Question about backing up your data

[jchan]

I'm pretty sure this question has been asked, but i can't seem to find a good website to explain to me clearly.

Currently, i have a WD 1TB external hard drive. And i want to download the Windows 7 RC. The website recommends you to back up all your data, but unfortunately with my limited knowledge about this stuff, i don't know how to =[

So what do i do? I'm basically transferring everything including the OS, games, music, documents, programs from my internal HDD to my external HD right?

 

[505090]

what i do is copy the my documents folder

os and programs are reinstalled in case of a failure

 

[jchan]

how do you reinstall the OS? i don't have the cd ... it came preinstalled in my comp.

 

[505090]

what os

 

[jchan]

i'm runnin xp home 32-bit i think.

 

[505090]

did you buy used

did you lose the disk

store bought or home built

do you have the sticker

 

[jchan]

i bought this comp like 7 years ago off of the dell.com website ... and my mom and i don't recall ever gettin a disc =[

 

[505090]

it came with discs find them if you can if not you will need to find another dell xp disk that you can borrow and copy.

 

[505090]

is the sticker still on the case

 

[jchan]

theres a little sticker on the bottom left of my case that says " Designed for Microsoft Windows XP"

 

[505090]

there should be a sticker on the case with the serial number holograms about 1 inch by 3

 

[donpacific2k]

If you don't have the original CDs, make an image of your hard drive using Ghost, Acronis, Clonezilla, or whatever your favorite disc imaging program is, before you start playing around with a new OS!!!!!! It will save you hours of trouble in the event something gets screwed up.

 

[jchan]

donpacific- thanks for the tip

505090- I found the serial sticker! What do i do with it?

 

[505090]

that is the serial number you will need if you ever have to reinstall windows, it will also tell you if you have xp pro or home. The next step if you can't find your windows disk is to find someone who has a dell with the same version of windows as you. Then you make a copy of the their disk using something like alcohol 120.

 

[jchan]

Okay cool thanks a lot. I'll try it out later