Computer help

[rr6pak]

All right guys, here's my dilema: My computer took a dump . It was five years old. So, instead of fixing the old one, which would cost a lot, I went out and bought a whole new system. Anyway, I didn't back up all of my pictures, documents, etc. What to do now? Is there anyway I can retrieve all of the stuff or do I have to start all over again? If I can't get all of my stuff back, should I put any "new" info, pictures, documents, etc on a stick or what? Need suggestions and or advice. I am NO WAy a "Bill Gates" when it comes to computers but I can manuver around them

[72RoadRunnerGTX]

It will depend on the exact nature of the crash as to whether the data can be retrieved and at what cost. If the hard drive in the old box has failed you are pretty much out of luck unless you are Bill Gates or have a pocket book like his. I would attempt to slave the old drive to the replacement computer first. It will require you to remove the hard drive from the old box and determine what interface it uses. At 5 years old, more than likely has an IDE interface. If it where me, I would then open the new computer and connect it temporally to one of the new machine’s mother board IDE controller, then attempt to copy what I could from the old drive to the new drive. If you don’t want to open up the new machine there are external Hard Drive cases available that use a USB cable the connect to the new box. Good Luck.

[rr6pak]

I was told that the mother board crashed . It is more cost effective to just get a whole new system, IMHO. My wife has a computer guy that they use for their computer stuff at the office and he has my old one right now. He told us a little while ago that he should be able to retrieve the stuff I want and put it on a memory stick, I hope so. Keeping my fingers crossed. There's stuff on my old computer for my car.

[landon1]

that's what happened to my laptop - paid 4 grand for the piecer and the mother board went - got a rebuilt compaq from a business off craigslist for 50 bux and it works just as well

[Smellslike1974]

How dead is the computer?Im pretty sure if your hard drive is good,you can either put it in a new computer or have some way of getting the files from it.You can probably take it to someone.

[rr6pak]

How dead is the computer?Im pretty sure if your hard drive is good,you can either put it in a new computer or have some way of getting the files from it.You can probably take it to someone.

Supposidly, the mother board went, even though the computer wouldn't start up.. First, I tried a new power supply. Then they said that its not the power supply, that its the mother board. I guess the power supply would have been the cheaper "fix". Don't understand how you can get files, ect off of a computer without power. Anyway, my wifes' computer guy has the old one and he's getting the files, pix, and documents off of the old one and is going to make a back up for them. I since got a new one and I'm pleased with it. It's WAY faster, starts up almost instantly(had to wait 1-2 min. for the old one), and nicer. Need some info on how to back up and updating all of my files to a disc or stick. Lets say that I put a bunch of stuff on a stick. Then lets say a month later I have something else that I want to save, just add it to the stick? Just keep adding new stuff to a stick or what ever? I don't want to have this problem again. Thanks for the replies

[mopar71]

Piece of cake!! go to any computer place,ask for a harddrive enclosure,I did this when my emachine shit the bed.Install the haddrive in the enclosure.it has a usb cable that you just plug into the new computer.it also has is own power supply.when you power it up plug the usb cable to the new computer and the computer sees it as another drive and you should be able to see all your pic and documents.

Peace!

[Smellslike1974]

Exactly.Since its your mother board that went,all your files are fine.pics,music,text documents,videos.Its all in the hard drive.Open the thing up,unplug your hard drive,get another comp,and put it in.(Depending on year type).

[rr6pak]

I got all of my stuff. Greg retrieved everything from the hard drive I thought for sure it would be gone, well sort of.

[Smellslike1974]

Congrats!

[71440 gtx]

I'm going to give you some advice on computers; do not use windows, any of them, they are full of holes. Your computer will crash again, use Linux. It runs on a shellix mainframe and it's free. The software for it is all free, like spyware detection and virus scan, you do not have to pay for any of the programs, they are all free-ware. Gurantee they cannot come through it.

[rr6pak]

I'm going to give you some advice on computers; do not use windows, any of them, they are full of holes. Your computer will crash again, use Linux. It runs on a shellix mainframe and it's free. The software for it is all free, like spyware detection and virus scan, you do not have to pay for any of the programs, they are all free-ware. Gurantee they cannot come through it.

Linux? Never heard of it

[billzilla]

It's true than Linux is relatively spy/virus free - but it is mostly for the fairly hardcore computer geeks among us-- sorry, but true. Lots of software you might use in Windows have equivalents in Linux (and some of them pretty good) but for the most part you can kiss your games and other stuff goodbye... Especially if you use any unique software that's proprietary or job-specific. There's a way to dual boot into Linux and/or run a Windows XP shell, but I find that more trouble than it's worth and you're still opening yourself up to the inherent Windows problems (like viruses).

If you really want to try it, go ahead, but unless you're willing to do a lot of research on your own (scouring forums and asking lots of questions) I find it too much work. One of my best friends is hardcore Ubuntu (a particular 'build' of Linux) and every time I talk computers he gets on the old soapbox and talks about how he'll never use Windows again.

My problem is, while I'm far from computer illiterate, when I did finally break down and try Ubuntu on my home laptop it was a friggin' nightmare. Packages (install files) are a pain and you need to do a fair bit of online reading to figure out which ones you need and which you don't - and I was confounded by this just for something as simple as playing YouTube video in Firefox without it locking up or crashing. When I tried to do a dual boot with an external USB drive, it couldn't handle the install and wound up fragging the external requiring low-level reformatting.

I use Photoshop, Premiere and 3D Studio extensively. Photoshop and Premiere have no real equivalent on Linux, and the 3D package they have is good but it's just not the same. And as I mentioned, there's little in the way of games or other software you may have become accustomed to in Windows - you have to go with either the shell/dual boot or be happy with the Linux community and their various freeware equivalents.

My advice is, just go with a stripped down XP installation, only put what you know you need on it and then install freeware versions of AVG Anti-Virus, SpyNoMore and AdAware. Use the Firefox browser instead of Internet Explorer.

[72RoadRunnerGTX]

“Don’t use Windows, use Linux”, a little late to try to put that genie back into its bottle isn’t it? Regardless of what operating system you run, if it depends on a hard drive, motherboard. Power supply or whatever to function it will crash, it’s just a matter of when. Back-up! Back-up! Back-up! Oh, did mention to back-up your stuff regularly?

[71440 gtx]

I know nothing about computers and operate them and all that, complete moron when it comes to computers. Like setting up programs and all of that, and I can operate Linux. The one our family uses is called Mephis, it's simple and transferable to up to 1000 different settings, if you really want to do it, so that your computer doesn't have any more problems, download a copy of Mephis and burn it onto a live disk and get a USB drive stick and you can go on any computer anywhere. If you need to add external files to your actions, you simply add them to your USB drive. Plain and simple.If your using a disk, it's non-rewritable so nothing can get on the disk itself, if your USB drive get's corrupted a new one cost's you 4.99. There is no better option than using Memphis. Plus you can attribute to the KDE company in Germany, by creating an account and upgrade the software to fit your needs for a little bit of time and effort to send the report in.