My computer OS died on Saturday / storytime

Spiraling down and trying to swim back up; a mixed roller coaster of a stressful weekend. Storytime:

So to start off, my computer is 9.3 years old / I got it since December 2013 and I’ve been hanging onto it until now.

Fast forward – on September 2022, my screens started flashing and glitching yellow and white at me and I was forced to restart. I thought it was a random, one time thing at that time. If anyone knows why that was happening, let me know.

Late February 2023, it did it again and then it happened again this month on the 7th of March.

At this point I was intending to back things up and get a new computer soon since my computer hardware seems to be dying. I dreaded doing the research, setting things up all over again and constant backups since it’s time consuming and I do have backups for work things.

I don’t do backups regularly enough for my own stuff admittedly. I’ve been manually backing up via external hard drives instead which is inefficient because you have to keep plugging it and unplugging it. And I don’t have system restore on anymore. Which all bites me in the butt!!

Note almost all of my files are not on the SSD where the Operating System/OS is – I was told I was supposed to install programs on the SSD for faster access but I had no room. Getting conflicting opinions on this ;P

Last Saturday morning my computer won’t boot properly, not even on safe mode. It got stuck in the windows repair loop with the blue screen. So I started off troubleshooting based on this and this.

Consequently I went into panic/crisis mode, normal volume “ahhh!!”s to release my stress and being on low sleep since then for 3 days…and eventually lost hope.

Yes I got forced into getting a new computer. I put it off for too long.

Which is exciting, scary, overwhelming and stressful.

Spent time troubleshooting/figuring out things (cleaning, changing the CMOS battery and reseating things), my storage hard drives are hopefully fine(??) while it seems like the OS/now Windows 10 on my old Samsung 840 Pro SSD is corrupted(?) I’m just guessing here based on elimination of other options and possibilities. I don’t know for sure 🙁

Then I sunk into crash learning, watching reviews for the past days about computer components (the last time I did that was 9 years ago so things have changed and it’s been overwhelming)! I feel old!

Trying to figure out what’s compatible with what and learning about all these different models and processor gens is confusing!!

• Graphics cards, processors and motherboards are a headache – some previous/4th gen motherboards aren’t available anymore but it’s the previous gen processors that I can afford!! Options are limited. WHY
• cases too – I got so confused on what case has good airflow, cable management, mesh designs and what gives me enough room for what I need – it was most time consuming ARGH
• figuring out how much power I need!!
• what coolers and fans I need!! And actually get air coolers instead!
• how there’s RGB lighting everywhere (it’s flashy and I probably can’t leave it on when I sleep but it’s growing on me)!
• learning I need a bios update for the motherboard because I’ll be getting a 3rd gen motherboard >_>
• what is overkill and what’s the too low quality/effort components?!!
• the weird naming conventions for each component too!

Lots of thinking over pros and cons and trying to figure out what I want :0

When reviews get so technical it goes over my head…and I don’t know if I’ve watched/read enough reviews since some I need to take with a grain of salt too. Some reviews get too rambly from the perspective of someone in panic mode like me haha. I learned about various reviewer channels, cinematic shots of computers and sorting between some conflicting opinions :S

After all this I feel less overwhelmed about computer components though. Lots of people love to show off their fancy RGB builds with huge graphics cards while I just want something that works and will last me a long time firstmost haha

After much overwhelm and confusion and learning a lot of things at once I finally picked components for a new computer (and turns out there’s a lot of other things) that all hurt and killed my wallet. Well I’ve been frugal all the time for moments of need like these…

…I feel like crying but I believe in my investment and the possibilities :’)

I hope I picked out a good build – I’m waiting for reassurance from experts who will help and build it for me.

It didn’t help upon learning that the Samsung 980 Pro SSD burns itself up if you don’t update its firmware!! I am getting a new Samsung 970 Evo Plus which apparently shares similar parts with it?? And it also affects the 990 Pro SSDs as well! Please check if your Samsung SSD is affected and update it! Get the Samsung software at least! Once it’s failing it’s too late to update! I have/had doubts on my SSD choice!

Anyhoo I am definitely feeling much poorer and stingy – gosh it’s super expensive!! Ouch :’)

I would have liked to get a new computer at a slower pace but I guess this put the fire behind my butt to get going :<

Ah yes a bunch of time was also spent setting up a temporary setup and accessing most things via my work laptop (like right now). Super grateful once again that I have it!

I remember back when I used to only have a personal laptop and I had to constantly juggle/manage with RAM usage, performance and the heat in the laptop – and now I’m back to that haha

In the meantime today

I got some gracious and kind help from a few HW work peeps today in terms of figuring out if I can save my SSD/HDD stuff from my old computer! (Thank you so much for the support, reassurance and guidance this morning!! I won’t name them in case they want privacy but they know who they are!)

From them learned that it’s actually possible to do the last step – I can do a Windows boot from a USB flash drive!

I plan to wait until I get my new SSD/2.5″/3.5″ hard drive dock (to back things up) before I can scan and check the drive though! I would be able to scan/fix/check/recover my files and grab things from the computer from the new Windows version bootable on USB though the Microsoft article says I need to have backed things up first.

It won’t really affect the SSD itself but my risk tolerance is low…I want to be be safe than sorry. It’s inconvenient but I’ll wait for my dock to come and back up my stuff that way first before I start booting from the USB. I’ll see how I go when the time comes :<

I also learned from a colleague about SSD provisioning and how it increases the SSD’s lifespan!! :0 Gosh I was not aware!

I also need to figure out how to best back up things for my new setup so it’s more convenient for me to do regular backups and system restores, what drives to dedicate to what stuff, whether it’s worth separating the OS from the programs (so many ways to do it so I’m conflicted?? But with the SSD that I picked, I have too much SSD space dedicated for the OS if I force and keep programs separate from windows!! Oof!! And partitioning the SSD is silly? I wish I had known sooner so I can get a cheaper SSD just to dedicate for the OS and get another SSD for programs. ARGH!! Opinions appreciated!! )

Gosh sorting out backup options is expensive too!! I don’t know if there’s much good cheaper options. My default is external hard drives :S Also Samsung vs Western Digital for SSDs???

ARGH feeling overwhelmed :< I’ll have to live with my choices :’)

Note currently I cannot make new Youtube/reel videos (thankfully I still have previously made ones done though) and I cannot work in Photoshop and ClipPaintStudio right now. I don’t have access to my personal art files. I can’t use the mic and I can’t do too much things running at my work laptop at once (it lags a lot!!) So if I fall behind this is why…

…I can do other things at least!

I hope next week I’ll get my new computer and set up my stuff again! And set up/build a new side table! Also figure out how to save/back up my hard drives. Yeah I’m rambling because there’s lots :<

I’m also stressed out because what I’ve loosely planned to do during the longer weekend just went out the window! I have to adjust my plan somehow! I have so much to get back to with work and learning once I sort all this out (with software, files, licensing, settings, workspace and more)!! Eep!!

I’m not over the hump yet so I hope things work out! *touch wood*

Yes I got a bit more sleep now so I’m less of a barely functioning zombie now. I’m still sad and floundering somewhat :<

Maybe this helps someone as I document this here. If you read up to here, thank you :’)

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