If you don't need a superfast processor and tons of RAM, old comps aren't bad. My 2nd comp was a 4-year-old handmedown, and I had it at least 8 years before I had to upgrade for school-related software. I also back most of my stuff up with one of those online backup services. OP should have invested in one.

um a lot of people wats the point of buying something when you have one and it works perfectly and his parents obviously don't know alot about computers so even though he lost a lot of things he must at least be happy to have a new sleek un grimy computer

They might not have kept the same computer for eight years, but had the files for that long. Besides, people who can't afford new computers every few years tend to hold onto the same one for a while.

not everyone has the funds to keep replacing luxury items.

yeah.. cuz that's MATURE. How is that gonna fix anything? clearly you're a dumbass. Some parents just aren't up to date on stuff. They were obviously trying to do something nice.

Oh and I suppose calling me out is machure? So when youre mother called you to come to dinner were you like "HOLD ON MOM IM BUSY INSULTING SOME GIRL ON THE INTERNET OVER BEING MACHURE!" ?

@45: Mature. Not machure.

it's spelt mature, not machure.

in addition to the mature thing, it's "your" and not "you're." insult fail.

And you don't inherit genetics. You inherit genes.

I'm a big girl.. who's mature.. I don't live with my parents thanks. How sad you tried to insult me and couldn't even copy the word correctly. Way to try and look cool on the Internet.. you fail.

My flood plan: I'm on the second floor of a house that isn't in New Orleans. I don't need any more of a flood plan than that. My fire plan: 1) throw monitor out of the way. 2) yank cables out of eHDD. 3). Grab eHDD, run. My "other disaster" plan: another sort of disaster? In VA? Come on! I do not like offsite backups, unless it's a server that I personally am running... in which case, it'd be onsite, since I have no physical place to store a server offsite.

@#40- 'Other disasters': Virginia has thieves, yes? I mean, crime isn't totally unheard of there? 'Cuz if your eHDD is easy enough for you to grab in a fire, it's easy enough for a thief to grab and stuff into a bag. Virginia also has trees, I'm sure. HDD's are sturdy, but it's entirely plausible a falling tree would destroy the drive beyond use. Speaking of falling trees, you know what makes them fall? Storms. You know what else storms cause? Lightning. And (occasionally) tornadoes. Lightning doesn't look at your surge protectors and say, 'Aww, gee, better go elsewhere', and many surge procs won't handle a full lightning strike. Now, since flooding is not something you're concerned about, I'm guessing you live in the highlands. If you do not, (and only if you do not), you're an idiot; floods can happen in any state, as long as you're in low enough lands, especially near lakes and rivers. Virginia has a lot of rivers, chiefly the James, the Potomac, and the Shenandoah... and those rivers have tributaries and so on and so forth so, unless you live on a decent hill surrounded by lowlands, don't discount the obvious.

Hahahahah! I love your smart-assery. A long comment I actually didn't mind reading! :D

katrina win? :)

#40... what about a swarm of locusts? They might eat your eHDD Or an asteroid impact? That would probably destroy your computer. Or what if an angry elephant escaped from the zoo and stampeded through your house and up your stairs and crushed your eHDD? Or a bunch of chimpanzees could escape with the elephant and easily take over your house and steal your eHDD? You absolutely MUST have a plan to deal with these, and all other, possible disasters.

@55: The eHDD is behind my 28" monitor, so unlikely a thief would notice it when all they really want to do is grab what they can (likely my MacBook Pro) and get out. I'll have to rely on my monitor to stop a tree :P And while it's true that I have my eHDD plugged into only a surge protector (which guarantees up to $5k of equipment btw, which indicates that they have at least _some_ faith in it), if something should blow out my eHDD, I still have my laptop's internal drive, which should remain unaffected since only the logic board (and maybe battery) should blow out.

hahahhahahhahahhaa