All cultures create initiation rites and rituals for special events and occasions in life. Transitions into puberty, reaching maturity, graduations, marriage, etc. Something missing in modern culture is a rite of passage that almost everybody experiences at one time or another — suffering the loss of a computer hard drive.
Few things in life are as intensely traumatic as the abrupt awareness that a significant source of data (and in worst cases the ONLY source of that data) has potentially disappeared forever down the digital abyss as when a hard disc or storage device unexpectedly dies. Our culture needs a specific ritual to help one process this specific rite of passage.
Why can it be considered a rite of passage? Because sooner or later, every computer user experiences it.
The only significant difference between experiencers is if their files have been backed up and/or can be restored easily. Usually the first occasion that someone experiences this unwelcome event, they do NOT have backups of their files which in turn initiates them into a different club — that of the Compulsive Data Backup Freaks. (CDBF… yes, it stands in need of a better acronym.)
Once in a while individuals are capable to recover data from hard drive death which means their initiation in the cult is not really complete. Because one only becomes a member of this unique cult if their data is lost forever.
Another person who doesn’t truly qualify for this unique group are those that seek advice from a PC or Macintosh data recovery prof (usually when mechanical failure occurs) for if they successfully get their data restored, then they are disqualified from full initiation.
One can imagine distinct rituals to mark this Catastrophic Event. Tossing the dead drive off a cliff, blowing it up with explosives, smashing it to pieces with a sledgehammer… but sadly these actions are all really bad for the environment. Unfortunately our culture has not yet found an satisfactory means of initiating individuals into the Cult of the Fried Hard Drive. Until then, we must suffer in seclusion.
Why can it be considered a rite of passage? Because sooner or later, every computer user experiences it.
The only significant difference between experiencers is if their files have been backed up and/or can be restored easily. Usually the first occasion that someone experiences this unwelcome event, they do NOT have backups of their files which in turn initiates them into a different club — that of the Compulsive Data Backup Freaks. (CDBF… yes, it stands in need of a better acronym.)
Once in a while individuals are capable to recover data from hard drive death which means their initiation in the cult is not really complete. Because one only becomes a member of this unique cult if their data is lost forever.
Another person who doesn’t truly qualify for this unique group are those that seek advice from a PC or Macintosh data recovery prof (usually when mechanical failure occurs) for if they successfully get their data restored, then they are disqualified from full initiation.
One can imagine distinct rituals to mark this Catastrophic Event. Tossing the dead drive off a cliff, blowing it up with explosives, smashing it to pieces with a sledgehammer… but sadly these actions are all really bad for the environment. Unfortunately our culture has not yet found an satisfactory means of initiating individuals into the Cult of the Fried Hard Drive. Until then, we must suffer in seclusion.
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