Backing up data?

[Darcy]

(Taking the plunge here. I'm just going to spit this out ...)

haven't backed up a darn thing yet. Don't know What should be backed up on disk; how to locate/determine size of what I want to back up; what size/type CD i would need, etc.
(WXP; CD-RW) All help greatly appreciated.

[Cool Canuck]

I'm with Skamper on this one. With the price of hard drives these day it is the best way to go. Get a spare and backup to it. Quick and easy.

[Case]

Darcie – what operating system you got?

What kind of hardware do you have (CD’s, HDD’s, etc.)?

What applications do you use, that might have data on them you’d want to back up?

[lurch63]

and if not , you could make a ghost image chop it up into little pieces and burn those pieces onto cd's, if you don't feel like buying a hd, if your interested, just ask, sinc. lurch

[ImaginAsian]

hey guys, Ghost might be a little more then Darcs really wants! Case has the right idea...

BTW...check this out Darcs...

http://www.voidyourwarranty.net/review/review.php3?r1=backupmypc/index.php3

[AmStoned]

Ghost and DriveImage's too high tech for moi. WinXP should do the job just fine. Though I've never tried fully restoring a backup to a empty HD ala Dell Style before. Hmm... Maybe I'll give it a try.

[Case]

Hmmn – nice link IA. Personally what I do is just use the native Windows system tools backup program and send the file over to my other computer on my network. But you could easily just copy the backup file to a CD if you have a burner – they nearly all come with packet writing software. For me, it’s just easy to send it over the network . . . .

[AmStoned]

Case: Does the windows backup system really work? You know with the boot disk that boots to ARS (auto restore system) in Dos? Yeah,

[Case]

Ummmm – yeah. But I’ve not used it with a floppy for ages – before I networked my ‘puters I backed up to a data partition on the hard drive, or to another drive if I had one installed. In fact that’s the best use I’ve put old drives to, imo, is as a backup drive. Not big enough (old drives, you know) to image an entire drive, but I think it’s pretty safe to use them for backups.

I’m probably way offbase, but I’m not sure about the ARS – never used it. I currently use Win98-2 and WinMe, but will be migrating to Win2k-pro soon as I get time.

[Darcy]

:) Wow, massive input here (that's a good thing, btw). I'm still trying to digest all this information! IA's right - that Ghost thing went *Zoop* - right over my head and I don't know a thing about compression. And ....Windows boot disk?

Thanks a lot for that link, IA (see, i don't even know where to Look for that stuff. There, I said it, it's out, don't hold it against me). That BackUpMyPC looks friendly; sweet jeez, and it comes with a Manual!!

Case, i have WXP-Home, no CDs. No spare hard drives. I do have a "burner", but like i said, don't know what type/size CD's would need(?) as I've never used it. When I first asked my question, I was thinking of individual backups, like skamp mentioned - jpg's, docs in my Word program, etc. But now you've opened the floodgates :joy: and I'm boggled. You've all been great-thanks-and any other comments would be kindly welcomed.

[AmStoned]

Skamp: But can you backup NTFS w/ Ghost? Isn't there a limitation as to what Ghost can do? So far I just power on my second HD in the mobile rack and put the backup file there.

[AmStoned]

Skamp: How do you restore the system again? So you boot into Dos with the ghost disk, hook up empty HD and backup HD, and run ghost restore?

[Techvillage]

Good discussion - I'm gonna throw a few more logs on the fire...

The first one may sound dramatic, but it can so easily happen. One of the negative things about using an HDD as a backup medium is that if you PC gets stolen, house gets burnt down, lightning strike etc., your backups go with it. To me, my data is of more value than the PC itself.

What could be more valuable than the PC Itself? ....memories...Since I bought my first DC in 97' I have thousands of pictures of my family stored on my file server. Those picures are worth a thousand PC's to me.

I also keep all the usual household, banking, investments, life insurance, pensions etc.. on PC. I scan them in, so if there is a fire and the whole lot goes up in smoke, I have scanned copies on backup, kept at home and offsite.
So my offsite backups are very important to me, and I keep them all down at my parents house.

