System Image - what does it not include?

I've answered some of your questions below .... I've attached 2 files for you to look at. The disk management screen shot and the systems info file.

ignatzatsonic said:

OK;

A few steps at a time, as follows:

Post a screen shot of Windows Disk Management.

Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in Seven Forums

File attached

You get to Disk Management by typing those two words into the start button search box and follow the prompts.

Second: download and run Speccy from here:

Speccy - System Information - Free Download

It will provide more basic info about your hardware. Use that info to further fill out your system specifications. We know little about it now. Toshiba has dozens of different Sat L655 models and you could have any of them.

I downloaded and ran then attached the system info file here too

Third: You need to find out if that hard drive message is accurate. You do that by downloading and running a hard drive utility from your hard drive manufacturer. Since I don't know your hard drive manufacturer, I can't point you to the right spot. So run that Speccy tool and maybe it will provide needed info.

Once you've taken a look at the files i've attached we'll go from there, in the meantime I'm going to try and copy just the libraries, desktop and favorites.
I'm thinking that most of the data that i've saved on here has been in those locations. Do you think that it's possible to copy those locations to a DVD? Please let me know before I waste more disk than I already have. I've got 12 - 15 disk that I used on previous trys that I cant use because for some reason they are write protected. Do you know if that can be reversed so that I can use them again?

Fourth: if you have any idea where your personal data is on that hard drive, you should immediately copy it to some other drive so it will not be lost if your hard drive drops dead. Typically, that would be an external drive, a USB thumb drive, or a burned CD/DVD.

Right now, you should be worrying about your personal files, before you worry about your hard drive or Windows.

Lastly: in the meantime, you can do this, preferably after you do the other steps:

Open a command prompt. Type chkdsk /r into that prompt and hit the enter key and let it finish. It might take hours. When it finishes, give us some idea of the results at the bottom of the screen.

Does that Product Key you said you found have this format: 25 characters in groups of 5, like this:

Yes, the sticker says Windows 7 Home Prem OA then it gives me a sequence of letters and numbers in the format below. I'll go ahead and make this disk too.

xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

If it does, you can go to mydigitallife.info and download a Windows 7 ISO file and burn it to a disc and activate it with that product key.

Go here:

Official Windows 7 SP1 ISO from Digital River « My Digital Life

and download this file: X17-58997.iso


That is for Window 7 64-bit Home Premium. If you have something else, advise.

You need to post the Windows Disk Management screen shot.

It appears you have a Toshiba hard drive. I'll try to find a tool for it.

Regarding your data: what you should do depends on the amount of data. You can buy a 16 GB capacity USB drive for under 15 bucks. An 8 GB one for under 10 bucks. You could use DVDs, but they are messier, slower, and not as reliable. It's up to you to find out how much data you have what it will take to store it. A DVD holds less than 5 GB. If you do use DVDs, don't use rewritables. Just regular DVDs.

Don't worry about those DVDs you've already made. Just set them aside for now.

Burn that Windows ISO file from mydigitallife.info to a DVD. It's not enough to just download that file.

Does that Uniblue Registry Booster thing appear in your list of installed programs?

You should fill out your system specs from info in that speccy file--using this data I just got from your speccy file:

CPU: Intel Pentium P6200 Arrandale

Motherboard: Intel PSK2CU-0Q001T

Graphics: Intel HD

Hard Drive: 500GB Toshiba MK5065GSXN

Optical Drive: MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ890AS

Audio: Conexant SmartAudio HD

Texas Gal:

Here are a couple of hard drive testing utilities that should work.

BUT----don’t bother with these until you first post that picture of Windows Disk Management and have your personal data files backed up.

Software Utilities

Download the first file listed: Windows Diagnostic Tool 1.12. File name Zipfjdtwin.exe, 464 KB. After downloading, right click it, choose “run as administrator”, choose your hard drive, and run the extended test. It could take a couple of hours.

For another testing tool, go here:

Downloads | Seagate

Scroll down to Utilities and locate SeaTools for DOS. Choose your operating system and click download to get SeaToolsDOS223ALL.ISO. Burn it to a CD or DVD. Boot your PC from that disc. Select Basic Tests and choose “Long Test”.

If it fails one or both of these tests, I’d say your drive is failing and needs to be replaced.

Let us know the results or preferably post a picture of the results page it shows you when the testing is finished.

I dont know how long this is going to hold up. When I woke up around 5:30 or so I tried getting online and it's taken me till now to get to this screen. I'm afraid to close out anythng for fear of it not opening again. I'll try and attach the screen shot you're referring to. I wish there were someway you could tap into my computer from where you are cause i'm afraid it's about to go down.

I've just attached the file, i hope it's there this time.

How can I download my "favorites" in Internet Explorer. You know the one with the yellow star. I've saved lots of sites having to do with my business there, and if possible I would like to save that file too, but I don't know how.

