I’ve got a hardware problem. I know I have a hardware problem . As a result I encountered a self-inflicted wound . . . <sigh> . . . or two.

When I last rebuild my computer system I was running on a bit of a tight budget. I had budgeted for $700. The rebuild cost was under $800 to replace all the bits I needed replaced. The result has been an awesome solid fast and reliable system with one exception. SSD prices at the time were a bit stiff so I scrimped. Instead of getting a 1T or 500G M.2 SSD, I bought a 250g. You can see where this is going. Because the only way to run a game without disk spinup issues is to put it on an SSD, storage space became a huge problem.

Once SSD pricing dropped I swapped out a failing 10K spin up drive (one of two) for a 500g SSD. I then moved all the system files I could to the new SSD to free up space on my skimp-purchased 250g (ugh, just ugh) leaving GW2 on my main drive. I earned a temporary “beauty”, but it was truly only a temporary fix. As time passed it became glaringly obvious I was in trouble.

I did a (supposedly) totally innocuous thing, swapping the positions of my two monitors, a 14″ and a 32″ (TV). Given how awesome Microsoft is (if you don’t get the sarcasm you shouldn’t be reading this) you can guess the result. It blew things up. Totally. I lost the .dat file for GW2, a file that takes hours to download. To add insult to injury, the file was showing in the directory, taking up disk space, but no longer connected to the GW2 install. Oh joy.

So I re-downloaded the .dat file, missing out on some really good guild stuff (missions) while pausing play time to achieve mastery of the .dat file download. I reiterate, oh joy.

So today, in checking the cleanliness and integrity of my file storage I mastered a Level Two self-inflicted wound. I use the Microsoft utility to clean my drives of extraneous files. I’ll give you one guess as to the file it deleted that should have remained sacrosanct. Yup, you got it.

I’m now re-downloading, for the second (third?) time, the GW2 .dat file. Oh joy.