What do you mean it's dead?

It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes. -Douglas Adams-

I always hate reloading my computers. I make a point of doing it at least once per year, but I still dread it. In the last 2 years, I've been cheating though. I have a backup imaged onto my hard drive that I just restore onto my system when the time comes. It takes a fraction of the time. I always, without fail, find that there was something that I missed saving before wiping my drive though.
The reload on my laptop is not going to be nearly as easy though. Unfortunately, my hard drive on it died. Kaput. Deceased. Dead as a doornail. And I was in the middle of saving some important data so I could reload the image. So I had to order a new drive. I also ordered an enclosure to see if I can get some of the data from the drive back, although I am very doubtful of that since the drive isn't even spinning up. It looks like I'll be reloading this drive the old fashioned way this time. Yippee.
I relented and ordered the new hard drive today, after having tried to resurrect the old one for the last week, and after trying to find a lower cost replacement in town. Ah well. At least I'll be able to get back to regular posting once it's up and running again.
Pax, all.