So I was sitting here thinking... Yes I know it is Christmas Day and no, I guess I really don't have what you would call a life. I was thinking about what to do with my dead Windows 7 laptop that I recently replaced. Salvage the hard drive? Try to turn it into a Linux machine? Run over it with the motorhome? Then (better later than never) I remembered the set of three DVD's I made when I first set it up. They were tucked away in my computer bag. Maybe it is not totally dead...
I dug out the disks, put #1 in the optical drive and hit power. It recognized the disk and asked if I wanted to restore the computer from the set of disks or from the Recovery Partition! I told it from the Recovery Partition and away it went. It eventually opened up like the day it was born. I installed Chrome and MSE Anti Virus and it is working!
My work was interrupted when I could not convince Norma that fixing the computer was more important than going to the potluck Christmas Dinner here in the park so I had to leave it in a state of limbo for a couple of hours.
It was still alive when I got back and is now busy downloading updates. I will let it do it's thing overnight and re-start it in the morning. Maybe I will end up with a reliable backup computer!
All this reminds me that I better make a set of backup disks for the new computer. Do we still do that with Windows 8,1? I will find out.
How good is that! You may well find yourselves with a solid back up computer.
ReplyDeleteNice save! Sure wish I could have done that with our old laptop. I miss it!
ReplyDeleteHow is the new cheapo Toshiba working out?
Aside from all the hassles with the new OS, the Toshiba is great. Boots up quickly, great screen. It is a little slow surfing around the Internet but that is probably because of the overused free WIFI here in the park and not the cheap processor. It worked really well when we video Skyped the kids the other day. For a $220 computer, I sure can't complain.
DeleteThanks...I hope the price is still that cheap when we get into the states!
DeleteWith Suzie's old computer I removed the hard drive, reformatted it and bought a case for the hard drive, now she had a good external hard drive for backing up her new laptop.
ReplyDeleteExcellent. Looking forward to an update to see how it did.
ReplyDeleteGood save, Croft! Your new Toshiba should have a 'Restore Partition' that will allow you to restore it to its Factory settings should you ever decide to do that. Windows 8.1 does indeed have several Restore options including the ability to 'refresh 8.1' without affecting your programs or files.
ReplyDeleteBut, now that your old Windows 7 is working again, I'm guessing you'll be rushing to install Windows 8.1 on it??
Ya, right! Maybe I will be able to learn the system at a slower pace with less pressure.
DeletePut that baby on Ebay - nice!
ReplyDeleteAn emailed comment from AL:
ReplyDeleteAn alternate suggestion for backing up. I'm back on XP pro with an older Lenovo, I needed a larger hard drive so last year I bought a hard drive and a transfer kit that moved everything on the old HD onto the new one. I carry the old one with me, if the new one packs it in I can just swap out the drives and I'm back in business. I also back up my important files and pictures so I can restore these. It's a bit more expensive than simple back up disks but the newer HD's don't seem to be as reliable as the older ones used to be.