IT Tips & Tricks
A Search & Replace Tool? Hahaha!
28 March 2023
A bunch of us from the office were celebrating a co-worker’s birthday at a local grill the other evening. Let’s face it, we’re a nerdy, techie bunch, likely to dress up only for weddings or funerals and this was neither, so it was jeans and t-shirts all around. Even the birthday boy was simply wearing a work t-shirt emblazoned with the LinkTek logo. Not everyone in the group was from the office. Unsurprisingly, it turns out Alan has other friends too, but — again unsurprisingly — they’re mostly equally nerdy. One of them pointed to the logo on his t-shirt and asked what LinkTek actually is.
Alan began to explain, when his friend politely interrupted him and said, “Oh, you mean like a search and replace tool?” Alan, God bless his little cotton socks, simply threw back his head and roared with laughter. “LinkFixer Advanced a search and replace tool? Hahahaha!”
Still chuckling, he turned to his friend and said, “Yeah, no. Is a four-story escalator a ladder? Is a SpaceX rocket a paper airplane? Is a —” But before he could finish, the waitress set down a slice of key lime pie with a lit birthday candle in it. Without missing a beat, Alan said, “Is a lighthouse a birthday candle? Is a —”
“Enough already,” his friend laughed. “I get it! LinkFixer Advanced is not a search and replace tool, right?”
What’s sweeter than pie? Never again having to worry about broken links or the missing data they cause.
“Right,” Alan nodded and he blew out the candle and began gathering salt and pepper shakers, bottle caps, crumpled straw wrappers, and all the debris typical of an active dinner table.
“Okay, here’s the data you’re migrating.” Alan encircled the collection of debris with his hands. “And in amongst that data, there are files that contain links.” He placed a pinch of salt in a couple of bottle caps. “And now your data gets moved from here to here.” He encircled the little pile with his hands again and slid the “data” across the table, gently tipping the bottle caps over, and spilling the salt. “So, here’s your data now, in the new location, but those links are busted, so whatever they were pointing to appears to be missing. Tracking with me, so far?”
His buddy looked up from the little demonstration on the table and nodded.
Alan’s tabletop demonstration of how to protect your links during data migration.
“Okay,” Alan said. “Now typically one would have to find a search and replace script to find and repair these broken links.” He contemplatively rubbed a fingertip in the spilled salt. “It’s a time-consuming process, not particularly efficient, and in all honesty, it’s completely unnecessary.”
His friend looked up from the spilled salt with a furrowed brow. “What? Why? How the hell else are you gonna fix the broken links?”
Alan tapped the logo on his chest, grinning and nodding.
“So, it is a search and replace tool?” his friend asked, puzzled.
“No, no,” Alan waggled a finger. “Check this out.” He slid all the debris back to where he’d started. “Okay, so here’s the data you’re going to migrate, right?”
Furrowed-brow nodded.
“And here are the links in your data.” Alan sprinkled a pinch of salt into a couple of the bottle caps again.
“Same as before,” Furrowed-brow said.
“Not quite,” Alan grinned. “Watch this.” Next, Alan picked up a couple of bottle caps he’d kept aside and covered the caps containing the salt. Then he encircled the little pile of debris with his hands, slid it across the table again, removed his hands, and looked up at Furrowed-brow’s face expectantly.
There was silence for a second or two, and then, “Omigod,” Furrowed-brow exhaled slowly. “It’s all there. All the salt — I mean all the data — it’s there. Not a grain of it spilled …”
“Exactly,” Alan beamed, tapping the logo on his chest again. “And that’s why it’s not just a search and replace tool. Look, if you screwed up and migrated without LinkFixer Advanced because you didn’t know about it in time, well, sure, you can use it to find and fix all the broken links and restore your missing data. But if you knew about it, and used it before your migration, then —”
“Then there’d be no missing data in the first place!” Furrowed-brow was staring at the little pile of debris, intently. “Dude, I think we need this at work,” he said, looking up at Alan.
Using a search and replace tool is a time-consuming process, not particularly efficient, and in all honesty, it’s completely unnecessary.
“Of course you do,” Alan said. “Almost everyone does. But tonight’s my birthday, so call me tomorrow, okay?”
“You got yourself a deal,” Furrowed-brow said, raising his glass to Alan.
Dude, I Think We Need This at Work
Whether you’re facing an upcoming migration or are simply sick of end-users who randomly move files around (with no consideration for the links they contain) and then complain to you when their data is missing, LinkFixer Advanced™ is a total game-changer.
It’s all there. All the data — it’s there.
Forget the downtime, the complaining end-users, the grumpy bosses, or the extra hours — evenings and weekends — trying to find and fix the broken links that cause missing data. With LinkFixer Advanced, it’s all smooth sailing.
For more information, visit LinkTek.com or call 727-442-1822 to request a free trial (no-credit-card-required).
Think you might need LinkFixer Advanced? As Alan would say, “Of course you do. Almost everyone does.”
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