ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Will insurance cover this?

I'm another computer guy and I totally agree. If something was wrong with the meter, you'd have seen the flash, heard the boom, and smelled the smoke, in that order.

I have run Windows 98, NT, 2000, and XP (normally I do Linux most of the time), on computers with no power protection. They have many times been powered off without a clean shutdown. No data was ever lost, except the ongoing activity at the time of one incident. If the data was on the hard drive when it booted up, and was not written over during the run, it will still be there when the power is suddenly cut off. That is, unless the hard drive itself physically dies.

More likely, this guy's computer was either infected by two or more competing viruses, or the filesystem was so horribly fragmented it would never get done writing stuff to the disk. Or he was running a defrag when he powered it off to make sure people didn't see his porn collection.

You did nothing wrong. Forget about it. If it comes back at you, then deal with it.

twh;

After reading your post, I have to make a few comments!



ANY Networked Computer that is shut down will appear as "gone", when trying to read its drive from another Computer on the same Network (physical LAN + Work group).
It's "simple logic" If the Machine is not there, it's not there!!!

Did the Client give an answer regarding a restart of the "affected" Machine, or simply / conveniently change the subject?



This claim requires accurate, credible documentation.

Ask to see the reports from the Tech.
Verify the claims on the reports with the Tech, in the presence of the Client.

Ask the Tech if it is possible to damage the Power Supply of the Machine, by connecting another Peripheral Device to the same Circuit, while that Machine was powered down!
Any answer other than "No" is 100% Bull Poop!

More likely what the Tech worked on was another Machine, with a failed SMPS, and the failure was unrelated to your scenario.
Another possibility is the "Dead" Machine was always dead - long before you arrived.




That would be the best line of red tape to send Him towards, but the Fluke people will first likely respond with a disclaimer, placing the liability on you.

In my opinion, this guy may be over analyzing the way things fail (Best-Case Scenario), and is simply over reacting due to his ignorance of technical things.
If this is the case, reasoning may bring this Person back to reality.

Unfortunately, I would have to predict this Client is the Worst-Case Scenario type: looking for someone to blame + pay for any failed piece of Equipment.

pdh:



LOL to the Porn collection!!!

Seriously, this is a valid point; if the guy powered down a Machine during a Defragmentation routine, this would affect the data in some method.
Depending on what was being "shuttled around the tracks" at the time, it may lose simple user data (like documents, etc.), or the loss could be a driver.
Definitely would not lose MBRs, as these are marked "Unmovable" and are not included in the defrag actions.

I will end here.
Any responses to the information I have posted here are welcome.

Let us know what has taken place so far.

Scott

Getting away from the technical side of things, I'd be very surprised if your insurance would cover this sort of loss.

"Losses" are broken down into different types: direct, indirect, and consequential.

To illustrate the difference, imagine a restaurant catches fire, and is shut for a few weeks as repairs are made. The repairs are 'direct' losses; the lost income is an 'indirect' lodd, and the failure of customers to return when it re-opens is a consequential loss.

Nearly all liability policies are limited to covering direct losses. Sometimes you can get a rider for lost income. There is no way the measure, and thus insure. consequential losses.

So, what is the value of the lost data? That's a pretty tough thing to measure, and thus would be outside the scope of any insurance policy.

On the plus side, it's equally difficult for the claimant to prove such a claim in court.

Not much new has happened. I reported to the property manager that the electrical installation was not the cause of any problems. The property manager, who the tenant was trying to tag for the previous down-time, wrote the tenant a really nasty letter. Then, my employer, wrote the tenant and asked that he get a written statement from the computer guy and have everyone sign it who wanted to get sued.

If it comes up again I'm going to use the porn site idea. As to the value of lost data, I have insurance for that, my hard drive is backed up.

OK, let me get this straight.

Between your arrival at about 1:30 PM and whenever you returned to his office from the other tenant's unit he suddenly had a catastrophic computer failure.

It was working fine just before you arrived but for some reason he didn't let you actually see that for yourself first.

He could somehow, by using another machine in the office while not observed by yourself, determined that the data on a non-spinning drive could not be accessed.


???


Sounds like he had a drive go belly up with data on it that he needed and knew how much it costs to retrieve it and wanted someone else to pay for it.

He needs to be spanked.