How to make back up disks ???

[cgrosart]

Hi
My old laptop went bang the other day - have now bought a new one. The cause of the old one remains a mystery. An engineer came out to rescue my files but he could not fix the laptop as I did not have any backup disks. He recommended that to stop this happening again I should make my own back up disks to re-boot ? the laptop in the event of failure. My new laptop from PC World did not come with disks and I was practically ushered out of the shop once I had bought it to stop me asking any more questions such as 'Why can't I have back up disks ??'
So I have bought 10 blank disks. Now what do I do ???? Please help.
Chris

[thehappychappy]

Doesn't the machine have some sort of restore mechanism?

What make and Model? What Software is pre-installed?

What does the owners handbook say for restore?

There are two primary issues here.

1: You need to be able to restore the laptop to its "as new" software image.
2: you need to be able to on a regular basis, backup your own "data" files to ensure you can restore them should the data become corrupt or deleted or lost.
2a: you also need to be able to update the software from the "as new" version to the current in support versions, normally id recommend just doing this fromn the interweb.



With regards to 1 the laptop should come with something? For 2 you need to write your data off to CDR / DVDR / usb storage as and when on a regular basis.

Does that make sense?

[thehappychappy]

oh and all may not be lost for your old data files.

If the laptop went bang but the hard disk is OK, you should be able to get the 2.5" drive out the laptop and into a usb caddy to let you access it from your new machine.

[MattS]

Originally Posted by cgrosart

Hi
My old laptop went bang the other day - have now bought a new one. The cause of the old one remains a mystery. An engineer came out to rescue my files but he could not fix the laptop as I did not have any backup disks.

This does not mean you have lost your data. It means the engineer was probably a technician and does not know how to get it back.

How important to you is it?

He recommended that to stop this happening again I should make my own back up disks to re-boot ? the laptop in the event of failure.

The important thing is to be able to get back your data and the applications which can access it. Booting is optional. You can always find another compiter that boots even if you have to buy one.

My new laptop from PC World did not come with disks and I was practically ushered out of the shop once I had bought it to stop me asking any more questions such as 'Why can't I have back up disks ??'

Two reasons. The cost of backup puts the salesman off mentioning it. Because no one mentions backups the technicians that look after domestic PCs generally have very little clue about it.

So I have bought 10 blank disks. Now what do I do ???? Please help.
Chris

Throw the 10 blank discs away and get yourself something like this

Now find the NT Backup Wizard (XP) and direct a full backup to a file. The File and Setting transfer Wizard is pretty useful for your documents too. You could use something like Acronis if you want to keep a recoverable image of the PC, but you will need roughly similar hardware to restore to.

And when you install software be careful to keep the disks and serial numbers safe.

HTH

[David]

Originally Posted by MattS

Throw the 10 blank discs away
HTH

no dont :-)

RTFM somehow somewhere it will tell you how to make install disks then do it... the restore disk will, let you restore you computer to as new.

then you can retrieve your data off one of them hard disk caddies :-)

[cgrosart]

Hi
Thanks for replies. The engineer/technician or whatever he was managed to save my data and files and they are now safe and sound. What he couldn't do was recover the laptop to its original settings and said that without a disk and the means to do it (the laptop had nothing in the Bios to allow him to do it) - it was a crappy thinkpad T40 and a 'refurbished' job, so the restore ability had been either wiped or switched off.
Anyway, it has gone to silicon heaven.
I want to protect this one by making sure the restoration is possible if the same issue happens again. He suggested something about creating a backup to restore original settings. It's this (I think) that I need an idiots guide of how to do
I have RTFM and it tells you how to create a backup disk - but then says it will not be 'bootable' ..

[Simon A]

as long as the thinkpad t40 hardware is good it's a piece of cake to reload the software so it works
If it's got an OS licence sticker on it I'm sure one of us on YD will have the media so you can rebuild it

Simon A

[Juz]

Cheapest external hard drive I've seen recently is:

Insight UK - Iomega 500GB USB 2.0 Ext Hard Drive

Juz