What if my backup wasn’t reliable? I do perform sample tests from time to time, but I’d never done a full restore from it, and actually we’ve seen at least a small number of failures when trying to restore from a Time Machine backup. When we concluded there was an internal hardware failure and began to disassemble the unit, I did finally start to get anxious about my data. Upon arriving in the office the next day, we methodically diagnosed the problem. There were no unusual sounds that I could detect (grinding, screeching that we often hear when drives fail), and besides, I back my data up on a nightly basis using Time Machine to an Apple Time Capsule that I have at home. The question of the integrity of my data didn’t really enter my mind at this point, as the symptoms did not suggest a hard drive failure. Realizing that I had a real problem, I decided to hold off until the following morning when I’d be returning to our lab. I tried several different startup tricks (zapping the PRAM, Option-boot, etc.), all to no avail. When that didn’t work I shut down the unit and restarted it.

Thinking it was stuck in a “sleep” state I tried several methods to wake it up. No matter what I attempted I couldn’t generate video. Though the power light on my latch release button was a solid white as normal, my screen stayed completely dark. It all started at home, when I opened up my unit to check email before turning in for the night. But in the process I became a huge fan of a new backup solution. So it wasn’t a real shock when my MacBook Pro recently failed.

No matter how closely we follow our own advice, computers being the mortal devices that they are, we too experience problems.

This Blog post is from Kory Barrett from MacMedics Washington:Įven the employees here at MacMedics are not immune to Macintosh troubles.

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