My Ubuntu server at home has an LG DVD re-writer in it that's probably burnt less than two dozen discs in its lifetime, yet today I learnt that it's completely up the wahzoo.

Last Friday I thought it would be smart to upgrade the server's operating system and I foolishly didn't back it up prior. We run Sun's SunRay Server Software on top of Ubuntu, even though it's not an officially supported OS. There was a change with some X packages which screwed something else down the line and I (and more importantly, Maggie - I've got the Mac) was left with a b0rged system.

A Saturday morning trip to NetPlus scored me a 400GB disk and an external chassis (these things are really cool - I especially like the external SATA connectors, though my motherboard only has two onboard, inside). A fresh install on the new drive and we'd be up in no time.

But the install CD's would only read some of the time :(

I left the machine alone for a while and finished (started) a project proposal that is needed in about 8 hours... but I'm not one to sleep on a problem that's still unsolved. I checked around in the server room and found an old, old, old machine that used to be my brother's when he lived at home. Inside was an old CR-588, manufactured in 1998.

I threw it in the server and sure enough, it reads the discs fine... after all this time.