So, bearing in mind the backups I make need to be transportable - I looked at all the options available to me under a certain price point. The price point was £300. The backups had to be easy to do with intuitive software, and easy to schedule
unattended backups. I first looked at tape. There were only two tape backup products available in my price bracket and they
were the Onstream http://www.onstream.com/products/di30.html and the Travan 20 ( getting late now and too tired to go get a link). They are both IDE products, not a fast as SCSI, but fast enought for my needs with the Onstream capable of 30GB compressed.

I ended up buying neither, the skin flint in me.... I had a CDburner already, and I was looking to buy a DVD burner - so I didn't go the tape route, which is the easiest of all.

I have been using CD to burn my data, and will till I get the DVD burner.

Darcy - I'm gonna keep things very simple here, because that is probably what you want. The burner in your PC will be able to
burn two types of disk, CDR and CDRW.

The CDR disks come in two sizes, they can hold 650MB and 700MB woth of data respectively, but are both physically the same size. CDR disks you can record on them till they are full, and that is it.

CDRW's only hold about 540MB of data on them. You can record on them till they are full, then format (sorta deleting the data) and you can then record more data untill full again.

Don't use the CDRW disks, even though you can re-use them - the reason being is that you want to make backups thru out the year, you don't want to re-use them. CDR's are what you should be using. They hold more data, and they are so cheap.

Your burner would have come with some software, so you don't need to go out and buy some more.

Now - what do you need to backup on your PC? Just data really, and by data I mean things like Word, Excel, pictures (jpg, tif,
bmp etc.), any scanned household paperwork. Don't forget things like you Internet Explorer favorites, your Email program data
files etc.. What you wan to do is to sit down with a pen and paper and go thru your PC, and write down what programs you have and whether you need to keep the data files. The actual program install files you don't need to keep and you will have them on CDROM already.

You can work out the size of files by viewing then in Windows Explorer. Also, your CD Burning software, will advise of how much
space the files are taking up, when you setup the CD Burning software to record a disk. Ny advice to you is to first of all
become familiar with your CD burner, burn some CDR disks, disk are very cheap now, and get very familiar with setting up a recording session.

After that, tracking down the data files to burn will seem easier - we can advise you of the likely place they will be.

So my advice is to stick to burning CD's for your backups- it's probably the easiest of the lot. You have everthing you need
already, and you can keeps copies of backups offsite.

I know this is long, but hope it helps :)

[Case]

Originally posted by Techvillage
*snip*I also keeps all the usual household, banking, investments, life insurance, pensions etc.. on PC. I scan them in, and so if there is a fire and the whole lot goes up in smoke, I have scanned copies on backup, offsite.*snip*

HAHA! I love this place.

Tech - that is such an excellent idea - I'll start doing it tomorrow.

BTW, I think you’re absolutely right, Darcie needs to use the hardware and proggies she’s got, and keep it simple. Kudos to you for a very well thought out strategy and reply. Actually, to repeat Darcie, I’m glad to see all the response this post got too – lots of good info here . . . .

[Montana]

Darcy, since I don't have a business that depends upon being able to retrieve my data in event of loss I've opted for the simplest method. I have a CD/RW, use EZ CD Creator software to back up my personal stuff (stuff I created) only, and do try to keep an updated separate copy offsite when I remeber to do so. Since my system came with various CD's for reinstalling I don't worry too much about the rest of it. If my hard drive crashes and burns, and it has, well sometimes starting over from scratch is not totally a bad thing. A time consuming clean start so to speak.

The back-up system you do decide to use should be predicated on how important your data is to your daily affairs. I could toss my entire system out into the 2 inches of snow we have right now and not suffer a bit. :eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

Unfortnately, whatever method you do decide to use will require a learning curve, so use the Re-writable CD's and just start experimenting to see what works (and how it works) for you. Heck, you've gone this long w/o a backup, what's a few more weeks learning the ropes.

[Darcy]

:) TechVillage, I have a question for you: Is your response copyrighted? I'm serious. You answered my broad questions/thoughts in such a well thought out, comprehensive yet easy way to understand manner, covering all the bases, down to what size/type CD's i should use, and i can't thank you enough. Case and others, thanks again for all your input, and Montana - i just caught yours as i was replying here. And you're right, experiment and get familiar. Taking the plunge here wasn't that painful after all; thanks TechV for giving me that push. :)

[BART WILLIAMS]

Originally posted by AmStoned
Skamp: How do you restore the system again? So you boot into Dos with the ghost disk, hook up empty HD and backup HD, and run ghost restore?


