Computer horror story with a happy ending

I've heard horror stories through the years of computers crashing on people right before an exam, or before a term paper was due, but I never thought it would happen to me. This evening, it did.

After studying at school all afternoon, I grabbed some dinner and came home to do some more studying. Except, my Macbook Pro decided that it did not want to turn on. There's really no opportune time for something like this to happen, but I got a sinking feeling in my stomach because the last exam in the DEMS block was just three days away. Is this a hard drive or software issue? When was the last time I backed up my computer? Good thing I got the AppleCare extended warranty.

The tech support guy at AppleCare told me that there was nothing he could do over the phone and immediately booked an appointment for me at the Apple Store in Cherry Creek. Forty-five minutes later, I was greeted by Mark, a guy in his mid-20's, short, ruffled hair, scrappy beard, and black-rim glasses: "Welcome to the computer doctor's office!"

Indeed, he approached this appointment much like a good doctor treats a patient. When he connected an external hard drive to my computer, he explained in non-computer science terms that he was using it to try to gain access to my hard drive. Mark did this at every step along the way, just as I might say to a patient, "Now I'm going to listen to your lungs to make sure they sound clear." This progressed naturally to the point when he broke the news: "I think we're going to have to replace your hard drive." Despite wanting to deny that this was happening, I saw that it was coming. And he immediately followed that up with the practical question, "When was the last time you backed up your computer?" A few days ago, maybe a week.

So, I signed some papers, and he took my computer in the back to operate. I felt like a family member waiting while a loved one was in surgery (this would be analogous to.... brain replacement?). Mark came out after 15 minutes to tell me that the procedure was going well and that I'd get to see my Macbook Pro in about 5-10 minutes.

I was home by 9pm, and thanks to the wonders of Time Machine, my computer was completely restored by 10pm - applications and everything - to its last backup point about 5 days prior. Amazing. It could have been so much worse.

Moral of the story #1: Back up your data regularly!!!
Moral of the story #2: Buy the extended warranty for your computer!!!