Hard Drive Back UP

[Barbarian Roman]

My computer is f***ed and getting BSOD all the time. Thankfully, in safe mode, or in normal mode with no services or programs running at startup, it's stable enough to get my files, but the computer is useless, can't even go on the internet with it, and normal startup gives a BSOD. So I want to back up my hard drive (some 300gb) and format computer to factory settings. Question: if I choose back up my whole hard drive, will it back up those corrupted windows files (like in C/windows/system 32)? I only want to back up my data, not create a disk image of the computer or anything like that.

 

[Shootist]

Best is to just COPY your files off the PC to another or external drive.

There is a reason you are getting BSODs and if it is file corruption causing the BSODs there is a reason that happened. Files on good hardware do not get corrupted.
That is if there is no viruses on the system.

 

[Barbarian Roman]

So copy only the good files? It there some way to compress them on the disk, since I would maybe need only 60 gb or so but I have only 2 8gb usb's, but lots of disks. Is there some way to compress them?

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello, have a look at this tutorial at the link below.


How to Copy & Paste in Recovery Console on Windows 7 or Vista

 

[FliGi7]

Have you tried a Repair Install? That could possibly fix this issue if it's related to corrupt system files without deleting any of your personal files.

 

[Barbarian Roman]

I don't have the windows 7 disk. My computer came preloaded with windows 7 and the store gave me recovery disks which I assume windows 7 is on.

 

[FliGi7]

So.. then you do have the Windows 7 disc if you have the recovery discs. Put in the OS recovery disc and try a repair install before you go wiping and reinstalling from scratch.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

 

[James Colbert]

It may be something that can be corrected, if you know what the cause is. If your machine crashes and presents you with a blue screen, you can get the "stop error" from the screen. 2 pertinent bits of info are marked with red in this image:



If your machine does not present the blue screen, you can force it to do so following the numbered steps in the below image:



You should follow BFKs advice and copy all of your files before doing anything else.

James

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

I don't have the windows 7 disk. My computer came preloaded with windows 7 and the store gave me recovery disks which I assume windows 7 is on.

Have a look at this tutorial at the link below, it will boot the machine so you can copy-out the data to external media.

How to Create a Windows 7 System Repair Disc

 

[Barbarian Roman]

Well, I posted the error report on the crashes part of this forum, but there are no results. I'll post it here too. The word document in the zip file shows the error. I will give the recovery discs a try now, repairing the os.

 

[James Colbert]

Are your crashes a recent event or have they been present since you bought the machine? If recent, a repair install may resolve your troubles, but given that your machine starts in safe mode, it's likely that it's a driver issue. Here are 2 links that may be of help. The first will likely be the most useful:

How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7

Microsoft Fix it Solution Center: troubleshooting software issues

Have you updated any drivers lately?

James

 

[DeaconFrost]

If the data is important to you, and worth saving you should have a method of backing it up. Take this as a lucky break and a hint to force you to buy an external drive. They are dirt cheap now, and if that data is important, you'll get one right away. Back up what is important to you, and then use your recovery discs.