backing up your pc

[harvey b davison]

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, didnt know where to put it

 

Just a reminder everyone to make sure you consistently back up your pc. Tonight i have learned that my old pc that i have used for years, has failed. The hard drive has wiped itself and i have lost over 15 years of work. This includes photos of my wedding, my kids from birth, my beloved dog that i sadly lost 2 years ago, documents, etc, you name it, i have lost it. I know this is my own fault for not backing things up, and this has been a costly and upsetting experience.

 

So please, please, learn to back up your pc. i am sat here is disbelief and dispair. So whilst you would rather be outside using shiney new tools, (like i do ) please be aware that your pc is also a valuable tool for your business, and needs to be treated as such.

 

Thanks.

[derek robinson]

Don't despair, there are firms out there who can retrieve a lot from the drives, phone around. It might cost, but sometimes you have to bite the bullet.

I to learnt like this, and now constantly back-up. GOOD LUCK!

 

Derek.

[NFG]

Hi

 

Sorry to hear of your loss, I trust you will in future implement a good backup strategy. Two very good programs to achieve this are:

 

Two bright sparks Backup software that works - SyncBackPro and SyncBackSE &

 

Acronis True Image http://www.acronis.com/fr-fr/personal/computer-backup/

 

Both these programs are excellent & I have have used them in a variety of situations for individual, network & enterprise backups.

 

Once you get your PC rebuilt, connect the old disk by USB connector and you may be able to recover some of the data from it.

 

 

N

Edited September 19, 2015 by NFG

[spudulike]

The first thing to do is to get the hard disk to someone who knows what they are up to. You can buy a USB interface cable that will connect your hard disk that may be IDE, EIDE or SATA to another machine or laptop.

 

Having done this, you need to see if it becomes listed on the new PC as a new drive. If it does then see if you can see your files and pull them off on to the new PC.

 

If you cant see the drive or the files then you can get software that will retreive damaged files.

 

How Windows works is that when a file is deleted, Windows meerly changes the first letter of the file and calls it "deleted" but it actually isn't until it is overwritten by further information.

 

It is very unlikely that your disk has "deleted itself" unless you have formatted it using full format or it has been struck by a real bad virus.

 

It is possible the boot sector has become corrupted but again, it may be possible to retreive the info.

 

Get the disk out, get the correct USB to whichever connection your disk uses and plug it in to a laptop/PC.

 

If the disk controller has failed, you may be able to get a specialist to rebuild it but it is unlikely to be cheap. If the read heads have hit the disk it may be toast.

 

Good luck

 

And yes, I do a bit on PCs as well as saws!!

[NFG]

Incidentally,

 

If you know someone with a Mac, put the drive in a carrier & connect,

 

I have been able to recover data from discs where a PC Bios wouldnt previously recognise the presence of a drive by simply connecting them to a Mac.

 

worth a shot perhaps?

 

 

N

[sedgemoortree]

I accidentally formatted the hard drive on an old laptop with baby photos etc. I took it into my local PC techie shop and they ran some "scavenging" software and managed to retrieve about 75% of photos and data.

Might be worth a try?

[swinny]

Shouldnt have read this thread ita bound to happen to me now lol good luck

[nepia]

Hi

 

Sorry to hear of your loss, I trust you will in future implement a good backup strategy. Two very good programs to achieve this are:

 

Two bright sparks Backup software that works - SyncBackPro and SyncBackSE &

 

Acronis True Image http://www.acronis.com/fr-fr/personal/computer-backup/

 

Both these programs are excellent & I have have used them in a variety of situations for individual, network & enterprise backups.

 

Once you get your PC rebuilt, connect the old disk by USB connector and you may be able to recover some of the data from it.

 

 

N

 

 

Out of interest - and I speak as a 56-year old with the relevant lack of knowledge - why wasn't your answer simply 'back up everything to the Cloud'?

 

Thanks,

 

Jon

[spudulike]

Out of interest - and I speak as a 56-year old with the relevant lack of knowledge - why wasn't your answer simply 'back up everything to the Cloud'?

 

Thanks,

 

Jon

 

Blimey Jon, you are down with the kids:lol: Think most of us oldies prefer memory sticks and external hard drives:thumbup:

[nepia]

I'm trying Steve, I'm trying. Having 21 & 23-year olds knocking about does help, especially when one is studying Computer Science to a high level!

I'm teaching him to speak slowly in English.