the behavior of the top 1%, though he had no comment regarding the top half of Anton Yelchin. The whole thing reminds me of this scene from Signs. (That's the director, M. Knight Shyamalan, at 1:26.)
The anagrams:
ReplyDeleteFIDEL CASTRO
ANTON YELCHIN
Planned Chaos, I came up with KNOWS and NOSE for the homophones (Hence, "Let's face it) until I re-read the challenge and saw that having the letters in different positions in the words wasn't the solution.
Although, to my ears, ONCE and WANTS are not homophones. . .
The main disqualifier for KNOWS and NOSE is that they have a majority of their letters in common. If the restriction was relaxed that much, I expect there would be a slew of possible answers.
DeleteAnd, sure enough, the very next post satisfied my prediction. Thanks to Poe's law I don't know if you were intentionally trying to be ironic. "Sounds like" puzzles are tricky because they always have to assume a specific way of speaking each word, which is going to be far narrower than the audience that reads the puzzle. And yet a better answer has not been presented, and I was very much hoping this audience would find one.
Of course, Planned Chaos.
DeleteI am happy to learn about Poe's Law. What would we do without emoji's?! ;-)
Poe, poe pitiful me. . .
☆☆☆☆☆
^^^emojis
DeleteHere in the Great Flyover Midwest (not to be confused with the Trumped-up Comb-over East Coast), ONCE and WANTS are near indistinguishable to our corncobwebby ears.
ReplyDeleteIs PEOTS uploaded yet, Word Woman?
The "milking this for all it(')s worth" solution is solid and satisfying, PC. Very nice puzzle.
LegoBelievesCloseCountsInHorseshoesHandGrenadesAndHomophonePuzzles
Thanks for asking, Lego.
Delete"Blue-leaved Begonias and Fibonacci Golden Spirals" will be up over at Partial Ellipsis of the Sun later this evening.
Once (rhymes with dunce) you start reading, all your wants (rhymes with aunts) will be fulfilled ;-).
New post on Blue-leaved Begonias and Fibonacci Golden Spirals is now up at PEOTS.
DeleteI agree (albeit at this late hour) with the fact that 'once' and 'wants' don't sound alike to me, so that pair would have NEVER had a chance of occurring to me (and I've lived in NJ, southern CA, MT, and now OR, so no dialect involved, that I'm aware of anyhoooo.)
DeleteAnd I'd completely forgotten about the its/it's challenge, having instead gotten all caught up in sharing that pet peeve, as well as adding my own about "me' vs. "I" after prepositions.
Did anyone see my post (way) above about the Mike Reiss/Henry Hook authorship of this week's Will Shortz Sunday challenge?
ReplyDeleteNo, Ron, I had missed your comment way above (and had to use the FIND function to locate it), but you are certainly correct. Someone (can't recall who) on Blaine's had pointed out that this was NOT a new puzzle (NPR's) and said they'd found the webpage it had been on. I suppose it must be the one to which you provided the link. Interesting....
DeleteYes, ron. Good memory on your part. I cannot really say anything after that Cypriot/Apricot "second helping" I offered up a few weeks back! And I only waited a couple of months between copies, not a decade.
DeleteLegoBelievesThatIfYou'reGoingToPlagiarizeSomeone'sPuzzleYouCouldDoLotsWorseThanHenryHook!
ron, I surely think the search tool in the NPR blog could prevent duplicates. It takes just moments to check. I wonder why Will doesn't do this simple procedure.
DeleteEven if he thinks 9 years between repeats is ok, he would have seen Henry Hook created the puzzle first.
