February 2014

Wow! That was painful.

 

We did some upgrades to the site over Christmas and, though the testing went OK,  we started getting errors after a couple of uploads as part of the January update. At first it was still possible for users to download files - but then even that got hit.

 

At first we thought it was the update that had caused problems but it turns out it was a hard-drive failure.

 

No worries - the site is backed up on an external drive.

 

Checked the external drive and that was kaput too!

 

No worries we have a second backup on another external drive.

 

We installed a new hard drive, reinstalled the operating system, server software, CMS and DBMS - all relatively painlessly.

 

We imported the database - or tried to. It threw errors regardless of what we tried. In the end some harsh surgery saw the data restored - but there is nothing from the last two years!

 

This weekend has seen me uploading two years of gameboxes and mods (that's 200+) and most of the sponsored games images - as well as restoring sponsors' pages for those that have joined in the last two years.

 

All the gameboxes and mods are back I believe and good progress has been made elsewhere (though hopefully the sponsors will be patient a little longer as work in their areas is not yet complete).

 

If you notice any mis-attributed gameboxes/mods then please let me know (and forgive the error). I believe all the files are now there, but if you spot I'm missing anything also please let me know.

 

You'll notice we're asking visitors to consider a samll contribution when they download a file. If you can 'Donate a Dollar a Dip' we'd be most appreciative. If you can't, then no worries. And if you can donate more then bless you.

 

We don't do annual fund raisers as our general running costs are modest. But with the failure of the HD, external drive (and, coincidentally) our router, we have had a lot of site related expense this last month. More than that, I'd like to actually see Natasha, our site admin, get a bit of financial recognition. She has put many hours of frustrating time in to fix our problems and without complaint. I did buy her a 'big' bouquet as my 'thank-you'. With our support drive - you have your chance to show your appreciation too.

 

Well, that will do for this month's update. We're still a little rough around the edges but at least WE'RE BACK!

My thanks as always to our visitors, sponsors and contributors.

Limey