Backup My Pc

[achrisvet]

I had the program BackUp My PC. I have not used it faithfully like I should, but I do have a backup on an external hard drive that would give me most of my files back. My old computer died suddenly in a storm. But when I try to restore I get a message saying the program is not compatible with the new OS, Windows 7. How can I retrieve my back up? Please help. I am so discouraged.

[Brendon]

Hi,

 

There's nothing you can do to get BUMP working in a hostile Operating System.

 

You never said what died in your old machine. Was it the HDD or the motherboard?

 

If your old hard drive is still working, fit it into your new machine and read your files off it.

 

If the whole machine got fried, buy another hard drive the same size as the dead one.

Then swap the new drive for the W7 drive and install your old operating system onto the new drive.

Restore all your files onto the new small drive.

 

Then reconnect the W7 drive and use your new drive as a secondary HDD. It has all your old files on it.

 

Regards,

Brendon

[achrisvet]

The hard drive is not responding at all. My IT guy from work lent me a device to read the hard drive by plugging it into the USB port of the new PC, but it's not responding at all. We had been hoping it was just the power supply and motherboard that was fried.

 

I'm not too good at messing with hardware.

 

My husband has an old laptop lying around somewhere. If that will boot up, maybe I'll try restoring to that, then I can transfer the files by USB key.

 

Thanks for your help.

[achrisvet]

The old laptop wouldn't boot up. I took the hard drive to work and the IT guy there hooked up as a second drive to my work computer and was able to retrieve all my files! So all is well! Thanks for your help.

 

 

The laptop's certainly worth a try. I hope it goes well, and wish you the best.

 

Brendon

[Brendon]

That's excellent to hear.

 

When you're thinking of backups, it's essential to be able to read your file and system backups regardless of the Operating System you end up using after a disaster.

 

To ensure this I either backup my precious files onto plain discs that anything can read, or else in the case of a system disk I use software which boots on its own recovery disc.

 

With files on plain discs I'm not tied to particular recovery software, and in the case of a system drive failure or corruption I can restore a working system onto a blank hard drive.

 

When considering this, please be aware that if your motherboard fails you can't usually do a system restore to a computer with a different motherboard - Your system backup has drivers installed for the old motherboard instead of the new one, and even if you fix that Windows will usually object strenuously to the "changes" you have made and deactivate itself.

 

Regards,

Brendon

[Brendon]

The laptop's certainly worth a try. I hope it goes well, and wish you the best.

 

Brendon

[achrisvet]

<<if your motherboard fails you can't usually do a system restore to a computer with a different motherboard>>

 

Wow. I had no idea. Thanks for the education.

 

 

 

 

 

That's excellent to hear.

 

When you're thinking of backups, it's essential to be able to read your file and system backups regardless of the Operating System you end up using after a disaster.

 

To ensure this I either backup my precious files onto plain discs that anything can read, or else in the case of a system disk I use software which boots on its own recovery disc.

 

With files on plain discs I'm not tied to particular recovery software, and in the case of a system drive failure or corruption I can restore a working system onto a blank hard drive.

 

When considering this, please be aware that if your motherboard fails you can't usually do a system restore to a computer with a different motherboard - Your system backup has drivers installed for the old motherboard instead of the new one, and even if you fix that Windows will usually object strenuously to the "changes" you have made and deactivate itself.

 

Regards,

Brendon

[Brendon]

You're very welcome.

 

It's a terrible feeling when calamity strikes, and I can't begin to describe what it feels like when you realize that the backups you had made [or were going to] aren't going to be available or useful to you.

 

I've been there, and if I can prevent it from happening to someone else that's just excellent!

 

Brendon