PC Crashed, any ideas?

[CJWall]

EDIT:

eh, forget it. Went for a fresh install, I have most of what I want on backup, I was really just wanting to recover some samples and songs that I hadn't had before I made my backups, oh well. needed to anyhow, my system was getting quite unstable..

thanks anyhow,
Charlie

 

[Atheist]

if you have a warranty let Compaq deal with it, and if not then you can open your computer and get your HDD to a friend for a backup.

 

[Atheist]

And you shouldn't be in that kind of situation. Your should allways partition you drives so you have one partition for windows (and maybe programs) and one for data (and programs that keep valuble settings somewhere in their files).
If you like your "My Documents" you can continue using it by targeting it to data partition.

EDIT: you can try something like this: http://www.partition-saving.com/ - I didn't try it but it says that it's bootable and can burn partition images to CD/DVD
or google "free bootable backup software"

 

[xmarcelx]

When your hdd is still intact and just XP crashed:

do you have another hdd or another computer?
so if you have another running system or windows on another hdd use the hdd with the crashed XP as a second hdd and make a backup ... then reinstall

or using a Linux LiveCD like knoppix and and look if you can fidn the data and maybe copy the data over the network to another computer (for example a friends laptop)!

 

[Atheist]

do have XP installation CD? I mean, you can maybe do a simple repair for it

 

[CJWall]

do have XP installation CD? I mean, you can maybe do a simple repair for it

no, Compaq didn't supply me with one. My HDD is partitioned as well, I believe one is for my things, and the other is for a Windows backup type deal. My computer came with the HDD like this, so..

I do have another comp., but it's Win98.

I think my brother may have a Windows XP Pro CD, is there anyway this can help me?

Charlie

 

[Atheist]

If you are affraid for your data them copy it to another computer.

I think that XP CD will do. You can boot from it - intallation procedure has a screen when it asks you if you want to install window or repair. I remeber that you are asked twice about that (or something like that - I can't remember corectly) and that those are two different repairs. One manual, where you get a promt for entering command (that's the one you don't need ) and one where it just automaticly copies new system files. If you enter wrong one just reboot.

 

[006]

I understand you said nvm...but my solution is to just get a Mac.



~e.a

 

[JBroll]

One note about partitioning - you'll save yourself a lot of time and trouble if you USE THE SAME FILE SYSTEM ON BOTH PARTITIONS. And fuck FAT32. It should die.

Jeff

 

[CJWall]

I understand you said nvm...but my solution is to just get a Mac.



~e.a

haha, I was waiting for that one..

Charlie

 

[Kazrog]

I understand you said nvm...but my solution is to just get a Mac.



~e.a

Beat me to it, damn!

 

[Atheist]

so, what's the status?

 

[CJWall]

so, what's the status?

I just did a fresh install of XP, which I really wanted to do anyhow. My PC was innundated with just, crap. So, I figured now would be as good a time as ever to set things propery and keep myself more organized.

The only thing that bothers me is I lost all my mixes for MKS's contest, as well as alot of my drum samples...

Eh, could be worse.
Thanks for the help man,
Charlie

 

[Atheist]

Fresh intall is even better. I thought you wanted to avoid that.

Why did you lose that - you could do a backup. Or maybe that Compaq's CD deleted it.

 

[Seizure.]

I just did a fresh install of XP, which I really wanted to do anyhow. My PC was innundated with just, crap. So, I figured now would be as good a time as ever to set things propery and keep myself more organized.

The only thing that bothers me is I lost all my mixes for MKS's contest, as well as alot of my drum samples...

Eh, could be worse.
Thanks for the help man,
Charlie

sucks dude!
i don't know if this will help but i could send you my whole bunch of drumsamples if you want man.

 

[CJWall]

sucks dude!
i don't know if this will help but i could send you my whole bunch of drumsamples if you want man.

Sent you a PM man, thanks so much.

 

[MKS]

I understand you said nvm...but my solution is to just get a Mac.



~e.a

I just read a MAC G5 survery that listed them at a 12% failure rate. The desktop PC and laptop company I worked for never exceeded an 8% failure rate except once because of a faulty heatsink issue.

That 8% includes user error.

 

[EtherForBreakfast]

CJ - Sorry to hear about that... You probably could have recovered the system using a restore point, or using recovery console and command line tools.

For future reference, and as Athiest mentioned, you really should partition your drive(s). I use a 40GB C: partition, and then have D E F G H I J K L and some virtual mount drives. I've got a terabyte and a half! =) I keep all of my samples on sep physical drives and partitions. I keep nothing important on C. Also, it's a good idea to make an image of your boot drive after you get it all setup and perfect, this way when you go to redo, you can just deploy the image and voila, you're all set, instead of having to do a full blown install of all of your apps and all that.

Anywho... If you keep your data on something OTHER THAN C, then a wack/reload is a piece of cake, and you don't have to worry about anything else. You can even do this now using something like Partition Magic.

I used to not like external drives, but I snagged a really nice external west. digi firewire/usb 320GB drive and love the thing. It's been a life saver when doing house calls and it's quite fast. \m/

 

[stringy_]

Sorry to hear about your situation CJ, that really sucks! I love your music too.


I am soooooo paranoid about something crashing on my recording laptop. I try to backup everything regularly on DVD, but to be honest it's a huge pain in the ass so I don't do it as often as I should.

If I were more computer savvy I would try that partioning stuff. I really should learn more about that.

I've got a buddy who is really good with computers and I think when I finally get my ass around to buying the parts for a dedicated DAW desktop, I'll have him setup the entire thing.

Right now I'm using a Dell laptop, 2.8GHz P4, 1gig RAM...it actually performs really well considering it has to run 4 seperate instances of Battery at once plus like a million Wave EQs, comps, etc.


Ether - I remember awhile back there was a thread where some dude was asking about parts to a new machine and you were giving really good advice...when I get a list of parts drawn up I'll start another one of those OT threads and I demand you respond!!!

 

[JBroll]

Stringy... pm me and I'll help you with partitioning if you want, it's not hard and it's REALLY helpful, only hard thing sometimes is working with data you already have.

Jeff