[LUNI] precautionary tales: Win XP, NTFS, and SATA

[Scott Zionic]

Chad Perrin wrote:

> The problem is, indeed, with drivers to a certain degree.  I 
> found out 
> the hard way (when a client downloaded and installed SP2 against my 
> explicit recommendations) that SP2's "security enhancements" 
> automatically disable some SATA drivers because the drivers 
> hadn't been 
> registered with Microsoft early enough to make it into SP2's 
> database of 
> recognized drivers.  As a result, the drive was rendered 
> unbootable, and 
> XP was made unrecoverable.  The system required a reinstall.

Preventing a driver from loading doesn't destroy data. If a driver is
prevented from loading and causes a kernel panic then the system should
still be recoverable by doing a parallel install (assuming recovery console,
etc, doesn't work).

> Anecdotal instances of SP2 working properly for individuals 
> mean nothing 
> much, I'm afraid.  Statistical studies have shown something 
> like 10% of 
> systems on which SP2 is applied suffering catastrophic 
> problems.  That's 
> an incredible, and thoroughly unaccaptable, level of failure. 
>  Microsoft 
> is (again) falling down on the job.

That's such an incredible number that, frankly, I find it to be incredible.
I would be interested in a citation for such an incredibly high failure
rate.

> I've had problems getting Linux started/configured on occasion, when 
> setting it up, but I've never had any problems with it 
> suddenly deciding 
> to destroy my system stability.  Linux has a high learning curve, but 
> it's well worth it to avoid a high incidence of failure.

I think it is much easier to prevent destruction of a Linux system and to
recover a Linux system that has gone tits up. Still, as frustrating as it is
to work with, Windows is recoverable a lot more often than most people
think. In my experience (about ten years working with some form of Windows
or other) inexperienced administrators throw in the towel and
reformat/reinstall in cases where the system is completely recoverable.

Linux has the significant advantage of one clear path to recovery that
almost always works: throw in a boot disk. Windows has a confusing mess of
recovery disks, "safe mode", "last known good", recovery console, etc.

Scott