Member Panel

Hello, I need some advice on the best way to preform some tasks.First of all I had an HDD failure in my childrens pc that had a WD 20GB EIDE HDD so I needed to buy a new one. I decided since my pc has an 80GB HDD that I would upgrade both instead. I bought a 250GB HDD to put in mine and I am going to put my 80GB into my childrens. My question is this I have never learned how to back up my pc (I know silly mistake) so could someone tell me the best way to do this. Also when I backup does that mean everything such as pics,music,movies,downloaded and installed programs such as my downloading program? When I back it all up onto a cd (I assume) does that mean when I put cd in all my things can be put back on my pc just as they were before? or what would I use to move everything from one HDD to the other HDD?

Hi Nessa,

Your computer depends on whether you want to use the 250gb as an extra hard drive, or the primary hard drive with windows installed on it?

If you want the pc to be the same as it was I would use symantecs ghost to or another program transfer the data between the hard drives. Every thing will be as it was. XP has a transfer wizzard that's not bad for changing pcs iformation for that here How to use Files and Settings Transfer Wizard in Windows XP

I want to use the 250GB as my primary on my pc and the 80GB as a primary on my childrens pc but all my files and programs are on the 80GB right now. I would like to transfer them to the 250GB as I cannot reinstall some of these due to not having the original cds. Do I really need a program like symantec ghost to backup my pc,can't I just burn everything to cdrs with nero?

you can get ghost for free here this would be you best option for what you want to do hhttp://shop.symantecstore.com/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action=DisplayPage&Env=BASE&Loca le=en_US&SiteID=symnahho&id=ProductDetailsTrialPag e&productID=59769700ttps://downloads.binaryresearch.net/asp/dlsg1.asp not sure of the trial limitations look like 30 days trial

With the transfer wizard please correct me if I'm wrong, I would install new 250GB HDD in my pc then install my old 80GB in childrens pc then I could move all my files back to my pc with transfer wizard?

no you would have to used the wizzard to backup the files on the pc then you would need to put the file on a cd or dvd of removable hard disk. then fit the 250Gb hard drive reinstall windows and all programs then use the wizzard to transfer your stuff back to the new 250 gb hard drive. The tranfer wizzard only backs up you data and personal settings not your programs