My hard drive has a fatal disease.

I thought it was a mental condition, that, with the correct analysis and rigorous corrective treatments, could be remedied.

A month or so ago, I noticed my computer was acting differently. It started forgetting where it had put important things. Sometimes it would wake up ‘not in the best of moods.’ Other times it would just freeze, with a blank stare on it’s face.

But now, I am seeing paralysis take over other parts of the machine. The numeric keypad on my keyboard has ceased to take input—oddly, though, it’s only the numerals. The mathematical symbols all still function properly. That’s a plus (pun intended).

Two experts—one at Apple and one at Millennium Technologies—tell me that the symptoms indicate a physical problem. I have been having a variety of problems with my computer, requiring running Apple‘s Disk Utility, Symantec‘s Norton Utilities, and Micromat‘s TechTool Pro.

All to no avail.

Fortunately, I bought a 3-Year AppleCare Package when I bought my computer in December 2002. So I get a new, free hard drive today or tomorrow—whenever it comes in. I have already been backing up client data, applications, etc. in anticipation of having to have my Boot Drive put down. But after all, it’s 80, and it’s causing me problems. 80 gigabytes is too much to lose all at once.

Unlike my own death, which, if I could choose how it is to happen, I would prefer to die instantly in a crash, for my hard drive I choose a slow death. Like some science fiction mad scientist, I need the time to transfer everything it knows to a younger subject.

How sick is that?