OT - anyone any good with computers?

[Huge]

And you think "sweetheart" is going to be able to do this?

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha[gasp]hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[Tim Watts]

I use Thunderbird's Offline mode - that keeps a good copy locally. In an emergency (which I accidently deleted a folder from the IMAP server) I was able to use the saved copy on another Thunderbird client (work PC vs Laptop) to restore the IMAP folder.

IME there are rather less instances I've personally heard of, of a decent ISP of Gmail eating mail vis the local PC going bang - which is why I always recommend the IMAP solution to non tecchie users.

[Tim Watts]

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha[gasp]hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

She asked for advice. That fell into 2 camps:

"Get a man in";

or do something hard with Windows or Linux CDs.

Both valid responses...

[Tabby]

1. Get yourself an external usb hard drive big enough to hold your all data
2. Get a friend to burn you a disc of linux, I'd recommend linux mint

7 (not later versions) or you could use puppy linux or antix linux to recover the data with

1. Put linux cd in the cd tray, plug usb hdd in, and switch on
2. if it boots up in linux, tell it to mount the usb hdd and copy everything from the machine's disc to the external hdd. Then you've recovered your data
3. If it doesnt boot into linux, you ned to set the laptop to boot from cd first. Come back and ask for that

If the hdd still works that will get you your data. If the hdd itself is fried, youre looking at hundreds for a professional recovery

NT

[Clive George]

When my ISP destroyed their main email data store I was glad I'd not taken your advice.

[Tim Streater]

I'd use a Mac. Oh. I already do.

[Ron Lowe]

Shouldn't do, not if the host machine is clean and you don't run any execuable code from the secondary drive.

That's true.

Given the level of knowledge the OP has demonstrated, the only solution for them is to find someone competent who can physically have access to the machine.

- R

[Tim Watts]

Yep - cuts both ways - but I'd give my chances with gmail or a decent ISP (ie one that actually does backups) over a non tecchie user with windows.

You can always use something like this:

again, you can also run PC backups - but the number of users that don't is very scary, especially ones that keep their entire busines operation on one...

[Tim Watts]

As an aside, what I do (and I didn't mention because it's not any use to the OP) is run your own SMTP/IMAP server and automated local backups to another device (NAS box in my case).

[Terry Casey]

That looks very interesting - thanks.

However, neither of the download links work - you get a choice of 404 messages in English or German, depending which one you use!

After a bit of poking around, I discovered that he has updated it from V.5.0.8.7 to 5.0.9.0 and has deleted the older version but forgotten to update the English pages on his website. The links on the German pages are correct. The actual download links are:

or

[Tinkerer]

You will find that some patches require earlier ones to be installed first and many more are to correct the new bugs introduced by earlier bug fixes. You can also use 'Nlite' with your original Windows disk and a downloaded copy of the most recent service pack to "slipstream" them into a disk that installs the latest version. That drastically cuts down the updating time.

(ignore the big ad in the middle of the page).

Having said that, it is worth checking your ISP and/or bank. many now give away the paid for versions with free licences. E.g. Barclays give out Kaspersky Internet Security with three free licences to their online customers and HSBC also have an offering.

[Robin]

JOOI where and in what form do you have your off-site back-up?

[Tim Watts]

As yet, they are in the same building - though if the house burns down, I'll probably be crying more about that.

I do plan to relocate the NAS to my desk at work as the incrementals are very small.

Longer term, when I have a dry shed in the garden with power, they'll probably go there.

[John Williamson]

Given the OP's admitted lack of computer skills:-

1. Take it to someone who knows how to do the job and has a proven track record.

1. Buy a USB hard drive large enough to mirror the one in the laptop and ask the person in (1) to show you how to back up your data.

Anyone who can get a dead laptop to boot from a live CD and mount a possibly damaged HD probably has enough computer skills not to be asking the question as originally asked.

I've got a couple of friends with a similar skill level, and I have to recover their data quite often. I've told them in the past that if it goes wrong, turn it off, and bring it straight to me. That makes life a lot easier for me.

[John Rumm]

First make sure the hardware is ok. Look at the early boot screen before it gets to loading windows, and see if it is recognising your hard drive(s) and CD/DVD drive.

If it is, make a boot CD like Bart PE using another computer:

will let you boot directly from CD ignoring anything that is on the hard drive.

With that, you should now be able to copy off any docs to an external drive or a network share on another computer.

Once your data are safe, you can worry about fixing the problem.

[David WE Roberts]

On the gripping hand, you could always configure your POP client(s) to leave the messages on the server. This way you have a local copy and a server side copy.

[Robin]

FTAOD I do agree with all that you and Tim say - in principle and at some future point perhaps in practice for Sweetheart. My concern was that recommending IMAP to her now without knowing her ISP/mail provider, when she displays little knowledge of IT, and when she apparently has no on-site support worth mentioning, was perhaps a bridge* too far.

*even if as some suggest she lives under one of the bridges :)

[therustyone]

Knoppix Linux can also be downloaded for free (on a borrowed computer) and burnt to a bootable CD, though latest versions need a DVD. When run from a CD it can't do any further corruption of your HD files but with a bit of luck will read them off.

Alternatively take HDD out of the computer and plug it into a USB adaptor gadget, such as Maplin sell, plug this into the USB port of a borrowed computer, run Windows file recovery program on 2nd computer. Many of these disk adaptor gadgets only work with SATA drives these days (even if they do claim IDE compatibility). Better still, before starting, make a bit image of the whole corrupted HDD onto a 2nd drive to analyse at leisure with no risk.

rusty

[Andy Champ]

Sweetheart has been here several times, and TBH I doubt she's trolling.

Anyway... Sweetheart, get professional help. Ask around and find other people local who have had similar problems, and get recommendations. As others have said, not the big chains... This is the kind of thing I want to get hands on to fix. Which for you means big favours, or big expense. (no, I'm not in Cornwall!)

The suggestion others have made, of getting another drive to copy out the data you need, is sound. That way you can keep the old stuff exactly as it is and not worry about doing any more damage. The first thing I'd do if I was working on this would be to take a complete image of the drive onto another one.

Linux? Mac? Well, I don't think this is the time to make that kind of big jump. You have enough problems without a new system to fight.

Andy

[Mark]

i had quite forgotten how utterly useless windoz can be after one careless click of a mouse button.

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