BTW re my pop music puzzle: In case anyone's wondering why I didn't reference "The Little Mermaid" for ARIEL, that would've been too obvious. Everybody's heard of that Ariel. I just like the song better. It's such a great rare tune from 1977, and as story songs go it really has great imagery in the lyrics, even going so far as to mention Dairy Queen and the late Annette Funicello. If you've never heard it before(or haven't heard it in a long time), check it out on Google/YouTube. You will not be disappointed. Now "My Sharona" is another story. Everybody's probably heard it at one time or another, possibly even ViolinTeddy! I know she's more into classical music, but I'm glad she makes the extra effort with my puzzles. VT, I really appreciate your contributing to this site. I don't know if you actually listened to any songs I've ever referenced in my puzzles, but if you have I hope you got as much out of the experience as I do. I too have an appreciation for classical music, it's just I've heard it so much in old Warner Brothers cartoons growing up. I hate to admit it, but most people have probably been exposed to it that way. We all think"Kill the wabbit!" when we hear Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries". It does tend to water it down a bit for the masses, but it's not the worst way to be introduced to high culture. Especially if you grew up in Alabama like me.
ReplyDeleteI heartily agree, pjb, with your assessment of VT's excellent contributions to Puzzleria! You said it very welland sweetly.
DeleteI am wowed weekly by the wit and wisdom of all you commenters, and am grateful too to all those "nameless" viewers of our blog who opt not to comment, for whatever reason.
And, as I said in my comment of about 24 hours ago, pjb, "you've got a real knack for puzzlemaking..."
If anyone out there has never visited PEOTS, do yourself a favor and do so. (See Word Woman's November 30 at 7:10 PM comment and link.)
LegoSaysKnackKnack!Who'sThere?Sharona!SharonaWho?SharonaByTheKnackKnack!Who'sThere?Sharona!SharonaWho?SharonaByTheKnackKnack!Who'sThere?Sharona!SharonaWho?SharonaByTheKnackKnack!Who'sThere?Sharona!SharonaWho?SharonaByTheKnackKnack!Who'sThere?Sharona!SharonaWho?SharonaByTheKna...
Thanks for your kind words, pjb. I can't actually recall if I HAVE listened to some of the songs to which you have referred in various puzzles, but then some of them I might have actually even heard in the past (I just can't remember what they all were.)
DeleteI'm also a fan of Weird Al's (his 'Ebay' song is one of my favorites, and I recall my sons playing his Star Trek take-off [which referenced Anakin as a kid, if I remember properly], which was very clever, although I can't recall what song it was parodying now.)
Usually, there are so many puzzles flying thick and fast around here, and I have so much else to do anyway, that I haven't taken the time to listen to what I perceive as 'rock songs', but maybe I can try harder in the future!
You will laugh (I hope) but one of the main Wagner themes that runs through my head all the time is the take-off, from some years back, of a SALMONELLA public warning on TV: "Salmonella, Salmonella, let's really TEACH this guy a lesson." I think that might have been the Valkyrie's theme also, but I'm too tired right now to go research it for sure.
I am just awfully glad to have stumbled on this wonderful blog in May of last year, and take great joy in being a part of it all. Many thanks, Lego et al.
I actually think it's interesting that "My Sharona" has been regarded as a "footnote" in pop music history. It was released in 1979, when practically everybody had to have a disco record out, and the Knack probably even formed just to put out a rock record and be able to stand out in the pop mainstream. It definitely still holds up as a great pop(or rock if you prefer)tune. It even got mentioned on "The Simpsons" as a footnote!
ReplyDeleteThe Star Trek takeoff was a parody of Don McLean's "American Pie"."My my this here Anakin guy/might be Vader someday later, now he's just a small fry...soon I'm gonna be a Jedi." I hate to think of when Weird Al will pass away, because there'll never be another one like him. He's the best.
ReplyDeleteThe nerd in me is twitching. Star Trek ≠ Star Wars.
DeleteI'm SOOOOO sorry, PC, I KNOW it's Star WARS (as I'm sure does pjb, who merely followed my lead, while we were busy admiring Weird Al's talent!) and NOT Star TREK.....just call me 'PENNY' from BIg Bang Theory! [One of my favorite of her lines being, as I might have mentioned once here before, to Amy, when asked by the latter "what's the difference?", Penny says: "THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENCE." Just hysterical.
DeleteBut didn't mean to make you twitch, PC!!!!
