Data back-up- Please read!!!!!

The Nightingale

Baseband Member
Messages
23
Hello, I'm new to the forum and was hoping for some help from people in the know! :)

To be honest I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to computers and all things technical, so when giving answers to my questions please treat me like one. I'm not very good with technical talk so keep it simple with me. ;)

I'm going to completely wipe my harddrive and OS using eraser's DBAN. I have two operating systems installed because a couple of years ago a local company took away my PC to get rid of a couple of viruses and installed Windows XP on our system ( we also have Windows ME, that was the original one).

Anyway, to get to the bottom of this I need help with data back-up. This is a list of everything I need to back-up and install on my fresh versions of Windows.

Norton antivirus software 2005
The contents of the "My Music" folder
Several games
MSN Messenger
My HP Printer ( all the drivers and the configuration etc.)
My documents
Network adapters/card and router configuration - my computer and my brother's laptop both use the same routet to get online. It's a Thomson 546 router and is plugged into an ethernet port in the back of my PC via a ethernet cable. We had to run a thomson speedtouch disc to configure my router and we use broadband Gold plus via AOL.9.

Now a couple of questions:

1. Could you tell me what kind of disc I need to save things such as ethernet adapters to, and my hp printer drivers. Also will I be ok saving my music contents to normal CD-RW/CD-R and my documents to a floppy disc??

2. I've been told on several occasions that I won't be able to save my norton antivirus program and its configurations, reg keys etc. Is this true?? I have however, been told if I save the original downloaded file, I will be able to load it onto the fresh version of windows. If I do this will I just install the the downloaded file like you would with any program? Will someone tell me where the original downloaded file is most likely to be?

3. Is there any program/software out there which will be able to save my ethernet adapters, hp drivers and program reg keys automatically or will I have to find them manually? If the latter then could someone tell me how to find everything I need to install them on my new windows- I don't want to lose my internet connection as I've only just got it up and running. I know it's a complex and highly difficult question but if someone has the knowledge to tell me how then I would be hugely grateful. :)

As I said I'd hugely appreciate any kind of help with my data back-up. Many people tell me to hire a computer expert to help me with this, but that would cost money and I really want to learn to do this myself seen as I'll probably have to do it more than once in the future.

Many thanks

Jessica
 
well do u have the cd for the ethernet adaptors?? becasue it would be aot eiaser to just reinstall when putting a fresh new verison of windows on it..also u said that you are goin to be using a program called DBAN or something to wipe the drive??? it would be alot better if u just put the XP cd in..start up boot from the cd tell it to format the drives or drvies and then install that way

if u have ne more questions just ask

and also welcome to CF
 
Hi, welcome. If you are going to install Windows XP Service Pack 1 or 2 then your ethernet adapter(s) should be detected by Windows Update or you can go to www.driverguide.com where you can download the Driver Kit which will find drivers for problematic devices.

Norton Antivirus will be impossible to backup because it hides allot of its files and tends not to keep them in different places. The effort of trying to find these files would be to complicated.

If you and your brother are networked together, you can transfer your files across the network to his computer and transfer them back when your done. If not then I would use a CD-R for all of your personal things.

You will be able to find software and drivers for you HP Product on their website which is at http://www.hp.com/uk .

MSN Messenger can be downloaded at http://messenger.msn.com

About your reg keys, many programs display the keys on program startup or in the about information contained in the program menu at the top. Just write them down and they should work when you come round to installing the programs again.

Hope this helped! James.
 
i agree with pinky, just use the windows disk and delete both partitions when u reinstall, most of the stuff u mentioned u can just download after the install but as for backing up your documents u can just burn them to a cd-r and load them back on after, if u want to install norton again u will need the norton disk but if u dont have that u will have to go out and buy another one which isnt a big deal
 
Thank you very much for replying! :)

j.venning said:
Hi, welcome. If you are going to install Windows XP Service Pack 1 or 2 then your ethernet adapter(s) should be detected by Windows Update or you can go to www.driverguide.com where you can download the Driver Kit which will find drivers for problematic devices.

The only problem is I'll not be able to get online to download the drivers or Windows service pack two unless I have all the ethernet adapters etc already installed will I? And seen as I'm wiping the entire drive they'll all be gone. Any other ideas?

j.venning said:
Norton Antivirus will be impossible to backup because it hides allot of its files and tends not to keep them in different places. The effort of trying to find these files would be to complicated.

I know it will be impossible to back up the whole thing. But if I was to save the original downloaded file and then load it onto the fresh copy of windows then would I be able to reinstall norton completely (just using the original file)?

j.venning said:
You will be able to find software and drivers for you HP Product on their website which is at http://www.hp.com/uk.

Will installing them enable me to use my printer again after the wipe, or will I need to re-run the disk which came with my HP Printer??

j.venning said:
Messenger can be downloaded at http://messenger.msn.com

Seen as I already have an account will I just type my details into the sign on screen once I've downloaded MSN again?

Thanks again for the help everyone.
 
If you have the original discs, with the drivers already on them then you should be fine to go ahead and clean up, there are dedicated backup programs but often will require you paying for them.