You do exactly the same thing you did when you "Ghost"ed the original drive.

You attach both hard drives and now you copy from the full hard drive back onto the empty formatted drive. You do not need to worry about backup, restore, etc because you are making an exact copy.

In my case with a fast computer, ata 100 hard drives at 7200 RPM I have copy speeds of about 1 to 1.2 gigs a minute. I can duplicate my a full 20 gigs of data and programs "The entire hard drive" in less than 20 minutes. And it only costs the price of a 20gig hard drivem. "About 80 dollars".

I do like skamp. I use "Partition to Partition" copy. I find it easier and it will allow you to copy from a larger hard drive to a smaller as long as the data you are copying will fit onto the smaller drive.

[Techvillage]

Hi Darcy - my reply was a bit long winded, which is alway dangerous coz boredom can set in for people reading it! :)

I'm glad it was of interest to you - it isn't copyrighted, I just wrote down my thoughts last night.

We do have a rule at BBF though, that anything posted here can't be copied and pasted into another forum outside of BBF.

Start practise burning today :)

[Techvillage]

Hi Case - I have been scanning for sometime now - the other alternative is to photocpy and keep docs of site, but the physical size of all the photocopies, just can't compare with the size of a cdrom :)

[Darcy]

Who are you trying to kid, Tech V?!----> that wasn't boring AT ALL! :) That type of response is just what I needed! :joy: :) What!?! Start burning today! Wish i could, oh my, -- but the only thing burnt today is me, here at the office, TechV. *sigh* Many thanks, again. :)

[Techvillage]

No time like this week to start burning practise!

From your original post you don't have any CD disks? Well, this week you need to drop by a store that sells them. You can buy them singly (expensive way to buy them), in packs of 10 (individual price gets better) and in spindle packs of 25, 50 or 100(price per each is now damn cheap).

If I were you, I would go for a pack of 25 on a spindle, and go for 700MB CDR disks. The brand doesn't really matter, go for middle of the road priced ones. Steer clear of no-name brands.

What software do you have for your CD burner?

Once you have bought the CD's this week, and I will be checking up with you at the weekend, we can go to the next stage :)

[AmStoned]

Major Edit: Darcy, you might want to try out XP's built-in burner to test burn a couple of files with a CDRW disc first, than a CDR disc, and finally a seperate prog for backing up the system.

Tech: didn't mean to offend EazyCD users.

[Techvillage]

Hi stoner - Version 3 of Easy CD Creator was damn good, Version 4 sucked, and version 5 did have problem with the Take Two backup software for Win2K users, which one of the optional freebie components which installs with Easy CD Creator - which they put out a patch for.

However if you take the core package only, Easy CDCreator 5 is very good and very stable.

Normally when I load software I don't choose default setup which chucks on all the software components onto C:, I always choose custom to install where I want, and just the componentss I want want, rather than installing a lod of crap I'm never gonna use in addition to the core components.

I have used Nero and WinOn CD (which I also like very much) but have found Easy CD Creator 5 the easiest and most intuitive to use by far.

Does XP use the licensed adaptec CD burner plugin?

[AmStoned]

From what I read at CDR-Info, Rasio, the company who makes EazyCD made the XP built-in burner too.

BTW, I guess if you want easy interface and function, easy would be a nice starter for Darcy. I started out with EazyCD with my first PlexWriter also, but switched to more powerful progs like Nero and CloneCD. Well, I use Nero for VCD and my precious collection of files :stoner1:, CloneCD for dub. Backup, what backup?

[Techvillage]

Stoner - Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum had a tool called take Two backup which was an easy to use tool, very simple for backing up to CDROM - however it killed a lot of Win2k users when it was first introduced.

I saw in The Reg over the weekend that some dude has written a program where you can copy DVD films onto your hard disk and then burn them back to DVD - effectively enabling DVD copies to be made with a DVD burner. This is is reeeeeally pissing of the Hollywood studio bosses, and making Tech very happy :) As this region crap the studios insisted on is a bunch of crock - why should I have to download firmware so I make my DVD player region free so I can legitametely play DVD's that I have legitametely bought in the US?? They are a bunch of A holes :mad:

Ooops, sorry Dacy - gone way of topic.... back on topic now :)

[AmStoned]

Oh, you mean the whole DVD? Yeah, the DVD "backup" prog I'm using has a feature to turn off IPO (split DVD into multiple VOBs of 1GB each), so you can pretty much copy the DVD RAW... though I never tried it.

