PC Pals Forum
Technical Help & Discussion => Windows PCs & Software: Help, News & Discussion => Topic started by: Clive on December 13, 2011, 17:35
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I suspect my hard drive on my main computer has packed in. When I tried to boot it up this morning it only got as far as the "Loading Windows" screen and then stopped with an error message to say Windows had not loaded properly. A strange clicking noise could be heard coming from the case. I've taken it to my usual repair shop and they suspect the stepper motors on on the HDD have failed and I will need a new one. They were supposed to be taking a look at it and leaving a message on my answer phone this afternoon but I've not heard anything yet. :cry:
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If it's getting that far, Clive, my instinct would be a bad sector.
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Have you got your data backed up, Clive?
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Er... yes. I have Acronis but my last backup is several months old. :blush: Still, it's much better than nothing at all!
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Well, sorry to hear of your troubles, but thanks for reminding me to do a long overdue backup!
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A wise decision Simon! 8-)
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could you set it up to do daily incremental backups with that? schedule it and never worry?
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Or invest in a Clickfree external USB drive, which does an automatic incremental backup (of several machines) just by plugging it in.
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That sounds a very good idea! I'll look into that possibility.
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Does 'incremental' mean that it only updates files that haven't changed, or new ones added? One reason I don't do them very often is that it takes so long overwriting everything from the previous backup.
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Yes, incremental backups are just the changes from the last backup.
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The repair shop has replaced the 80 Gb hard drive with a 200 Gb. They asked me for my external drive and also my Acronis discs and confirm that my full backups were successful. But they are having problems transferring it to the new drive. :dunno:
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The Acronis b/u stores the MBR if I am right, Clive, so it gets upset when the HD changes. They should be able to open the backup and copy files manually if that's the case.
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Ah right! They said that they could do that if all else fails. When I left them they were trying to transfer the backup to a spare HDD and then transfer it from that to my new HDD. Interestingly, they said that I am the first customer to have ever taken a mirror image of their HDD and were most impressed. Doesn't seem to have done me much good though! ::)
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You can't beat mechanical failure, Clive, that's why we backup, don't we Simon. :devil:
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i'll be doing a large backup this weekend of my laptop - my main work is done via rsync but I've become complacent on the laptop syncing...
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I have the same problem, Sam. There is less risk for me, in that the main desktops are the repository of all the data, but I only use the portables for the odd email or bit of browsing (unless I'm travelling).
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apart from the work clusters I tend to live exclusively on the laptop now.. it travels everywhere with me.
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I rather the opposite. :)
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doesn't help having two split locations.... though we are moving out of Brum and into the Cambridge flat after Christmas ;D
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That will be a much better life for you. :)
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hopefully reduce stress too.
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Sounds like a plan. :)
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I've had my favourite machine back this morning but they were unable to save the software. At least I've got all the files intact so that's a bonus. I'll have to buy a new copy of Office 2007 and a new license for F-Secure but by subscription is due to expire soon anyway.
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If you have the licence for it, I'm sure you can think of somewhere to download Office 2007 from. ;)
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and I'm sure microsoft should honor that license with a new download
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True. Good point.
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but who knows... :dunno:
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I can just imagine the set of hoops you may have to jump through to get a copy from Microsoft, but I've never had to, so I don't know either.
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It should still be cheaper than it probably is. Maybe Sam could help out with an academic discount. :o:
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Oh I have the discs. But it will only give a very limited installation if you have used up all your lives. TBH I'm better off loading Office 2000 which does not have any restrictions on the number of times it can be downloaded. ::)
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You can usually overcome the restrictions with a phone call, Clive.
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OK, I'll give it a try.
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Things are going fine so far and I've now reinstalled all my drivers and a lot of software. Some things that didn't get backed up were my e-mail addresses and bookmarks. :cry: It's going to be a long haul.
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Ouch! Those are what I'd miss most. :( How come the Acronis software didn't save them?
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Things are going fine so far and I've now reinstalled all my drivers and a lot of software. Some things that didn't get backed up were my e-mail addresses and bookmarks. :cry: It's going to be a long haul.
you should use chrome and save it too your google cloud.
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Acronis leaves a lot to be desired so don't count on it. It didn't save my contacts nor my bookmarks which I have to find all over again. :bawl: I rescued some of my contacts from a backup onto a CD.
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I have a GMail address Sam and save some stuff onto that.
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What drive letters were you using, Clive?
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I think the back-up drive was F.
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Contents and bookmarks are stored on C, so unless you backed that up, those files would be missing.
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Sorry Rik, I thought you were asking for the letter of the external drive which contained the C drive image.
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Windows would normally assign the next available drive letter to the external HD, what drives were allocated to D & E?
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CD Rom and memory stick. The memory stick was of more value than Acronis and had backed up stuff without me even knowing about it. 8-)
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If Acronis imaged the C drive, the files should be there, Clive. They certainly are on my backups.
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The computer shop said that the software won't copy over to prevent piracy. It can only be reinstalled on the same drive.
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I'm not sure I believe them, Clive.
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Would they be talking about Windows itself?
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No, you can image Windows back to a new drive, then reactivate it if required.
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I'm not sure I believe them, Clive.
They spent a long time trying Rik. I spent a couple of hours watching them. :cry:
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I've recovered complete OS drives before now, Clive, so I'm really not sure what went wrong.
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I have to say it's very disappointing. But my rebuild is going well and I've just ordered a new copy of F-Secure for £17.95.
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Do you test your backups, Clive? The only thing I can think is that the copy wasn't 'good'. Meantime, take a look at:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Clickfree-Portable-Automatic-Backup-USB3-0/dp/B004PGM9VI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324143089&sr=8-1
That will do the job automatically.
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Might take a look at that myself, Rik. :thumb:
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Wow - that looks neat! But I can't afford that right now. :laugh: The computer shop were pleased with the backup I'd taken and said I had done nothing wrong. But I have no idea how to test them myself. Tomorrow I will take a full backup of Mrs Clive's laptop. :)
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Might take a look at that myself, Rik. :thumb:
It works, but requires a bit of patience, eg maybe 15 minutes per machine after the first, full, backup. You can easily get several machines on a single drive, and it knows which one it's connected to. Data can be moved between machines, I haven't tried that with the system.
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Interesting though to be honest I don't bother backing up windows. All the important things are on the cloud and nothing important is on there. Saying that this might be handy.for my family.
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It's great for people who aren't particularly techie, Sam, as it only has to be plugged in and left for a few minutes. A restore requires a single click.
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... and baited breath?
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That and sweaty palms. :)
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And a stiff whisky when disappointment sets in. :laugh:
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Optimist! There's never a bottle to hand when you need it. ;D
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I've got several here at the moment! :woot:
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:pmsl: