Computer death, backing up and solution!

[Chel]

Yes, yes, we're back on this subject again. Hopefully this might help someone else!

Avid readers of this forum may remember that I'm the kind of person who sends her work to husband, brother and mother via email, not only for their joy (or horror!) but also for safe-keeping. I also keep backups on a memory stick and on my husband's external harddrive - just in case.

Well, I needed those backups this weekend. On Friday evening my virus protection started shouting something about emails. Stupid as I am, I didn't pay it enough attention to ask my computer wiz friend who was actually present in the room on Friday what was up. Instead, on Saturday, I ran a virus scan which found no less than 37 infected files on my computer. I removed them.

This in turn resulted in a Windows XP crash. And without my trusty old XP working, I naturally couldn't get on the computer. My husband and I tried everything we could think of and find online (it's good to be a geek with several computers in the household!). We couldn't fix it.

HOWEVER, and now we finally get to the Solution-part, another computer wiz friend suggested we download and burn an Ubuntu-boot disc and start the computer in Ubuntu to at least be able to save the most important files to the external harddrive. (Ubuntu is, if I've understood the terminology correctly, a Linux Operating system, which works differently than the Windows OSs.)

We did exactly that. We started my computer in Ubuntu, moved files among my harddrives and copied some to the external one, then downloaded a trial version of Windows7 and installed that. I have been wanting to try Win7 for a while now, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity - also, it bears mentioning that Win7 is extremely easy to install, unlike earlier Windows OSs.

This took us about 10-12 hours all in all. Most of that time was spent downloading. I strongly suggest that everyone prepare not only backups for their work, but also to find a downloadable Ubuntu boot disk and burn that to a CD BEFORE your OS crashes, especially if you do not have more than one computer at arm's length. Do it NOW.

This is not a complete sunshine-story though. The files I thought I had copied from one of my partitions to another, were in fact not copied at all. The partition I "copied" from is now my new C-drive, and everything that was on it is gone. Among these files are all my writings, the Collected Works of Chel. BUT those were copied to the external harddrive as well, remember? And if they hadn't been, I'd have had at least the more presentable versions on the memory stick, and if that hadn't been enough, I would have only needed to call my brother, mother or aunt, or simply asked my husband to mail them back to me.

The moral of the story?
Sh** happens, no matter how careful you are. Be prepared!

 

[Culhwch]

I've got everything I've ever written on one USB stick. She'll be right - what could possibly happen?

Actually, this reminds me, I need to back up again. I haven't been writing all that much lately, so I don't back up all that much, but I should get into the habit. I have my work stored across my trusty USB, my laptop, my desktop, and an external hard drive, so I'm fairly well covered. So long I remember to back up, of course...

 

[Doctor Crankenstein]

I have all my documents on my HDD, my laptop's HDD, a portable HDD, a draft on my blog, google docs and I email anything really important to my father and he keeps a copy of it on his HDD and portable.

I think I'll be safe from the gremlins =D

 

[gadgetmind]

I use Ubuntu (and several other flavours of Linux) to do data recovery, and have various other tools for more specialised tasks.

However, online backup services such as dropbox are great for writers. Totally free for 2GB of space, automatically syncs files to the dropbox servers and any other machines using the same account (or a different account with a shared folder) and you also get a full history of all versions of the file.

I sometimes work on my book on a desktop, sometimes on a notebook, and always know I'm working on effectively the same version. If I was away at a friends house, I could also go to the dropbox web site, grab the latest and greatest version, make some edits, and then upload the new version.

Ian

 

[Ursa major]

...I didn't pay it enough attention to ask my computer wiz friend who was actually present in the room on Friday what was up.

If you don't mind me asking, what was up?

And what should you have done about it.

 

[Chel]

If you don't mind me asking, what was up?

AVG gave me popups about something to do with emails. I checked my Yahoo account, which was the only one open at the time, and had only two new mails, both from trusted sources. That's when I stupidly decided that I knew better than some virus protection program...

AVG had had some problems installing an update for the last couple of weeks, so the next day I updated my Malwarebytes virus protection and did the scan which found 37 pieces worth of trojans, spyware and the likes.

I'm perplexed as to how it all happened as I didn't receive any strange emails, nor would I have opened them if I had. I'm assuming it was something else, and that AVG was confused.



....by now I must look like the complete end-user, which I admittedly am.

 

[Mary Hoffman]

May I recommend Dropbox.com? You work with your most important files inside the dropbox icon, saving as you go as usual and they can then be retrieved on any computer from the dropbox website.

I learned this the hard way after my McBook Air crashed 2 weeks before the last book deadline and the last back-up I made on Time Machine failed halfway through!

 

[Chel]

I've got enough backups of my scribblings, although I will look into Dropbox as well - better safe than sorry.

The main idea of this thread was the whole Ubuntu-thing - most of us, myself included before this weekend, panic when the operating system goes haywire. By starting the computer via an Ubuntu boot disc I was able to access everything, not only my ramblings. Think game saves and the like, stuff people don't normally backup.

 

[Boneman]

I've got everything I've ever written on one USB stick. She'll be right - what could possibly happen?

God forbid, you could lose the USB stick? Or it could fail? I back up by email, 2 x USB sticks and hard copies as well.

 

[Erin99]

I save all my very important files to Gmail's document upload site (www.docs.google.com), and backup absolutely everything to two flash disks and two external HDs.

I also have a PC to which I copy my work from the laptop. So I'm prepared - though God forbid I actually need any!

But what you say about the Linux Live disk is worth remembering. Most people who say their operating system is broken and they're unable to access their stories would get them no problem if they used a Linux live disk (it's called a "live disk" because you download the OS - I use "Knoppix Live CD" - and burn it to a CD, then at machine bootup you insert the disk and follow the instructions to start loading your temporary Linux OS - you "Press any key", as far as I can recall. And yes, the OS temporarily installs itself to your HD, shuffling your usual HD-assigned letters along one, so C drive becomes D drive, and then boots up. Once you restart your computer again, or shut down, via Linux's equivalent of a shut down box, it removes itself from your HD and leaves your primary OS - Windows - as your default bootup OS.)

Oh, and the install of Knopix is EASY. You basically press any key when it asks you once you've inserted the CD at bootup, and it does the rest until you're faced with Knoppix's useable, temporary OS.

In case anyone wants to make a Knoppix CD, it's here: KNOPPIX - Live Linux Filesystem On CD

I mentioned this in Taly's Blog recently. (In the thread I said you can "...sometimes retreive work off it" purely because there will always be people who can't understand what they're to do and who'll fail to find their files. But they are there if you can find your way to them and back them up! And yes, most USB drives install automatically under Linux. )

But as the original poster says, Ubuntu also works for this method, and I've tried that OS too: http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download (Option 3.)







BTW, if anyone needs help on how to burn the Knoppix ISO file to a CD, let me know.

 

[Deathfrommassive]

As far as the email issue try emailing yourself. Now you can make hundreds (I don't know why you would want to but you can) of email accounts. Just don't forget the password and you have everything backed up nice and neat. Also remember that your iPod or other MP3 device that most people have can be used as a USB stick.

 

[Chel]

Thank you for the added information, Leisha!

Seems you are better at computer stuff than I am! Your detailed advice is greately appreciated although I hope there aren't many who will need it.

 

[Erin99]

That's the problem with backing up your data externally, though - when a crash happens, the backup isn't usually your *recent*, this-day's work - which is where a Linux Live CD comes in handy.

And thank you!

 

[goldhawk]

But what you say about the Linux Live disk is worth remembering. Most people who say their operating system is broken and they're unable to access their stories would get them no problem if they used a Linux live disk (it's called a "live disk" because you download the OS - I use "Knoppix Live CD" - and burn it to a CD, then at machine bootup you insert the disk and follow the instructions to start loading your temporary Linux OS - you "Press any key", as far as I can recall. And yes, the OS temporarily installs itself to your HD, shuffling your usual HD-assigned letters along one, so C drive becomes D drive, and then boots up. Once you restart your computer again, or shut down, via Linux's equivalent of a shut down box, it removes itself from your HD and leaves your primary OS - Windows - as your default bootup OS.)

