07:36 Dec 27, 2009
Don't know about that, Neil — whenever I've heard it used over here (purely empirical observation, of course!), it has just meant "is running really slowly" — I doubt most users would necessarily know if that involved "thrashing the disk" or not.
Regarding Asker's initial question, no, I don't think it would be used to mean 'crashed'; 'ramer' always seems to carry the idea of 'working slower than usual' (is this a nautical metaphor, rowing being slower than sail or steam?); I think one would be more likely to hear something like "s'est planté" for 'crashed'. | 
peer agreement (net): +2