Just read the anti home built system article. :stoner: greedy hollywood fsckers. they should all get horrible diseases and live a long long life of daily suffering.

[AmStoned]

difficult to recollect? what do you mean? do a search for bookmarks and favorites, click, drag, drop to floppy, done.

[Darcy]

Hey- many thanks AS, AJ and of course, TechV, who's ever vigilant in expanding my horizions here. :) You're really gonna whip me into shape, aren't you? (well, it won't be easy......)

Well, I got news for you: --------> I'm screwed.

i apparently HAD the Easy CD Creator 5 BasicInk (pre-installed) but, -----> it's not there anymore.....that's right, good ole Darcy here must've somehow, somewhere, at some time, uninstalled it. :cryol: :cryol: :grr: TechV...what are you going to do with me now?! *help* :emb:

The good news is, I might possibly be able to get a hold of another program.

Tech?
Tech?
You still with me?
Don't leave me now!!!

[Darcy]

Yes! Yes, andersonjoy/AJ! I have a Disk!! :joy: :joy: Hot D@#m!!!

oh boy....looks like another lesson coming on.........:) This is good!! OK. i've got the disk that came w/'puter. (*knocks head Really hard on wall for not thinking about this.....*) .

I'll await further instructions. Wow! thanks!! I'm assuming it'll be on the disk. Have no clue what's on there. (TechV is going to throw his hands up for sure; i hope he's tenacious tho). :)

[Montana]

Darcy, put the disk in your CD-ROM drive, it should auto-start. If it's the EZ Creator disk, follow the prompts to install (just agree w/all the Q's). If it's a OEM type CD you'll probably be presented with a menu listing the software avaiable to you, find the EZ Creator, hi-lite choice or tick the selection box (nevermind if it says it's already installed, just do it). When you're finished you should have the icon on your desktop. :-)

[Darcy]

What? AJ, i have no idea if it's a systems restore or applications disk. (something tells me though i should hope it's a systems restore disk ....). I'll look when I get home tonite. Who had time to look - I was too excited when I got it and just went crazy going on line. :sarcastic foolish me. Oh many thanks, Montana. :) I'll stick it in and see what pops up and let you know. You still there TechV?
P.S. - I can do that while I'm on BBF, right? I mean, I don't have to close down everything, do I? (I don't feel funny anymore asking stupid questions)

[Techvillage]

Still here Darcy :) - I live in the UK, so I go "off air" early evening your time.

I will talk to you some more this evening, when I get back :)

[Darcy]

Thanks, TechV. :) Somewhere in the back of my mind, I now recall getting a blank CD as a stocking stuffer. I'll let you know what it is.

[Darcy]

:) disks: ok-have located Recovery and Configuration Disks:). And, EASY CD CREATOR 5 BASIC software for systems with CD-RW has also been discovered. Good to learn i didn't uninstall it :rollin: ; appears i never installed it to begin with. Still can't locate that blank CD i thought i had tho. I'll keep hunting TechV. :)

[Darcy]

lawdy! i gotta reformat too?!?!?

[Darcy]

Thanks, AJ! Me, worried, AJ? nah...i'm receiving excellent tutorial advice here. :)
:joy: blank disk found! :D
I've got a blank TDK CD-R 12x Recordable 74 MIN 650 MB Disk. Is that do-able?

[Darcy]

lol - got that one, "Coaster", lol.
don't be a pessimist, AJ, that's my job. ;)

[Darcy]

Have I lost you, TechV?

[Darcy]

oh yes.
i've lost him. :cryol:

[Techvillage]

Hiya Darcy, here, borrow my hanky, wipe your eyes and blow your nose, can't bear to see a damsel in distress ;)

Well done, you have found the CDROM with install files for Easy CD Creator. OK, what we are going to do is install the Easy CD Creator today. First off, look to see if there is a serial no on the Esy CD Creator disk, or much more likely, on the the Easy CDROM disk case/disk covering. We need thsi serial number, as you will probably be asked for this serial number during the install process. If the serial number is on the disk itself, write it down on a bit of paper (so you don't have to take the cdrom out of the CD player later to read it.)

