The Crash !!!!

[Cranfield]

I have often heard people say that their PC "crashed" and they lost all their records, the importance of having back up discs, etc., etc.,

As this would never happen to me, I ignored such advice. :thumbs:

 

Last night I turned my PC off and it was working fine.

This morning, I started it and couldn't get the normal opening page.

I rebooted in Safe Mode and saw that my settings had changed, amended those and still couldn't get anyhere.

Eventually, I had to call out a PC Doctor and his recommended treatment was to wipe the hard drive and start all over again.

 

I have spent the last 4 hours resetting the whole thing up again.

 

Naturally, all my pictures, notes, email addresses, favourite websites, music, downloaded software (purchased online) etc., have all disappeared.

 

So, some advice for you all to ignore.........BACK UP STUFF.

[Highlander]

:thumbs: I can laugh (now) as mine does automatically every night at 0200.

 

The best and now almost the cheapest way of backing up stuff that's important is a USB Memory Stick. All you gotta do is click 'n' drag. Get a big one (all the girls like that) they're available with Gbs of memory now.

[dunganick]

never call a so called pc doctor, 99% of the time they will say..."hmmm this is bad, going to be quicker to just F disc the machine (wipe it)" it could for all he knows be a piece of spyware just playing silly *******, a quick easy fix, but instead he will wipe the machine, it takes him 30 secounds, he has done it hundreds of times and the home user could do it just as easily him or herself.

 

imagine the frustration that things like this cause you, now imagine doing it for a job, and you can understand why they just turn up, 'wipe' the machine and take your money.

 

im affraid to say its a bit of a conn, and it means you as stated, you have to spend a day sticking everything back on, which you spent the last 2 years accumilating.

 

best thing is to find a mate who knows his (or her) stuff (or a dad ) and get them to look at it and pay them with drinks down your local. unless its your dad, then you just clean his guns for the next year :thumbs:

Edited October 6, 2005 by dunganick

[ernyha]

:< Had mine refuse to start up a couple of years ago and got a friend in to look at it. Despite his best efforts (and he knows his stuff) he had to completely re-install the Windows XP programme leaving me to start from scratch. Believe me Cranfield I know how you felt at losing it all, it's just as if you have been broken into and they have stolen everything.

 

Now then you experts, I still don't do any back up, so in simple layman's words, what's this memory stick and how do i go about using one? :thumbs:

[jonno 357]

Cranfield

Why have you made a point of stating this fact??? Very puzzling indeed

downloaded software (purchased online)

 

Personally I wouldn't buy any software when there's all the superb sites to download for free :thumbs:

 

Jonno

[Whitebridges]

Nightmare Cranners, Get a CD/DVD drive and back everything up on a daily basis.

Stuff is always retrievable. If you take a hard drive out and stuff it in another PC it is usually possible to salvage yer stuff. : :thumbs:

[roadkill]

norton ghost is a very good program to use

[Highlander]

Now then you experts, I still don't do any back up, so in simple layman's words, what's this memory stick and how do i go about using one? :thumbs:

Ernyha

 

I'm no expert ( ex is a has been and a spurt is a drip under pressure ) but these things are great unless you're into BIG backups i.e. running major networks etc. Try this query on Google...USB-Memory-Sticks...you'll get all (more than) the info you need. Using them is easier than using your keyboard. Have fun.

Edited October 6, 2005 by Highlander

[the last engineer]

Now then you experts, I still don't do any back up, so in simple layman's words, what's this memory stick and how do i go about using one?

tsk tsk ,you old fellas and todays technocalogicalymindedgizmouserfriendlyfingymagiers :thumbs:

 

Ern you'l love memory sticks, you just plug it into the USB port and away you go

 

 

 

Martin

[High velocity]

most of the time you can go into system restore, and reboot from a date before the problem. :thumbs:

[hawkeye]

most of the time you can go into system restore, and reboot from a date before the problem. :thumbs:

Thats the first thing i would try.

 

 

I use a USB stick to back up things i dont want to loose then put them onto my laptop if that goes at the same time then im in real trouble. !!!! :*) :*) :*) :*)

[ernyha]

most of the time you can go into system restore, and reboot from a date before the problem. :thumbs:

:< Not if the damm thing wont even switch on you can't. :<

[Cranfield]

Lots of interesting comments. :thumbs:

 

PC Doctors aren't a waste of time, if your friends knowledge is no greater than your own and your PC is in intensive care..

My PC savvy is quite good and I couldn't even get into my own system (so System Restore, or saving anything, wasn't an option).

 

My point about losing software downloaded from the Internet, is that I purchased the programmes, but have no hard disc copy.

Now I will have to purchase them again, if I want them.

In future, I will have a back up CD.

 

The only safe way to back up your PC, is by hard copy (CD or memory stick).

If it really crashes, you can't get beyond the Safe mode page.

 

I nearly went and bought a new PC today, but £50 spent with the Doc saved me some serious money.

[High velocity]

Last night I turned my PC off and it was working fine.

This morning, I started it and couldn't get the normal opening page.

I rebooted in Safe Mode and saw that my settings had changed, amended those and still couldn't get anyhere.

:< :< OK ernea ... yes if you can switch it on :thumbs:

[barrie0]

Crans , what you need to do is have an extra partition on your hard drive or simply have another hard disk in your computer and use something like acronis true image http://www.acronis.com/ to make an image of your xp setup and copy that image to your extra partition/disk . Then if it all goes tits up boot from the true image cd and restore that copied partition back to the disk that had windows xp on ,takes around 5 minutes . Any of your mates with computer knowledge should be able to show you how to do this . Easiest thing for a Pc doctor to do though as someone stated is to reinstall xp ,more dosh for him and less hassle as he could have tried using the recovery console which is on the windows xp disk and used some of the commands to try to get it going again , especially as you could get into safe mode as this generally means you should be able to get xp up and running .

 

If you know where to download on the internet as jonno said this cd has everything you need http://62.253.162.19/hiren.thanki/bootcd.html , big hint " bittorent " or you can get this with loads of freeware tools that should also be able to do the job . http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

[Piebob]

Yeh I'll second that Barrie0 - get your PC into the state you want it i.e. new install, all applications installed, free of spyware/virus, etc then do some sort of image. If you make any significant changes then do another image. If things go horribly wrong then you can wipe the PC and simply re-apply your image. No need to call anyone in and PC back in about 30mins. On top of this, back up any data you need to keep and have a copy of any downloaded software burned to CD.

 

In defense of "PC Doctors", I can understand why they always want to wipe machines - doing that they can guarantee to have a working machine within a couple of hours or so, whereas they could spend much longer messing about with other things and not making much progress.

 

Piebob

[tenbears10]

I have an apple so viruses and spyware are not an issue but hardware can still break or your computer can get nicked so I back up weekly to an external 160gb hard drive. That way i have a copy of everything including the 11gb of music I have in iTunes.

 

A very good way of saving emails and contacts is sign up for a gmail account and use it to forward a copy of all your emails as you receive them and it will archive them for you. It has 2gb space so you can attach important documents or photos as well to save a copy of them too.

 

I have some spare invites for gmail if anyone would like one.