That's not exactly correct. Linux does not have any drive letters. All drives are mounted under the root drive. When you boot from CD, the CD is mounted as the root drive. Most Linux distros will mount any drive it finds and can get the parameters for it. If it can't read the parameters, you would have to mount it by hand (talk to your geeky friends). Where Linux mounts your hard drive depends on the distro.

I stopped using Windows years ago and I never regretted it. All my software, including the OS, is FLOSS. I use AbiWord for a word processor and Firefox for the web. About the only thing I can't do are some games but you can't miss what you don't have, so I find my entertainment elsewhere.

 

[Erin99]

True, but I didn't want to mention mounting and unmounting drives because people may get confused. But, from memory*, my C drive was not where I expected it to be when I tried Knoppix for the first time. Either way, people will know to look elsewhere for their files.


*It's been ages since I used it, and I only used it briefly to backup my files. I was remembering a file system similar to DOS, where drive letters were rearranged when you used a boot disk.... Ah well! So drives are mounted under the root in Linux.....




My sister's a huuuge Linus user. She keeps trying to get me to change for good, but I like Windows (gasp). She uses Firefox, Foxit, and other non-Mickeysoft applications like you, goldhawk.

 

[Lilmizflashythang]

AVG gave me popups about something to do with emails. I checked my Yahoo account, which was the only one open at the time, and had only two new mails, both from trusted sources. That's when I stupidly decided that I knew better than some virus protection program...

AVG had had some problems installing an update for the last couple of weeks, so the next day I updated my Malwarebytes virus protection and did the scan which found 37 pieces worth of trojans, spyware and the likes.

I'm perplexed as to how it all happened as I didn't receive any strange emails, nor would I have opened them if I had. I'm assuming it was something else, and that AVG was confused.



....by now I must look like the complete end-user, which I admittedly am.

And that is why I use McAffee Total Protection 20--(whichever number is the most recent). It even has "siteadvisor," a program that tells you if the site you are going in is dangerous or not. I'll have y'all know that this site has the greenlight.

 

[Culhwch]

God forbid, you could lose the USB stick? Or it could fail? I back up by email, 2 x USB sticks and hard copies as well.

I fear you both missed the sarcasm and failed to continue reading my post...

 

[Boneman]

No, I did... just pointing that out for another poster, with whom I had a discussion about this very thing! (She got drenched in a downpour with the USB stick in her bag - two inches of rainwater later - it took everything...But they still said she had to do the dissertation again...).

ps: Cul, thanks so much for all the polls you do for the writing challenge - all we have to do is vote! Brilliant work.

Back on topic, I mourn the demise of the floppy disc - they were so easy to back up on, just 'save as', and you could do it 10 times a day, overwriting if you wanted to. If only CDs were that easy...

 

[Culhwch]

USBs are that easy! I don't miss floppies. Too small...

Oh, and my PS: No worries, it's truly nothing!

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I can vouch for Chel's advice, here! My brother, the computer guru, who is in my cell phone under "Help Desk" (not really), finally got us on the right track with a Linux thing called OpenSUSE that makes a full backup of your harddrive that you can access when it all goes kaflooey. It does that a lot in our house. My own computer is still not backed up because I currently don't have a CD drive, but my husband's computer is all set for doomsday now. It's really quite easy to use, although it's good to have someone familiar with the process walk you through the first time. I'm pretty sure it's the same thing as Ubuntu, because when I talk to my brother about it, he calls it that too.

The great seal of approval is that he works for Toshiba and they actually use OpenSUSE to back up their medical imaging machines in hospitals around the world, whenever they are servicing them.

One thing you want to remember when you create your backup file is not to use any spaces in the name--Linux doesn't like spaces in file names.