We are now ready to begin. Save your work, and close down all programs - you shouldn't have any programs open while installing the software.

Put the Easy CD Creator disk into your cdrom player and windows should, after few seconds, bring up a window anouncing the start of the Easy CD Creator installation routine.

Agree to start the installation. Now, along the way, it will probably ask you if you want to do a default/standard installation - for ease of installation, agree to this. And basically aggree to all default settings and suggestions.

Along the way you will most likely be asked for the serial no - enter it from the bit of paper you wrote it on earlier.

At the end, it will ask you if you want to re-boot, aggree to the re-boot and your PC will automaticaly shut down and re-start it self.

You can now breathe a sigh of relief:)

Now - don't start Easy CD Creator yet - we have one more thing we must do.

I'm 99% certain I saw a post of yours saying you use Windows XP. There is a patch (small piece of upgrade software) that you need to download from the Roxio website to upgrade Easy Cd Creator 5 to be compatible with Windows XP. The patch is only a couple of MB's in size and I will post the web link and instruction on how to install the patch tomorrow evening.

Can you please confirm your operating system is Windows XP, and that you have installed the software (don't try and run it though.)

I'm off to bed :)

[Darcy]

thanx for the hanky, TechV, i made good use of it, too, seeing as how i thought u bailed on me.

ok, - Emms knows i'm a problem child, so here's what happened. it didn't go the way u said, number 1.; number 2. - it didn't ask me to reboot; number 3: yes, i can confirm i have WXP-Home.

here's what i did:

i stuck in the Easy CD Creator disk. (after closing all applications).
I went to START-->CONTROL PANEL-->ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS.
There already was some sort of icon there for it, so i highlighted it and clicked on Modify.
The Install Wizard immediately popped up.
It did not ask for the Serial Number, btw.
I followed the prompts.
It took 3 seconds.
It said it was installed.
I clicked Finish.
It did not ask me to reboot.
I removed the disk.
I went to START-->ALL PROGAMS to see if i could find it.
I couldn't.
Where should i look?
(it seems to me that 'puter was ready to accept it, seeing as an icon was already there for it, just waiting for the install-and it never asked for the Serial #). (aargh, that doesn't make sense even to me now).

(oh and Montana, it is not on my Desktop.)

[B]And that's where we are about now, TechV, and i'm not touching another thing until i hear from you.

AJ-lol, yes. i can confirm i'm not a patient one. And ur AV is driving me insane, btw. :)

Okay, TechV...if u can handle me, i'm ready for u. And thank you. :)

[Darcy]

yes, AJ, i see the adaptec folder; but there are several subfolders beneath it w/the CD Creator name -
CD Easy Creator 5
Direct CD
and then another (?!?!!) CD Easy Creator 5
and then Creator Images.
:beatsme:
i see nothing w/an .exe extension. and if i open anything, TechV will be really pissed at me and that's the last thing i want! :eek:

[Darcy]

thanks AJ, i'm sure i'll find out where i screwed up *sigh*. :)

[Techvillage]

Hmmmmmm......Darcy, Darcy, Darcy.......where did I say "I went to START-->CONTROL PANEL-->ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS" ;) ;) Tech shakes his head, LOL.

What you did last night was to [b} un-install [/b] Easy CD Creator..... If you go to control panel and find the Easy CD Craetor software there - it means the software is already installed, and no further action is required. You can use the same principle of any software package - if it show in Add and Remove programs, it generally means the software is installed onthe PC.If you click on Modify, it will either ask you to add components or remove the entire installation. What is mis-leading is the terminilogy used, because it does say installation complete - where it really means installation removal complete!

My mistake, I should have used my instincts to double check when you said it wasn't installed :)

Okey dokey - we shall put it back on

Now, you mustn't deviate from my instructions, coz " "I went to START-->CONTROL PANEL-->ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS"" was a major deviation :)

Follow my instructions form last night again, which will re-install it :) Let me know how you get on.

[Darcy]

Bloody hell, TechV, ROFLMAO.
I'm soooo sorry, lol.
you know, something didn't sit right w/me this morning on the way to work ... *shakes head along w/TechV*
well, now i've got all those folders showing!!! what should i do? leave them alone??
and another thing, while i'm at it, originally i did an automatic Explorer Search for the application and it was Not found during the search!! So what's going on here?!