PJB, I also forgot to include Weird Al's wonderful PANCREAS song (being one of my favorites, that my boys knew about and played for me.) Which real song is that one a take-off on?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteMy heartfelt apologies to all the diehard fans out there. I obviously meant Star WARS. Just heard the pancreas song by Weird Al. Wonder if it was difficult to get to Brian Wilson for his permission to "Beach Boy-ify" the song like that? I may have coined a new term, but I doubt it!
DeleteVT, I thin it was more of a "style parody" than an actual use of a particular Beach Boys song, though there was a little "Good Vibrations" in it near the end.
DeleteHuzzah, Lego! Sounds like things are up and running for tomorrow. . .
ReplyDeleteHow do we know this, WW?
DeleteLego posted at Blaine's. . .
DeleteNo such luck, sadly. The hard drive is still kaput. It's just that between the two of us, we've put together enough puzzles for a Friday post. But all hope is not lost, there are still many more options and the recovery process continues.
DeleteGosh, that stinks, Lego. Perhaps the hard drive just broke all on its own (i.e. the way everything else does?) Maybe YOU didn't do anything to it at all? May the efforts succeed at some point, given all the diligence that has gone and is still going into the battle!
DeleteOOps, that was PC posting, not Lego. It would pay me to READ, wouldn't it?
DeleteThat may be, but 'breaking all on its own' is not a diagnosis. It's not a hardware issue (the drive runs normally, e.g. no "click of death" has been reported), and I don't suspect malware is to blame (based on the symptoms it's definitely not ransomware), I think the partition map has just become corrupted. We may give up on repair and turn to data recovery, though there are a myriad of other repair tools yet to be tried (only two have been used so far). But from a data recovery standpoint, if most of the files can be pulled off, then the drive can be reformatted (erasing it in the process) and it should be good as new. Some information will be lost (such as the way the files were organized, and metadata like created and modified dates) but it's mostly Word and image files he's after so hopefully it won't be a big deal.
DeleteAs for the cause of the corruption, like most diagnosis knowing how one got to a certain state is not as important as knowing what the current state is so as to determine how to proceed. However, for purposes of reducing future risk I have a behavioral hypothesis (Lego would sometimes unplug the drive without using the 'safely remove' option in Windows—and I suspect many people are like this: the purpose and importance of first ejecting the drive in software before physically disconnecting it is hard to explain and harder to remember). But this may not be the sole cause: though rare, storage devices can slowly accrete corruption over time with enough writes even when they are properly ejected, and even with the automatic disk checks that modern operating systems will do. Usually I only run a third-party disk repair utility after an improper shutdown of my computer, which ends up being once or twice a year at most.
Yeah, Lego had mentioned somewhere that he probably caused this by unplugging his hard drive without doing whatever that process is that you mention, PC (which I never can remember HOW to do myself, heaven forfend), but I had begun to wonder if perhaps there was some OTHER cause, too. Apparently not? It is cheering to hear that there are still things that can be tried to recover most of the data. [I didn't understand what you meant by info being lost "such as the way files were organized and metadata" (what in heck is metadata?)]
DeleteIt is also scary to read that even if one does NOTHING wrong, storage devices can slowly corrupt, even with auto checks. Ekes. Most of us are completely UNable to deal with this kind of stuff. I am very glad Lego has you to help, PC.
Lego is very glad also, ViolinTeddy. I don't know my way around the inner workings of computers, but PlannedChaos does. Indeed he is very computer-savvy and has been generous with sharing his time and expertise to help me with my data recovery/access quandary.
DeleteI am very grateful to him for his assistance (Lego says, one week after Thanksgiving).
Yes, we will have a full complement of puzzles tomorrow morning, thanks again to PC, who somehow found time to create wonderful puzzles as well as troubleshoot my ailing drive.
LegoSaysIfYouTossATubaIntoAYewTheShrub'llToot!
It is good that Lego has PC to help him with his PC(pun intended). Our desktop computer has been kaput for a couple of years now, and instead of getting someone to fix it we just left it as it is in the computer room. What a waste. Now my mother and I fight over the Kindle Fire when it comes to perusing the Internet. I'm actually lucky to be posting right now. This thing's supposed to be recharging.
ReplyDelete