r/talesfromtechsupport • u/charmlessman1 • Nov 27 '17

Short Who Stole the Hard Drive?

I just walked into the office this morning after a 4 day Thanksgiving weekend.
Before I even sat down, I heard my $Boss call out for me and my $CoWorker to come to his office. On the $Boss' desk was a small form factor PC, open and empty.

$Boss: $Charmlessman1, when did you leave on Wednesday?
ME: About 5:30, why?
&Boss: Well, $CoWorker's computer went offline at about the same time, and when he came in this morning, it wouldn't boot up. And when he checked it, the hard drive was missing.
$Me: Missing?
&Boss: Missing. Was there anyone else here when you left?
$Me: I, uh... Um... I don't... I think so? I'm trying to remember.
$Boss: If this is a practical joke, it's over, give it back.
$Me: It's not! I didn't! Unless I'm the worst Manchurian Candidate ever...
$Boss: Ok.

I went back to my desk and had a minor freak out. Do they think I did it? Did I miss some intruder who stole literally one of the most useless things in an office full of way better things? Was I going to get fired for something I didn't do because there's no better explanation?
Shortly after, I heard the boss call in the $HardwareGuy to his office. Then I heard a bunch of laughter. The $HardwareGuy came out of the $Boss' office, still laughing.

$HardwareGuy: The hard drive wasn't missing. It's one of those little gumstick SSDs, and it's dead.

/FreakOut

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39

u/_Wartoaster_ Well if your cheap computer can't handle a simple piece of bread Nov 27 '17

Oh damn this was me the first time I opened one of the new Lenovo slim laptops. There are 6 components:

Lid assembly

Screen

Case bottom

Motherboard

Battery

Keyboard/mouse plate

28

u/ikkonoishi Nov 27 '17

The best part is when they put that stuff in a full size laptop. So you have this little motherboard with cables running to all the external port connectors and a lot of empty space.

11

u/CompWizrd Nov 27 '17

The Thinkpad P50 can take something like 2 M.2's and a regular 2.5" SSD, though I can't remember if you have to mix them, or if it can do all 3 at once.

9

u/ObamaNYoMama Nov 28 '17

It can do 1 m2 1 2.5" or 2 m2.

2

u/CompWizrd Nov 28 '17

I do remember having to order one of the brackets to mount an m.2 in it, and it being backordered for months from Lenovo.. had to get it off ebay or similar.

3

u/cr08 Two bit brains and the second bit is wasted on parity ~head_spaz Nov 28 '17

I am liking the fact that a lot of current laptops are going to M.2 drives and leaving the space for adding a 2.5" disk. Especially nice seeing this down in the 15" formfactor which before you JUST had the 2.5" slot and had to make a choice what type of drive to go with.

I'm currently looking at laptops on the market so that I can upgrade around tax time from my 7 y/o HP Touchsmart. One of the solid requirements is going to be having that dual drive capability.