If you are concerned about saving the drivers etc, it would probably be best to download them and then burn them to cd rom, if you have a dvd driver even better, as you can fit far more on one disc. I tend to do this when I have a new computer find all the most up to date drivers burn them to cd, least that way I know if something happens I have everything I need without needing to get online.

As yes your right sometimes without the correct ethernet drivers etc, you won't be able to get at them, a couple of times I have had to drag out an old modem and connect via dial up, now that really is a pain......
 
GlasseyeUK said:
If you have the original discs, with the drivers already on them then you should be fine to go ahead and clean up, there are dedicated backup programs but often will require you paying for them.

I have the speedtouch disc, but that doesn't contain the drivers, that just allows you to configure it so it so it works with your PC.

GlasseyeUK said:
If you are concerned about saving the drivers etc, it would probably be best to download them and then burn them to cd rom, if you have a dvd driver even better, as you can fit far more on one disc. I tend to do this when I have a new computer find all the most up to date drivers burn them to cd, least that way I know if something happens I have everything I need without needing to get online.

But how will I know exactly which drivers to save, and which websites will I find them on? As I said I have the following:

A Belkin PCI card which is inside the PC (the motherboard, I think)
An ethernet port ( a yellow ethernet cable is plugged in the port and the router)
Then we have the router ( this came with a speedtouch disc which I had to run and configure on my PC).

And yep, I do have a DVD Driver. The reason I will need to save all the ethernet cards/ports etc. Is I want to be able to get online straight away after the format(obviously I'd have to possibly install AOL again and run speedtouch).

Will I be able to save documents and games to CD-R's as well. Also if I want to save a game would I just go to where the actual game is installed (D:/Program files/ game) for instance and highlight all the files associated with the game and send to cd drive and burn??

Finally, when I want to load all the files (documents, games, ethernet drivers, printer drivers etc) back onto the PC how will I do it and where will I put the files such as ethernet ones?

Sorry I have to ask so many questions, thanks for the help. :)
 
If your putting XP on it, your ethernet drivers will be pre-loaded, it will work straight away. Get the name of your motherboard, go to their site, and find the appropritate drivers.

Norton A-V > You will not be able to back this up, its impossible... if you still have the disc then just reinstall it, if you dont have the disc, then install AVG for now, alot of us on here use it.. www.free.grisoft.com

Games> Im presuming you still have the discs, so just find the appropriate Program Folder, and copy the saved games to a disc...then reinstall the games, and put all the saved files into the correct folder again.

Msn> Can just be downloaded from the website, just download and enter your usename and password, and off you go.

Music/Documents etc> You would be better burning them to DVD'S if you can, you get alot more room on them, or maybe a big USB stick, or evan an external hard drive if you can...or if you have another computer in the house, copy them to that via the network, then copy them back later.
 
First, Welcome to CF!

The Nightingale said:
Hello, I'm new to the forum and was hoping for some help from people in the know! :)

To be honest I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to computers and all things technical, so when giving answers to my questions please treat me like one. I'm not very good with technical talk so keep it simple with me. ;)

I'm going to completely wipe my harddrive and OS using eraser's DBAN. I have two operating systems installed because a couple of years ago a local company took away my PC to get rid of a couple of viruses and installed Windows XP on our system ( we also have Windows ME, that was the original one).

Anyway, to get to the bottom of this I need help with data back-up. This is a list of everything I need to back-up and install on my fresh versions of Windows.

Norton antivirus software 2005
The contents of the "My Music" folder
Several games
MSN Messenger
My HP Printer ( all the drivers and the configuration etc.)
My documents
Network adapters/card and router configuration - my computer and my brother's laptop both use the same routet to get online. It's a Thomson 546 router and is plugged into an ethernet port in the back of my PC via a ethernet cable. We had to run a thomson speedtouch disc to configure my router and we use broadband Gold plus via AOL.9.
Norton cannot be backed because your version will be different as the OS does not have all reg keys required.
The contents of My Music, Games, documents can be safely backed.
Your HP printer came with a disc, so therefore, you don't have to worry about it.


1. Could you tell me what kind of disc I need to save things such as ethernet adapters to, and my hp printer drivers. Also will I be ok saving my music contents to normal CD-RW/CD-R and my documents to a floppy disc??
Yes

2. I've been told on several occasions that I won't be able to save my norton antivirus program and its configurations, reg keys etc. Is this true?? I have however, been told if I save the original downloaded file, I will be able to load it onto the fresh version of windows. If I do this will I just install the the downloaded file like you would with any program? Will someone tell me where the original downloaded file is most likely to be?
All you do is to run Setup. To get the files, go to www.symantec.com OR if you want free stuf, free.grisoft.com will do.

3. Is there any program/software out there which will be able to save my ethernet adapters, hp drivers and program reg keys automatically or will I have to find them manually? If the latter then could someone tell me how to find everything I need to install them on my new windows- I don't want to lose my internet connection as I've only just got it up and running. I know it's a complex and highly difficult question but if someone has the knowledge to tell me how then I would be hugely grateful. :)
You have to reconfigure all stuff from A to Z. What you could do is to download the network drivers if you need them.
 
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