And yes, kindly to use ur instincts when dealing w/me. ALL of them. To the minutest detail. Thanks, TechV!! Just think of the challenge. (sorry, still LOL-ing over here and feel free to chuckle to urself.) :)

[Techvillage]

Hi Darcy :) - Ok, don't worry about the remaining Easy CD Creator folders and files remaining on your C: drive, the uninstall program just hasn't removed all of them. When we re-install we will load back into those folders so just leave them there.

Let me know how you get on tonight.

[Darcy]

ok, TechV, i'm going to do it later tonite.
i don't hear any mention of an E: drive here?? That's my CD drive. ok. going to give it another shot. just stick it in like last time and let it runs its course this time. Got it. Thank you, and no, i won't worry about any folders at this point. :)

[Techvillage]

Originally posted by Darcy
ok, TechV, i'm going to do it later tonite.
i don't hear any mention of an E: drive here?? That's my CD drive. ok. going to give it another shot. just stick it in like last time and let it runs its course this time. Got it. Thank you, and no, i won't worry about any folders at this point. :)

Hi Darcy :) - You will be loading the Easy CD Creator into your CDROM reader (E: drive) tonight. By default it should load onto the C: drive - follow, my instructions from last night. By the way, because you are installing on top of an original installation and some of the folders and files are still on your C: drive, if, during the installtion it says something like, you already have a folder called "blah, blah ,blah" do you want to use/install there - click Yes.

Now, tell me what's on your mind regarding the E: drive? Tell me what you're thinking and I will be able to work out whether it's pertinent to the install.

Good luck :)

[Darcy]

ok, TechV.
oh, never mind about the E: comment earlier, pls. my brain just connected CD w/E: drive. sorry, kindly disregard. I've got ur instructions printed out in front of me and i'm going to do it right now. oh and thanks for mentioning about clicking Yes when it asks if i want to use/install "there". :) ok. i've got a program to load here! Thanks for your patience, TechV. I'll be back w/my report.

[Darcy]

alright, i'm getting very not happy here. i put the disk in and waited, and nothing happened.
Does that mean it's not defaulted to load onto C: ??
This is what happened last nite, which is why i went to Start-Programs, etc. where i had option to add/remove programs.

HELP, PLEASE!

[Techvillage]

Hi Darcy - OK for some reason the autorun.inf is not kicking in - what this means is that we will have to manually kick off the install.

Now I'm assuming that Easy Cd Creator is the only software on this CDrom, and you said earlier that the CDROM is your E: drive?

If it is your E: drive, this is what you need to do. If your cdrom is on another drive letter, use that letter insted of the letter E:

If you are not sure, which drive letter yoour CDROM drive is, then double click the My Computer on the desktop, and all your drives will be shown. You cdrom drive will be the letter with the CDROM looking icon next to it.

Click on the START button onthe bottom left hand corner od your screen and the select RUN. In the Open field type the following: E:\setup.exe

Then click on the Ok button. This should start the install routine.

[Darcy]

ok. directions followed; wizard came up, asking if i want to: modify, remove, repair.
last time i clicked MODIFY and it uninstalled, remember?
i'm afraid to touch anything here....

EDITING: took a chance, clicked Modify, EASY CD CREATOR is highlighted in blue in the Install Shield Wizard, but i note in bottom of this window in small letters, that it says: "the path is absent".
and yes, E: is correct CDROM drive, and i typed in E:/setup.exe as instructed.
so "path is absent" seems to be the next roadblock. (?)
*Darcs pulling hair out here....*

[Darcy]

I'm not going near that "path is absent" by myself, TechV, no sirree, and no one else is coming near me on this one it seems. Whenever ur ready, TechV, i'm in ur hands. :)

[Techvillage]

OK, got a couple of questions.

Do you have a DVD player in your PC as well, or just a CDROM burner (your E: drive) ? Reply to this question form work, and then do the bleow when you get home.

What I want you to do when you get home is to take out the Esasy Cd creator from the CDROM and then put it back in ( I know, that sounds crazy, but do it anyway).

If the installation routine doesn't auto start, then click on START, RUN, type in E:\setup.exe and clikc on OK.

When the Easy CD Creator options come up asking you to Modify, Repair, Remove - select Remove. It will then remove the stuff and prbably ask you to reboot - similar to what happened to you the other night.

