Emergency HDD assistance needed NOW!!!

Hogzy

Ok guys my HDD is literally failing on me now. in the process of backing up but when i copy and paste "mY Computer" it only says its copying 160gb when in fact the actual size my "my computer" is 260gb! Is this normal?

Jonathan

RELAX!!!11!

System restore files and various other system files are not copied.

Hogzy

But a whole 100gbs worth?

Random

Am I the only one confused? How exactly did you copy / paste "My Computer" ?

Hogzy

Random wrote: »

Am I the only one confused? How exactly did you copy / paste "My Computer" ?

went into my computer and copied and pasted everything in it to my external hdd

BlackWizard

You could download TreeSize http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml

Then scan your failing harddrive and from this copy anything you need to keep onto your external harddrive.

In TreeSize you will see a folder called Documents and Settings. Just copy this entire folder. The other folds, like Program Files and Windows is more advanced and may not be worth your while copying unless you know how to use the files again.

Hogzy

BlackWizard wrote: »

You could download TreeSize
In TreeSize you will see a folder called Documents and Settings. Just copy this entire folder. The other folds, like Program Files and Windows is more advanced and may not be worth your while copying unless you know how to use the files again.

When i buy a new internal hard drive can i not reinstall vista again and just copy and paste the backed up files?

BlackWizard

I'm afraid it's not that simple.

If you were to back up the Documents and Settings folder you can look into the folder you copied and see the folders where all your My Pictures or My Music is. It will also contain a folder where your Desktop files are stored.

You can easily take the content of these backup folders and copy them into your new Vista folders.

E.G Copy all the pictures from My Pictures backup and place them into your new Vista My Pictures.

I haven't got Vista installed, so you might actually be looking to just copy the folder called *Username* e.g Hogzy. The folder you are looking for contains folders like Pictures, Documents, Downloads etc

But what will NOT work is copying Program files like Firefox, Adobe Acrobat, MS Office and putting them into your new Vista Program files. These ALL need to be installed again unless you are an advanced computer user, but even then 75% of the time it doesn't work.

Hogzy

BlackWizard wrote: »

I'm afraid it's not that simple.

If you were to back up the Documents and Settings folder you can look into the folder you copied and see the folders where all your My Pictures or My Music is. It will also contain a folder where your Desktop files are stored.

You can easily take the content of these backup folders and copy them into your new Vista folders.

E.G Copy all the pictures from My Pictures backup and place them into your new Vista My Pictures.

I haven't got Vista installed, so you might actually be looking to just copy the folder called *Username* e.g Hogzy. The folder you are looking for contains folders like Pictures, Documents, Downloads etc

But what will NOT work is copying Program files like Firefox, Adobe Acrobat, MS Office and putting them into your new Vista Program files. These ALL need to be installed again unless you are an advanced computer user, but even then 75% of the time it doesn't work.

SH!T... Thats exactly what i didnt want to hear...

What if i were to install(through downloading and installing via cd etc etc) all these programs first (so that there on the registry) and then copy and paste?
Would that work?

Jonathan

Hogzy wrote: »

SH!T... Thats exactly what i didnt want to hear...

What if i were to install(through downloading and installing via cd etc etc) all these programs first (so that there on the registry) and then copy and paste?
Would that work?

Unfortunately not..

Hogzy

is there anyway i can tackle the problem so or am i looking at a complete refresh of my system? apart obviously from pictures/music etc etc!

EKRIUQ

If it's not too late you can download a free 30 day trial of Acronis backup recvovery software (full Version) and backup everything to an external HD. When you change the HD you can then do a full recovery of just the files you want.

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

Hogzy

When you say the files i want. Do you mean the programs i want (firefox and games etc) or the exact files i want (which would be the same as copying and pasting)?

Never mind...just read the site, thanks for the link downloading now!

EKRIUQ

A mirror image, just one click and it will restore all applications, like firefox, word etc.. or you can just restore directory folders like My Documents, My Music, My Porn etc..

I did it lately with a new HD

(It is worth the money after 30 days)

Nothingbetter2d

Hogzy wrote: »

When i buy a new internal hard drive can i not reinstall vista again and just copy and paste the backed up files?

the only way to do that is to use a program called norton ghost and create a boot disk then boot to it and clone your old drive to your new drive (your new drive must be equal or larger then your old drive)

u can clone your os too this way... u basically clone all data from one drive to the other.... then remove your old drive and set new as master and boot windows.