Genealogy Chat

Tikal i know someone whose power supply recently failed on a pc about the same age as yours and the data on their hard drive was recoverable. it shouldn't be an expensive job. There are various programs out there to backup your pc. All settings and favourites are built in that should be able to be copied across without having to setup again. i'm not a techie but have personal experience of losing settings. i must backup....! Marion

Thanks for the tip - I headed straight for my 'stick' and now the whole research is safe. That is until I lose the stick!!

to backup on my memory stick I just click the send, hold on a mo and I'll back up something, and tell you what I do exactly.

OK 1. Insert memory stick 2. on dialog box that opens click 'open folder to view files' 3. Right click the folder that you want to save 4. Go to send 5. Then to Udisc [f:] and click Once it is saved on memory stick 6. Double click the memory stick [Udisc] icon at the bottom of your pc. 7. Click stop on dialog box 8. Click ok 9. Safe to remove message comes up by icon at the bottom of your screen. 10. Take memory stick out - it won't be flashing anymore. This is how I do it. Josie

nudging till I buy a memory stick

E-mails, for some reason only known to Bill Gates, are not stored within My Documents but are buried in the systems folders. If you want the link to the programme (it's a microsoft one but the link runs to about 60 characters) to back up emails to My Documents PM me with an address and I'll forward it. I got it from our computer consultant at work.

My Pictures is usually a sub directory within My Documents so if you back up the My Documents folder your pictures will be included. You can double check where the directories are through Windows Explorer.

My computer ''died'' recently - it kept switching itself on and off again, and nothing else happened. A computer man came out, took away the tower and put in a new hard disc or drive, whatever it is called. I hadn't backed up for several weeks - silly me. However, somehow ''my documents'' that was there did have a letter in it that I had typed only a few days before. So, to be on the safe side, I backed up that ''my documents' using a ''Nero'' program (though I am not totally confident that I know what I am doing with that!). Unfortunately, I found that I had not updated the gedcom on the family tree program for quite a while, and I don't know who I'd put on since …. mmm, don't know why I am still smiling … :-) I have no idea what is a stick that has been mentioned, probably technology way beyond my capability. Apart from all of that … is there any way of saving emails and favourites, please? They had all disappeared. Thanks. (I had hundreds in various folders.) … :-) Joy

Margaret, I'm not that up on memory sticks as I only got mine a few weeks ago, but you use it in the same way as you would a floppy disc or a CDrom [I haven't used our cd writer yet], only it stores a lot more depending on the size you buy. When you copy something over using the send to, if you have already a file of that name it asks if you want to overwrite it, just like a floppy would. Word of advise on using memory sticks, the person who installed our new pc told us never to just remove the memory stick without double clicking the icon first [see procedure above] and waiting for the safe to remove to come up on the bottom, and also to wait till the light stops flashing. Hope this helps. Reminder, Argos has the 128mb stick at £9.99 and the 256mb for £11.99, can't remember the prices for the higher ones.

Comet seem to be the cheapest I can find at the moment for memory sticks, IIRC £14.99 for 512 Mb and £22.99 for 1 Gig.

Oh, Brian - just seen your post about the emails - does the program back up them and favourites onto a CD ? Joy

hi all seeing as i have never backed up any files since buying my computer 5 years ago, i am getting slightly worried as my computer is starting to slow down even though i have alot of memory left.&.defragged, disc clean up etc..reading this thread, i realise now that my power might be on its way out and so I think its time to act. My question is, is my computer slowing down due to the PSU? And if i get a new one will it be like new again? eg faster. regards Sylvia if i am slow to appreciate answers its because i am work....naughty;-)

Phewwwww, All this technical talk has given me a headache. I am still on pointy stick and a piece of wax!!!!!! No, being serious, I keep NOTHING on my computer,a dynasaur I may be, but I just use the computer like I would use a car, to get from A to B.

Maid Marian: You can tell it where to back the e-mail files up to. Simplest is to back them up to My Documents then backup My Documents, which will then contain all your data, to whatever medium (CD, memory stick, second computer, or whtever) that you choose.

So may I send you a PM, please, Brian, so you can tell me more about it?... like, how do I save the emails to my documents? Thanks. Joy

I'll try posting it here first so it's generally available: All of the bits in Outlook (emails, calendar, contacts etc.) are stored in a single PST file, usually called outlook.pst. To be able to see it you will need to make sure that hidden files and folders are visible. To do this, go to My Computer, and the tools menu; select Folder Options, and on the View tab, there will be an option to show hidden files and folders. Once this is on, you need to browse through several folders. The PST file is normally located in C:\Documents and Settings\<Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\ where <Username> is the name of the person who is logged on to Windows. There may be several files, but normally only one or two PST files, Outlook and possibly Archive. You can only copy PST files when Outlook is closed. If you would like a way to automate this, there is an add on available from Microsoft. It works on any version of Outlook, from 2000 onwards. http://www.microsoft(.)com/downloads/details(.)aspx?FamilyID=8b081f3a-b7d0-4b16-b8af-5a6322f4fd01&DisplayLang=en REMOVE THE TWO SETS OF BRACKETS This will give you a Backup option on the File menu in Outlook, and you can set it to remind you to back up the PST, and when you close Outlook it will do so. By default it makes a copy of the PST in the same folder as the original, which is not very useful. It is probably better to copy it to somewhere else on the hard drive, or better still somewhere off the hard drive completely. Outlook Express is even more convoluted I am afraid. The files for all the emails are held in C:\Documents and Settings\<Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{E90E1E32-9595-4BA8-9707-BDC5BAEBF5F9}\Microsoft\Outlook Express\, where again <Username> is the name of whoever is logged on, and {E90E1E32-9595-4BA8-9707-BDC5BAEBF5F9} is any hexadecimal string. The files are .dbx, and you should have one for each folder in Outlook Express. This will not include the address book, which it is best to export manually, from the folder. It is important that no PST or DBX file should become bigger than 2GB – if you get close to that size, make a new one, because it will cause a lot of problems.

Thanks, Brian. I have Outlook Express. I'll read this and try to understand it when am at home later. Joy

Sylvia - the speed of your PC will have nothing to do with the health of the PSU - basically it is either working or it isn't! Maid Marion - I can send you a step by step guide to backing up Outlook Express including addresses if you need it (or post it here if people would find it useful).

Ok... this started out to be a good idea and then I realised it wasnt good it was basically a Must Do... Then just when I felt brave enough to start it all got confusing and scary and everyone is talking in another language... lol Ok I am going to print this out and read it and let it sink in then take it from there... Phew!! My pregnancy brain is still with me and I cant take anything in x

Shaz if you have any questions or need a step by step idiot's guide (and NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I am NOT calling you an idiot lol) give me a shout or PM me