Damn, damn, damn!!

[HeyWayne]

Chuffin' computers!

My home pc decided a couple of days ago that it wasn't going to do any more than keep trying to reboot.

Last night I attempted to repair/recover the computer by using the repair disc. No joy.

I ended up having to reformat - losing all my music, photos, everything.

Not a happy boy today!!!

[jackie j]

Oh dear didnt you back up to disc esp photos. I do feel sorry for you these things can be a b****r sometimes.

[HeyWayne]

Oh dear didnt you back up to disc esp photos. I do feel sorry for you these things can be a b****r sometimes.

Nothing to back up onto. Last time I backed up iTunes I used 18 CD's - that was a year ago.

Anyone recommend a good external hard drive - reasonably priced?

[Mikey]

Try moneysavingexpert.com blue, they are always well up on such things.

[Chillimad]

Hi Wayne

I have 3 of these that I use LaCie 500GB External Hard Drive USB2.0 Black - Retail - Ebuyer they are great, can highly recommend

[NoWayPedro]

Western Digital Elements 500GB USB2.0 External Hard Drive - Retail - Ebuyer

This looks good value to me, not that I have ever used an external hard disk. This is a pretty decent website to get equipment from though.

[Mikey]

How about this

MSE tips

Useful for others comments.

[madmax]

Wayne, I sympathise. There is a company in Amsterdam that recovers data from dead HDD's. Even if it has been reformatted. Cost - about £500. Expensive lesson! I can amil you their url if you need it.

Anyway, HDD's have a 10 year warranty regardless of vendor but the vendors are not liable for data recovery costs. Just HDD replacement costs. Make a back up on a remote USB HDD. Do not use this HDD every day - but do a monthly back up to it from your PC. That way, even if the USB HDD fails, you still have the mirrored data on your PC's HDD.

Good luck - Martin

Chuffin' computers!
My home pc decided a couple of days ago that it wasn't going to do any more than keep trying to reboot.
Last night I attempted to repair/recover the computer by using the repair disc. No joy.
I ended up having to reformat - losing all my music, photos, everything.
Not a happy boy today!!!

[willowstar]

oh that is heart wrenching stuff. not much comfort but reading this has just prompted me to go on amazon and buy an external hard drive (went for the Freecom Hard Drive 500GB External USB-2, silver because it had the best reviews, about £68). I don't know what to say, I would be devastated if I lost all my photos. don't know if there is any chance of recovery but I really hope so pal.

[di]

That's total poo HW.Hope(and sure)with mod tech stuff can be retrieved!We usually get our photies put on a disc at asda as well as putting on pooter~but sorry not much good to you now~Good Luck!!

[scarey55]

Anyone recommend a good external hard drive - reasonably priced?

Bummer
Don't suppose you have an old PC lying arount that you could pinch the disk from. We have loads of "dead" computers and we (when I say we, I mean of course, KK) put the old disk in a case that costs about 10€ and we use it as a back up device/extra storage.

[HeyWayne]

Bummer
Don't suppose you have an old PC lying arount that you could pinch the disk from. We have loads of "dead" computers and we (when I say we, I mean of course, KK) put the old disk in a case that costs about 10€ and we use it as a back up device/extra storage.

No, the old one I had was old - and to be honest I'm not sure I'd know which bit to take out if I had. I'm not at all techie when it comes to hardware.

Seen a few sites that say they can recover data even if the hard drive has been formatted and Windows reinstalled.

I'm confident that most, if not all the photos will be stored somewhere - be it on Facebook, memory cards etc, but it's iTunes that's the biggest bummer - 300 and odd CD's loaded, plus those that I'd downloaded (maybe 50 or so tracks). Most annoying.

[lynda66]

that is the very reason, why i put all my photos on photobucket, and send them to myself by email on hotmail. and have only online email addys fsmail, and hotmail, and when i download an album it goes straight onto a second hard drive in the pc, and then onto cd unless its crap

also any software i download goes straight onto cd too.

so if theres any crash, i can just format it, and put all the software back on, and the music is safe on the extra hard drive.

and only use my laptop for games and the internet.

[sharonr]

Sorry to see you lost all your data.
With my Norton 360 Anti-virus thingy I get my files backed-up every week, so if my computer crashes it`s all backed-up at Norton.

[Nicos]

Our computer crashed about 3 times before I demanded an external hard drive backup for Xmas...the problem is getting it to back up the right stuff- ours backed everything up every night- not just the new stuff....and then only selected bits!
Not being computer literate I couldn't complain...but it does worry me at the thought of my family tree research ( average of 4 hrs per day for the past 2 1/2 yrs ) being lost.
Each time my bookmarks have gone too which is SOOO frustrating.
I think it's blind leading the blind in this household though!!

Mine is a small grey box Wayne...really useful!!

( and yes...I do drive a black car....and before that a blue one...and before that a grey one....and before that a blue one.....and before that a grey one....)