What do i need to back up before restoring computer?

Question

What do i need to back up before restoring computer?

Answer 1

You need to back everything up because your computer will be restored to the same state you bought it in. It will not have any of the programs you installed yourself or any of the programs they installed for you like word, excel, etc.

Transfer any pictures you have as well.

If your have Firefox as your internet browser you can download Foxmarks which lets you look at all your bookmarks on different computers through the internet.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2410



PS: We have almost the same avatar. lol



Good Luck!

Answer 2

You might want to invest is a backup hard drive since any system restore will take your computer to the same state it was in out of the box and any software you have added will be lost. Most good backup drives will allow you to make an image file of your computer's hard drive complete with the programs. This is also good for storing music, pictures and documents in a single central location in case of future issues with your computer (just remember to update it periodically). A good rule of thumb on backup drives is to get one that is either the same size or larger than your computer's hard drive.

Answer 3

1. Make sure when you backed up your music that you backed up any "purchased" music from ITunes (no other way to retrieve it).



2. If the programs came with the computer, then no. If you have added the programs since, you should have the CD's or be able to re-download them (AIM for example).



3. If you have a bunch of "favorites" in Internet Explorer, save those.



4. If you have any games installed, you may want to backup the game data, so that you don't have to "start over".



Before you run the "recovery", can you tell me if you can boot off of the CD/DVD drive? Or is it that it just doesn't detect in Windows?

Answer 4

Hello Angel,



If at all possible, borrow a hard drive from a friend and copy everything over, you'll save yourself some worry. If that's not an option, be sure to copy over your My Documents folder, and any save files you have. You'll also want to make note of your serial keys for various programs such as Photoshop in a notebook for ease of reinstallation later (you do have the install disks, right?).



You'll need to reinstall AIM and iTunes, but it shouldn't be too difficult to restore them to their typically operation - reinstallation and a few quick clicks should get you back. If you use AIM's logging feature, be sure to back up your log files. If you use Outlook or a similar mail program, export your mail folders to a .pst file, and save that. You'll be able to reimport it and return to your usual state.



Besides that, think through the programs you typically use, think about if you've created anything using them, and save all of those items.