Betty wrote:
>
> Thanks for the advice to take it back. Now I am in a panic as I don't know
> what to do about all my banking, credit card info etc. I do everything
> online. I am 62 yrs.
> old and I am having a hard enough time trying to figure out how to save all
> my stuff before I take it back. I heard that someone can still get all your
> info off of your hard drive. While I am talking to you it makes me think
> about the recovery. Would it work if I did a recovery to the day before I
> bought it? Would my info still be on the hard drive? Thanks so much for your
> help. This is so awful. My kids bought this for me because my other one was
> so old, and I have to report my work online.
All your online banking information is kept on the banks' servers, not
on your computer. If you restore the computer to factory condition
(refer to the computer manual or look on the computer mftr.'s tech
support site for how to do this) then all your data will be gone which
is why you want to back up first. If the problem continues after you've
restored to factory condition, then you know for sure it is a hardware
problem which you can't fix yourself. Take the computer back for
replacement.
Data can be retrieved even if you can't boot into Windows (or use
Windows for any length of time) but I'm honestly not sure you have the
computer skills to do it. I don't say that to hurt your feelings in any
way; I'm just being practical. I'll give you the methods below but you
may be better off having a knowledgeable friend (someone who is really
knowledgeable and not just saying he is) or a computer professional do
it for you. Do not use someone from BigComputerStore/GeekSquad; get
recommendations from friends, family, colleagues.
So, here are some things to try to recover your data:
1. Pull the drive and slave it in a computer running a working install
of XP/Vista. Depending on the target drive's characteristics, you may
need a drive adapter; i.e., laptop-to-IDE or a SATA controller card,
etc. A usb/firewire external drive enclosure works very well, too. Use
the working Windows Explorer to copy the data to the rescue system's
hard drive and then burn the data to cd or dvd.
2. Often XP/Vista will not boot with a slaved drive that has a damaged
file system. In that case, boot the target computer with either a Bart's
PE or a Linux live cd such as Knoppix and retrieve the data that way.
Here is general information on using Knoppix for this:
You will need a computer with two cd drives, one of which is a cd/dvd-rw
OR a usb thumb drive with enough capacity to hold your data OR an
external usb/firewire hard drive formatted FAT32 (not NTFS). To get
Knoppix, you need a computer with a fast Internet connection and
third-party burning software. Download the Knoppix .iso and create your
bootable cd. Then boot with it and it will be able to see the Windows
files. If you are using the usb thumb drive or the external hard drive,
right-click on its icon (on the Desktop) to get its properties and
uncheck the box that says "Read Only". Then click on it to open it. Note
that the default mouse action in the window manager used by Knoppix
(KDE) is a single click to open instead of the traditional MS Windows'
double-click. If you want to burn CD/DVDs, use the K3b program.
http://www.knoppix.net
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ - Bart's PE Builder
Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User