I know we seem to be repeating ouseleves a little bit here, but without me being totally clear as to what's happening at each step, it's difficult for me to help.

Now , are you OK, need any encouragement to go on? - we can do this :)

[Darcy]

:) Hi, TechV. encouragement always welcomed :) but if ur asking me if i'm giving up, answer's NO! altho am considering changing name to Jane, as in Calamity. ;)

i have DVD-CDRW combo.

i've given u every detail as they've occurred TechV. :) Have i missed giving u some information? Can i send some Glenleven ur way; have feeling ur going to need it. Thanks for not leaving me.
:)

[KaraK]

TV: ok in a somewhat dangerous move I'm going to make a suggestion here.. if Darcy is running XP could she not just use the built in burning functionality of the OS ?

[Techvillage]

Hi karak - not dangerous at all matey :)

It may come to that, if this doesn't work, but Esasy CD Creator is better than XP's built in one, I'm also hoping that some of what we are doing here, is giving her some knowledge and experience of her PC.

[Darcy]

Just a quick double check re: ur last post, Tech, if u don't mind.

- After i select Remove option and it removes the stuff, and reboot, should i try w/clean slate and remove and then reinsert disk, and continue on as u've written? thank u. :)

[Darcy]

thank u both, but why r u speaking of me like i'm not here?! ;) TechV, can u kindly confirm my prior post?

[Techvillage]

Originally posted by Darcy
Just a quick double check re: ur last post, Tech, if u don't mind.

- After i select Remove option and it removes the stuff, and reboot, should i try w/clean slate and remove and then reinsert disk, and continue on as u've written? thank u. :)

yes :)

Sorry Darcy, where are my manners... :headwipe:

[Darcy]

lol
thank u, TechV :)
I have to get on the stick w/this. have another program i wish to load (also from off a disk) and then i wish to make copy of same. i'll report for duty tomorrow if ur around. Thanks again.

[Darcy]

oh crap. (i seem to be in invisible mode at moment, but i'm here).

how u doing, TechV? :)
ok. i have successfully uninstalled CD CREATOR per yr instructions. btw, had to use the START RUN E:/setup.exe method. will now reboot, remove/reinsert disk and try to install again.

[Techvillage]

Had to go into work this weekend - the start of 5 weekends work on the trot - we got a big It project going on, and to get it completed on time, gotta go in....

Anyway - well done - I got my fingers crossed here for you :)

[Darcy]

(working on weekends? :( sorry to hear).

:thumbsup: Success, TechV! started up right away - didn't need to go to START-->RUN, etc. :) started up as soon as i reinserted disk.

ready to be patched as your convenience.
after that, wish to install another program and then make copy of same.
Thanks, TV! :)

[Darcy]

:) Thanks, TechV.

Good news!: patch has been downloaded.
Bad news: *surprise!* have problem starting upgrade procress. :beatsme:
Will advise.
*hands hanky back to TechV to wipe brow* ;)

[Lonnie]

Hey girl...what's the holdup on this thing...just read the first 3 pages on this stuff and it stopped!
Are you at a standstill...TV still working weekends?...
Come on...need info here!
*has had computer for 2 years - never done a backup either*:dev:

[Darcy]

Hi, and oh! sorry Lonnie, didn't mean to hold ya up, lol. :) Good info here, right?! TechV should be writing manuals or something, i'm thinking. :)

To answer, well, i had a problem w/the patch, so i downloaded it a second time. All went well and i'm still in shock. ;). Seriously, on my end, am waiting until the weekend. I get verrrry nervous doing it on my own as nothing seems to go right the first time.

What's this! Two years and no backups? wow ..... no wonder you gave this thread a poke, and i don't blame you! :) There are just some particular things i want to save, and of course, whatever else is suggested that i NEED to backup. :)

[Lonnie]

I have all my email addys/favorites written down.
Gifs are all on 2 floppies. Pix are on 1 floppy.
That's all I have to save!
I don't 'do' docs or anything like that at all...so that's why I was wondering about doing backups.
I have the 'restore cds' (2) for my WinME...rest of the stuff I can d/l from the 'net (POW!/CookieWall),etc - don't have too much as far as stuff on the pc...20G HDD, with 17.5+Gig available :D ...see, I told ya I don't have much on this here machine...oh, forgot, added UD today - gave them 10Gig for useage :D :D