hey first off just wanna say thanks for all the guides this site has because i don't know what i'd do with out them but i find myself needing help again but i can't find any guide so please help! my problem is i need to reformat my computer but off course i can't find the disk that came with it so is there anyway in backing up windows with the files just on my computer so i can reformat and have windows up and running? any help will be much appreciated!
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp Use this free software to make an image backup of your c: drive, save it on an external drive or another internal drive. You can also save it on DVD's if it's not too large. Make sure you use the software to make a bootable rescue cd. Test this cd by booting up your computer with it and make sure you can browse to where your backup is saved. When you are ready to restore your computer, just bootup your computer with the cd and browse to the save image and restore it. When it's complete just reboot the computer and your computer should be up and running. I already tested this program in restoring my computer and it worked like a champ.
That's all fine and dandy for a clean well running machine. If this person has to reformat then the person obviously has a problem that they would be imaging also. neaby - What's the condition of your PC that you need to reformat (usually a last resort)? If it's a malware or file/driver corruption problem we might be able to help. Also, if it's a fairly new machine often the manufacturer reserves a special place on the harddrive (sometimes cleverly hidden) to restore the PC to it's default New state. If these two options won't work for you, then you'd better search long and hard again for your install/rescue disc because without it you are up the famous creek.
First do the backup image, then you can start doing "repairs" to the windows you currently have installed. If the repairs make the computer unbootable, you at least have a saved "image backup" that you can restore. Do not try to make repairs or troubleshoot your current windows installation, until you do an initial backup. It's best to have a "not that great,but bootable" backup than no backup at all.
