Something Old & New

These are the familiar first and second lines of a traditional rhyme detailing what a bride should wear at her wedding for good luck. The entire rhyme mentions five items:

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a sixpence in her shoe.

It dates to the late 1800s during the Victorian Era and comes from an English rhyme. The objects were considered necessary to include on a wedding day with the belief they would ward off the evil eye and lead to happy marriages, a superstition still popular today in the UK and US.

Something old is a family keepsake carried or worn by the bride to symbolize continuing her past life in her marriage. Something new offers optimism for the future. Something borrowed is believed to transfer luck from one marriage to another. Something blue is a sign of purity and fidelity represented in something blue worn by the bride. A sixpence is a silver British coin, about the size of a penny, no longer in use. It's meant to symbolize a life of wealth and prosperity. Traditionally, the bride's father would place the sixpence in her shoe for good fortune. The custom derives from a time when the bride would gift silver coins from her dowry to the groom.

But, as usual, I've digressed and here's why. When thinking about a post title, this rhyme came to mind, so off I went to learn more and, of course, opted to share here. However, this post is not about any upcoming wedding and, no, we didn't include any of these traditions at our own nearly 25 years ago and it's lasted regardless.

That said, there is something old and something new to post about, a bit of an extravagant and overdue holiday and birthday gift from myself to myself. Do you ever treat yourself? 

Older iMac desktop

The old is a nearly 10-year old, 21-inch desktop iMac computer purchased shortly after we'd relocated to NH. This was my first Apple computer, aside from an iPad and iPhone. Before buying the Mac, I'd always used HP computers based on Windows (Microsoft) operating system, switching to Apple meant learning to do things differently. I admit to still learning, overall it continues to have been a good decision to switch. 

The desktop is still working, but like most things, equipment tends to get slower with age, and with mine it was taking longer to open mail, documents and multiple tabs. All of these are not unexpected, as some issues associated with aging computers include:

Less reliability which can mean unplanned down time if they malfunction.

Expired warranty which can lead to unexpected expenses.

Slower running with more waiting for applications to load.

Older computers often become incompatible with some software.

Internet source

How long do computers last?

That's what I wondered as well. According to many experts, desktop computers generally have a healthy lifespan of five years, some longer, especially if well maintained. Laptops are estimated to have a lifespan to three or four years. 

The good news is that according to experts, Mac computers have a reputation for lasting longer. Apple offers a strong maintenance and support system. There's an added cost, but AppleCare is an available option that extends the warranty for an additional 2 years. Speaking from experience it has always been worth the added cost to buy the extra protection.

My computers are well past these estimates, not only is my desktop older than its expected lifespan, but so is a 2017 MacBook Air notebook computer, which is not being replaced now. It's mainly taken on road trips and still functioning quite well enough for that purpose. Perhaps, its replacement will come in a couple years.

In an earlier post, when I noted that plans were in the works for a new computer gift to myself and invited comments from fellow bloggers. Several responded they preferred a notebook. That's exactly what I was considering based on the limited size of my desk. The iMac consumed much of the available desk space.

New MacBook Pro

This MacBook Pro notebook is new with so much more memory, faster processor and other features, too many to list. True, its 16-inch screen is smaller than the 21-inch desktop, but having more desk space is a good thing for me. And, hopefully, it will last as long as its predecessor.

What happens to the old computer?

This week, files were migrated from the desktop to the notebook using Apple's built-in file migration system and Patrick's help. As soon as I'm sure the notebook is working with no issues, the desktop will be recycled at the Apple store in Nashua, NH. 

Last week, we went there not only for me to check out the available models and purchase a new computer, but to recycle Patrick's even older-iMac desktop. It had been replaced it with an Apple notebook over the holidays because it was also time for an upgrade.

What about donating older PCs?

Yes, we did consider the possibility of donating both desktops to a local organization in need (after first removing all personal data). However, that's easier said than done it seems. After calling a number of volunteer organizations and not finding any takers, we decided recycling was the best alternative. Some reasons given when declining the offer were that the organization did not use non-Windows computers, there was no need and, of course, the age of the computer even though it remains functional, just a bit slower.

Computers, monitors and other peripheral devices often contain toxic materials, such as lead and mercury that don't belong in a landfill. Just like Apple, many manufacturer and retailer-sponsored programs (like best Buy) will take drop-offs and then dismantle the computers for materials recycling. While Apple offers a credit toward purchase of another device or gift card, both our computers were too old and so no credit would be offered toward another purchase, so they would be recycled at no cost to us, win-win.

