My Hard Drive is Back
I decided to send my failed Seagate hard drive, a barracuda 7200.11 (500 GB), to a company called One World Data Recovery Services, based in Canada. I just received it back last night and I couldn’t be more pleased with the results.
In the business of data recovery, when companies quote prices from $250 and up for this service, I decided to take One World up on their special offer of 39.99 for the data recovery plus $35.99 for shipping (which only applies to Seagate Barracuda customers affected by the firmware issue failures as outlined by Seagate), and I am thrilled I did.
They returned my hard drive back in perfect working condition exactly as I had hoped. I got all my data back for a fraction of the cost of other recovery services. I had to wait 13 days for the turnaround, but One World Data Recovery set my expectations ahead of time, answered all of my questions (and I question things a lot), and they kept me up to date the entire time. Their customer service was an “A” plus. They even had their engineer call me once I got my product back to inquire about the stability of the replacement “Seagate” that HP gave me as I, of course, had more questions!
It’s rare today to find such a professional and customer service-oriented company, and so I wanted to put my word out there, that I am pleased with their service and the results I got. I highly recommend them should you face a problem, or have a Seagate firmware issue that locked your hard drive like I did.
If only HP treated their customers similarly…
Crystal Sheffield on Geraldo Rivera
Crystal Sheffield, the mother of Haleigh Cummings, was interviewed on Geraldo at Large over the weekend (thanks for the tips), and her interview was interesting to me.
Crystal says that Cummings was abusive to her, physically and verbally.
Geraldo: Do you believe his story about what happened?
Crystal: No, I don’t. I mean, I know he loves Haleigh….and………..ah (almost breaking down)……….his temper, it could get bad enough for him to hurt Haleigh, but I do know he loves Haleigh, Haleigh is his heart, and everybody knows that.
….
Geraldo: Do you believe that Ron Cummings knows who took Haleigh?
Crystal: He’s told my brother, and my fiance, that he knows, that he is 75% sure he knows where his daughter is.
….
Crystal: He acts like he’s crying, like that uh-uh. He’s not. I know when he is really crying–that is fake.
Overall, I believe Crystal Sheffield (I’m not going to break down details, but generally speaking) I think she is being honest with us, and sharing her true and genuine feelings here.
Later in the show, Geraldo talks to Cummings about these allegations, and Cummings’ response is classic. His anger is over the top, but he doesn’t want to let it out, so he. talks. like. this. in. an. attempt. to. control. it. I don’t trust ONE WORD out of Ronald Cummings’ mouth.
When Geraldo asked Cummings if he thought Haleigh was alive, his body language is, sadly, fascinating. He shakes his head no very briefly before he speaks, and then he moves his head abruptly to an up and down direction with a slight hook to the side. He says, “I’m always going to believe my daughter is alive until they find her.”
You can watch the interview on YouTube. Just search for “Geraldo 2/21/09”.
Misty Croslin’s Tennessee Relative
….is not a suspect or a person of interest, according to Captain Dick Schauland of the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.
Ronald Cummings Participates in Search
Yesterday when I was looking for news on the case, I found this article talking about Cummings participating in the search efforts on Sunday.
When I read it, one sentence just jumped off the computer at me, and I couldn’t shake it all day.
Read moreCummings says:
“If I get on a horse, I can clear my head and feel as if I’m really out there searching for my daughter. ”
This just blew me away.
The words “as if” and “really” are notably strange here. They are what I have coined hedge words. Look at the this British Councils explanation for the “as if” word usage. The website gives three examples of the words being used. It says, “We can also use as if and as though with a past verb tense to suggest that something is unreal.”
The website then gives examples for this usage:
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She behaves as if/though she were the Queen. (She obviously isn’t the Queen) |
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He walks as if/though he were an old man. (But in fact he’s a young man) |
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They talk as if/though the world were coming to an end. (Of course it’s not) |
That is precisely how this statement hits me.
People who wanted to search for their daughter wouldn’t want to feel “as if” they were “really” out there searching. They would want to “search”. Period.
I personally believe our brain leaks out clues to our real state of mind with words like this. I don’t think Cummings knew he said that, this way.
The article continues:
“In a break between rides into the woods, Miller said the benefit of including Ronald Cummings in the search was weighed against concern about what he might find.
But it turned out okay.
‘He literally looks like a different person,’ Miller said. ‘I think this has done him a lot of good.’”
I was amazed, too, that after the search that Cummings “looked” like a totally different person. Sure, one could argue that he was relieved he didn’t find his daughter dead, but why wasn’t he is still worried about her, and feeling deeply troubled and unresolved that there are no clues, that perhaps they aren’t looking in the right places, that perhaps she could be holed up in a room somewhere? Could it have been that Cummings saw how the search works, and what they do to look for bodies, and now he feels a whole lot better because of that? It’s chilling to think about, nonetheless write.
There are days just reading the news can be painful. Things jump out at me like knives–stabbing at me.
