A PC Holiday Miracle

Non-technical types please bear with me.  There is a point to this.  Ahem.  In my home, when something goes wrong with a computer or the network I’m the one who gets to fix it.  Having spent years as a tech writer, and long ago being the “go-to” computer guy in the office, I’m no stranger to this sort of stuff.  A few years back, though, I purchased a LaCie Ethernet mini-drive to store our music, photos and videos that’s been nothing but trouble.  Reading files from it is easy enough, but every now and then, for no apparent reason, it decides that NO ONE has permission to write new files on it.  Not a handy feature for a hard drive.  Anyway, when it acts up, I wind up spending a few hours driving myself up the wall, calling tech support, scouring the net for a solution and so on.  Usually, after much hair-pulling and vows to sundry pagan entities, I get it sort of working again, but invariably, the problem repeats.  And when it does, the previous solution no longer works.  It’s as though the problem is evolving, learning how to thwart me.  The warranty has expired and I’m in no position to buy a new one.  It has been my Ethernet albatross.

About a week ago, I absolutely had to remove some files from my daughter’s overburdened laptop and put them on the LaCie.  One of the things I hate most about technical issues is that I never have any idea how long it will take to address.  Could be seconds, days, or worse.  There I was in my familiar purgatory,  checking everything, reading and re-reading the manual, scouring sundry techno-geek fix-it sites.  I was just about to set myself and the drive on fire when… 

A miracle occurred!

I was looking at Amazon customer reviews, when I happened, just happened to notice the last line of a review which said, sort of as a throwaway line, that if you have the “guest” setting turned on, no one will be able to write files onto the drive.  One line.  Neither the manual, tech support, or anyone else on the whole freaking web seemed to know this.  Dubious, I unticked the box, restarted the drive, and, lo and behold, a problem that had been tasking me, literally, for years just… vanished.  Now, the drive works perfectly.  I felt profoundly relieved, and, though I don’t subscribe to any organized religious belief, blessed.

Long story short, my holiday wish for everyone is that whatever trouble sits heavily upon your mind, technical, economic, social, spiritual or whatever, may it have as quick and simple solution, and may you find it soon.  Pax.