geeky1. Last Thursday in the small hours of the morning, we had a power outage. Only 30 minutes or so, but it was enough that the hard drive in my main computer (Mac mini) failed.
The official Mac repair places want $400 or more to replace the HD, a bit steep given that the drive would be $70-$100.
Fortunately, there was a detailed guide online, and once I had the new HD and required tools, it took a very careful hour or so to open up, dig my way down and extricate the old HD.
Even more fortunately, it works ! And Time Machine restored everything to just the way it was. Whew !
2. My camera (8ish years old) chews up batteries like candy, and doesn't even power on for recharged batteries. Verdict from the camera repair place - would probably need to replace the logic board (around $400) - but you can't get the parts now anyway.
And there's an official power supply, around $100 (!), but they sold their last one in 2007.
Fortunately, Jaycar had a suitable power supply (official supply is 6.5V, 3A - Jaycar one 6V, 2.2A), and the camera will work with this. Of course, that means it is only really usable as a "studio" camera now, which means I need to work out what camera I'll get next.
3. My camera flash - bought second-hand from a camera store many years ago (at least 10), appears to be showing the signs of age - the flash output has dwindled away to almost nothing. For quite a while, I've thought I'm Doing Something Wrong when trying to use it, but now I'm sure it's actually an issue with the flash itself. Looks like time to shop for a new flash ...
4. Bike issues - recently had to get the front wheel replaced, as the previous one just couldn't be straightened up properly (after 32,000km, so I guess that's a pretty good lifespan).
5. Phone issues - for a week or so, it was chewing through the battery, with no obvious cause, and regularly required a power-cycle to restore data connection. Strangely, this has settled down and it is mostly behaving itself now ... I suspect it knows I'm coming to the end of my contract, and could start shopping around for a replacement :)
... well, I guess my general technology philosophy is to use things until they fall to bits. I just didn't expect them all to fall apart at the same time :)
Original post on Dreamwidth - there are
