Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Computer Help and Support

TwilightZone

(28,834 posts)

3. If the files are accessible, get an external hard drive enclosure or connector...

Reply to bucolic_frolic (Original post)

Mon Jan 8, 2024, 05:49 PM

Jan 2024

and just copy them to another computer. You don't really need experience with later versions of Windows. The file transfer process is still pretty much the same, though the interface has changed, of course.

You know this already, but using a nearly 20-year-old system as your primary backup is asking for trouble. Online backups are pretty cheap these days, so you might want to look into those, if only to have a secondary backup in case of failure. External hard drives are pretty cheap, too.

Edit history

Please sign in to view edit histories.

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

21 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

I think my HP boot sector was erased [View all] bucolic_frolic Jan 2024 OP

my venerable mac possibly at the end of its upgrade and support life . ( mac os big sur 11 .) if that is the case ill AllaN01Bear Jan 2024 #1

id have a dos key ready to go with boot sectors and so fourth as well. just my preference . AllaN01Bear Jan 2024 #2

That's a good idea as well. I still do OS installs off DVD's. bucolic_frolic Jan 2024 #7

i remember using boot floopies when i had hd trouble . good thing u have your dvds . AllaN01Bear Jan 2024 #9

If the files are accessible, get an external hard drive enclosure or connector... TwilightZone Jan 2024 #3

Agree with all of that bucolic_frolic Jan 2024 #6

i really dont like using the cloud period for my personal stuff. AllaN01Bear Jan 2024 #11

I added another response below with a link for XP MCE TwilightZone Jan 2024 #12

Wishing you lots of luck! erronis Jan 2024 #4

Good to know bucolic_frolic Jan 2024 #8

Some tricks from the past. usonian Jan 2024 #5

Thank you very much bucolic_frolic Jan 2024 #13

More.... TwilightZone Jan 2024 #10

That's gold also, thanks! /nt bucolic_frolic Jan 2024 #15

I've used Linux Mint on a USB stick canetoad Jan 2024 #14

Thanks to all, more expertise here than in 100 Google searches and 5 hours AI wrangling bucolic_frolic Jan 2024 #16

Knoppix... Hermit-The-Prog Jan 2024 #17

I fixed that problem once by backing up the C drive with an offline utility. Then installing a fresh Wonder Why Jan 2024 #18

So I booted Linux Mint 23.3 from USB stick bucolic_frolic Jun 2024 #19

Have you tried System Rescue? usonian Jun 2024 #20

Thanks for your diligence, have bookmarked system-rescue.org for tomorrow bucolic_frolic Jun 2024 #21