I've got the files on my desktop and the libraries saved to a disk now. I just went to start, computer and right clicked on desktop and libraries and chose save to D: where my dvd drive is located. That's when I found out that I wasn't able to download my favorites from there.

If you can get back with me about the favorites so i can get that done, i should be able to move on to the other things you wanted me to do.

Thanks so very much for all your help here. Your a lifesaver.

did the screenshot attach?

I don't use Internet Explorer, but I think you can "export" favorites to another location.

Open Internet Explorer and go to the file menu. Do you see anything about import and export there? If so, choose export and choose a location where you would like to save them--a CD, a DVD, a USB drive, whatever you have. Follow the prompts from that file menu.

The Disk Management picture shows that you have a "recovery" partition and another 11.72 GB partition whose purpose is unknown. The odd thing about it is that both appear to be empty and so may not be of any use to you.

Given the shaky state of things, I'd move on and do these things in this order:

1: Download that Windows 7 ISO file and get it burned to a DVD.

2: Download both of those hard drive tools and use them to find out if your hard drive is in bad shape.

If it is bad, you will need to replace it.

Whether it is bad or not, you may have other issues and may have to reinstall Windows. That's why burning that Windows 7 ISO file is important.

I assume that other than your favorites, you have all personal data backed up?

Complete the steps in this post. Next steps will depend on the results of your hard drive tests and if you were able to successfully burn that ISO file to a DVD.

I'm going to get some sleep but will probably check back in 8 or 10 hours. Maybe someone else can step in until then.

I've had some problems with the first test....I've explained below.

ignatzatsonic said:

Texas Gal:

Here are a couple of hard drive testing utilities that should work.

BUT----don’t bother with these until you first post that picture of Windows Disk Management and have your personal data files backed up.

Software Utilities

OK, with the FUJITSU HDD Diagnostic Tool, I downloaded it to the desktop, right clicked on it and clicked run as admin, and a box came up with "drive information" on it. Under it was the Model Name: Toshiba MK5065GSXN ; Serial No: ZO3MB2CMB ; Firm: GH101M ; Result: empty ; Code: empty

It would not let me click on anything but the 4 buttons at the bottom of the box.
The "Short Test", "Extended Test", "Start" and "Exit".

You told me to choose my drive, but it would not let me, and when i clicked on extended test, it brought up a error box saying "please select a target drive to test", but I cant choose anything.

So basicly it wont work. Am I doing something wrong? I'm going to try the other one and get back to you with those results.

Download the first file listed: Windows Diagnostic Tool 1.12. File name Zipfjdtwin.exe, 464 KB. After downloading, right click it, choose “run as administrator”, choose your hard drive, and run the extended test. It could take a couple of hours.

For another testing tool, go here:

Downloads | Seagate

Scroll down to Utilities and locate SeaTools for DOS. Choose your operating system and click download to get SeaToolsDOS223ALL.ISO. Burn it to a CD or DVD. Boot your PC from that disc. Select Basic Tests and choose “Long Test”.

If it fails one or both of these tests, I’d say your drive is failing and needs to be replaced.

Let us know the results or preferably post a picture of the results page it shows you when the testing is finished.

Answers below....

ignatzatsonic said:

You need to post the Windows Disk Management screen shot.

It appears you have a Toshiba hard drive. I'll try to find a tool for it.

Regarding your data: what you should do depends on the amount of data. You can buy a 16 GB capacity USB drive for under 15 bucks. An 8 GB one for under 10 bucks. You could use DVDs, but they are messier, slower, and not as reliable. It's up to you to find out how much data you have what it will take to store it. A DVD holds less than 5 GB. If you do use DVDs, don't use rewritables. Just regular DVDs.

Don't worry about those DVDs you've already made. Just set them aside for now.

Burn that Windows ISO file from mydigitallife.info to a DVD. It's not enough to just download that file.

You're talking about the disk you told me to download that I would have to have the product key with right? Windows 7 Home Premium Recovery Disk. I wasn't sure if it worked right cause i've never burned any disk before, so when I finished running it, I did a virus scan and it had all windows files on it, like .dll files and such.

If it wasn't burned to the disk, nothing would have shown up right? I think that it worked though. Maybe I should do another one just to be safe.

Does that Uniblue Registry Booster thing appear in your list of installed programs?

Yes, it does and has since the day I bought it. Should I delete it?

You should fill out your system specs from info in that speccy file--using this data I just got from your speccy file:

I have no idea what you are talking about here. Where do I fill out my system specs at? I am sorry, but this is all a learning process for me. And believe me, I'm learning a lot. Thanks

CPU: Intel Pentium P6200 Arrandale

Motherboard: Intel PSK2CU-0Q001T

Graphics: Intel HD

Hard Drive: 500GB Toshiba MK5065GSXN

Optical Drive: MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ890AS

Audio: Conexant SmartAudio HD