creating back-up discs

[laymantryin']

uh I'm sure this has a very simple answer and I am either having a brain
cramp or am just too old to see the simple answer. I bought a new hard
drive(160gb) and want to install it. First I want to create back up discs for
my existing documents and programs -including pictures, music etc. I then
want to completely clean my existing 100gb drive so that i can install it on
my daughters computer. Her current drive has had system restore run on it
without back ups of her personal files-pics etc. I'm told that if I bring
that drive to a qualified technitian he can likely recover all of the lost
data on it. I am not having an easy time of creating back-up discs of my
data so that I can re-intall them on my new drive. Any help appreciated -or
maybe even an easier way to solve my issues--if you even understand my
layman's ignorance in my explanation.

 

[AJR]

Regarding "... Her current drive has had system restore run on it without
back ups of her personal files-pics etc....: - System Restore does not
"affect" files/data. Regarding "lost data" - files deleted may or may not
be recovered - governed by whether or not the previous "space" had been
overwritten.

You can backup files/data by copying to removeable media (CD/DVD), however
you cannot "Copy" programs as a backup measure - copying does not "copy"
system/registry chnages made by programs. You must use a backup program
such as Ghost, Acrones, NTBackup and so forth.


- a backup program

 

[laymantryin'']

layman's ignorance strikes again--I meant to say that system recovery was run

 

[peter]

The new HD that you bought ..go to the manufacturers website and look for
their free cloning program.
By using this program you will make an exact bootable copy of your 100gb
drive onto the 160gb drive and be up and running in no time...............
As for you daughter a better explanation of what happened and what she is
trying to do is necesary for further help.
A System Recovery Disk/Partition usually supplied by the manufacturer of the
computer most of the time wipes/formats the hard drive and then reinstall
all of the software that came with the system back to a "just purchased"
state.Everything that she had put on the computer after that time is
gone..kaput...
In my opinion paying someone to try and recover those lost and overwritten
bits of info is a money losing proposition.She really needs to think about
what she lost and what it is worth...it will cost$$$$$$$$$$$
Might I point out at this stage that backing up your work/personal files is
almost a necesity in this day and age.There are a multitude of programs out
there that will do this automatically once you have set them up as such.It
really takes no time at all to plop in a cd/dvd and just copy over what you
just spend hours working on or to let the system back it self up to an
external drive or even a 2nd hard drive.I use Acronis True Image....if you
do a google for it you will see that it does a lot more than just backups.
peter

 

[darkknight0072004]

uh I'm sure this has a very simple answer and I am either having a brain
cramp or am just too old to see the simple answer. I bought a new hard
drive(160gb) and want to install it. First I want to create back up discs for
my existing documents and programs -including pictures, music etc. I then
want to completely clean my existing 100gb drive so that i can install it on
my daughters computer. Her current drive has had system restore run on it
without back ups of her personal files-pics etc. I'm told that if I bring
that drive to a qualified technitian he can likely recover all of the lost
data on it. I am not having an easy time of creating back-up discs of my
data so that I can re-intall them on my new drive. Any help appreciated -or
maybe even an easier way to solve my issues--if you even understand my
layman's ignorance in my explanation.

If system restore was run and her registry was restored to a previous
version you can still "roll forward" or manually install whatever
registry files you need (mix and match hives) by booting to a BART
disk or some sort of parallel install (google it).

The process is easier than you might guess, first boot to a BART cdrom

Backup everything in %windir%\system32\config on the "c:\" drive to
another folder (I use %windir%\system32\config\back

Delete (clean out the SYSTEM,SOFTWARE,SECURITY etc. . . file in
system32\config

Locate snapshot folder. The following path is an example of a folder
path to the Snapshot folder:

C:\System Volume Information\_restore{D86480E3-73EF-47BC-A0EB-
A81BE6EE3ED8}\RP1\Snapshot

Each RPx folder has a date stamp that can identify when the snapshot
was made.

From the Snapshot folder, copy the following files to the %WINDIR%
\system32\config

_REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT

_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY

_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE

_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM

_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM

Rename the files as follows:

Rename _REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT to DEFAULT

Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY to SECURITY

Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE to SOFTWARE

Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM to SYSTEM

Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM to SAM

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

Once you get system and software hives from the correct date back into
system32\config the machine will magically work again (assuming the
actually drivers were not deleted from the disk)

This is probably all a "tech" would do in order to fix your daughter's
machine. BART if free.