I don’t think this is a long story, but it might turn out to be:

The Magic Disk of Healing +1

This is a story of epic proportions about the little 3.25″ disk that could. When this disk was being forged in its factory in taiwan, it had no idea of its destiny. No idea that it had a higher purpose, to save people from their horrible computer problems.

At first, it was used for Simply Accounting; measly install disk #3. Later on in life it had its label stripped and was used for random file transfers… until that one fateful day. I mounted an image on it for Memtest86. I too had no idea of the awesome powers that the disk held inside its flimsy plastic casing. After using Memtest86 a few times to test my ram I tossed it away, never to be used again.

Fast forward 5 years…

My friend Jonathan Perrone is having problems with Windows. It is randomly crashing all of a sudden, applications are dieing. So he decides to reinstall the operating system. Now he is getting errors that the files are not being copied correctly during installation. I diagnose the problem to be either a dead harddrive or bad memory.

For a test, I managed to find my Memtest86 disk and lent it to him to run and see if his memory is bad. He went home to try it out. The next day he calls me, and tells me that the disk didn’t find any errors in his memory… but something has happened. Miraculously his computer’s ailments have disappeared, and Windows can be reinstalled without any problems. What could have caused the sudden change? The only thing that was done to the computer since the problems started was this flimsy little Memtest86 disk was run. Could it be that it has magical healing powers? Could a simple memory test diskette whose only purpose is to check for errors have actually corrected them? According to its creators, NO! The program does not have this ability… but what about the physical disk itself? It must have done something. It is the only explaination!

So, after an hour of speculation and hypothesis it is decided that the disk does indeed have special powers, and it was dubbed the “Magic Disk of Healing +1” (the plus is for extra healing power).

What new adventure will the disk go on next time? Only time will tell, but one thing is for certain, it has a bright future ahead of it!

I HAVE THE POWER!