If and when you’re also ready to retire your old equipment through donation or recycling, make sure to completely erase the hard drive first. Then, donate or recycle the hardware whichever works best for you. 

Sunset over the Nashua River earlier this week

Update: Problem Resolved

Last week I wrote about a computer issue between my Apple desktop PC and an external CD/DVD drive (also an Apple product). I appreciated blogger feedback that a possible solution would be found after Apple reviewed files uploaded for analysis.

The very good news is that this week, there has been a determination of what caused the problem —The PC would go into restart mode when a certain CD was inserted into the drive, but not when the CD/DVD unit was connected without a disk.

A callback from Apple support this week determined that the issue was caused by a Universal Disk Format (UDF). Rather than try and explain it, there's info here. Thankfully, the external drive and the PC are both OK. This was verified when a music CD was inserted and the tracks were recognized and read. (So all is good with both devices.)

As it was explained to me, the computer was trying to access information on the inserted disk, then came to a bad area and went into shutdown mode. The term used referred to a "panic kernel." (Yes, it does sound ominous.) As alarming as the term sounds, Apple support explained that it's a self-protection mode for the computer. 

Images on the CD had been backed up on a Windows desktop PC and that was presented as a "possible" reason for the conflict. Thankfully, the bulk of the CDs in this project have already been transferred onto several external hard drives.

Ironically, the same CD could be read on other Apple computers in our household: Grenville's desktop and a notebook PC. That being the case, I was advised to use an alternate computer to read the "problem" CD. Hopefully, this will work; however, if the CD (or others) don't read on another computer, the (unwelcome) advice was to discard it. Disappointing to learn as there's more CDs to go through to complete this project.  

The good news is that copying CD images onto external hard drives is much "safer" in terms of failures, corruption and long-term storage. That said, I'm working on this project the next month or so until completion, then CDs are destroyed and trashed.

There's much speculation on how long CDs/DVDs "last." Several years ago, National Public Radio (NPR) aired this program on All Things Considered. It was interesting to read that there's "no average life span...as there's no average CD."

How do you store digital images — computer, CD/DVD media, external hard drive(s)?

Who Ya Gonna Call?

For me this week, it wasn't the scientist trio in the popular hit film, Ghostbusters, from which this post title was taken borrowed. Instead it was Apple support and speaking with several support reps is how my day was spent.

Grenville and myself are unabashed Apple users and we each have our own devices as we don't share well. Our 2-person household contains: two desktop PCs, notebooks, iPhones and tablets. At the very least, we're “standardized" in our product line. We even invested in the company's stock (on a very, very limited basis).

Whenever either of us have bought a new and/or refurbished Apple product, we've always added AppleCare Protection which extends the standard 1-year product warranty to 3 years with 24/7 priority access to Apple experts by chat or phone. Of course, it's more costly  to do so, but it's proven useful for us. It covers hardware issues with unlimited phone-in support for software issues/questions, which have been the focus of most calls. 

For myself, the expense has been worth it. This week, I experienced an issue when a 2-year old iMac desktop PC (with AppleCare) and an external Apple DVD drive no longer "played together." Short story is that the DVD caused the PC to "crash" when a CD was inserted. This DVD drive was working when used about 2 weeks ago and to verify that it was still working, we tested it on Grenville's PC and a notebook PC, where it worked as expected. 

Over 6 hours, I spoke with support reps in NC, TX and FL on this issue. The reason for so many calls was there were procedures the PC needed time to complete and Apple support sets a callback time — and always called back. AppleCare support centers are nationwide in the U.S. and the case number and detailed information was available to each rep. Unfortunately, the issue is unresolved and on the last call was escalated to a senior support analyst who guided me through running PC diagnostics and uploading files for analysis by Apple. After it's reviewed, the analyst will call back (no doubts about this). 

I'm hopeful optimistic this issue will be resolved to allow completion of my VERY large project of transferring images from (too many) CDs to several portable hard drives. It's a tedious and time-consuming project. I've mentally set a  mid-2019 completion timeframe.

As for buying extended warranties for major appliances, we're now apartment dwellers so if something breaks down, we notify the management office for a repair. As former homeowners, we never bought extended warranties and never had an issue even during what would have been the "lifetime" of an extended warranty. However, with delicate electronics that can be costly to repair, we get extra coverage to ensure that nothing "bad" happens, sort of like buying auto and house insurance — you dislike the expense and pray you don't have to use the coverage

No, I'm wondering curious about your views on extended protection coverages.
Have you ever purchased a support plan for a product — electronics or not?
If so, did you ever use it and was your issue(s) revolved?