Need Some PC Help quick please.

[LowThudd]

I am making a backup disc for my Acer laptop, and the process got stuck in the verifying stage at 26% and has not moved for over an hour. First, can I remove the disc? Or did it not finish the disc if it's not done verrifying?

Second, I got these Philips DVD+R 1-16x discs 2 for $1 at the 99 cent store. I bought 2 Kodak DVD-R discs, but they got frozen on my other machine when trying to back up. Now, I wrote that off as a problem w/ the other computer because it is dieing rapidly. But now a different brand from the same store chain freezes on a brand new comp...do you think it is possible that ALL these discs are bunk?

 

[skri11a]

I think it's possible that a majority are... strange that they're from 2 different brands though.

If it's really locked up (which it sounds like it is) you might as well eject the disc and start over... and yes, the previous disks are now trash.

Before you spend any more time or disks on it though... most acers have a built in recovery partition. I'll go back and check on your model of acer, but usually you can get to it by holding down F11 as you boot up.

Let me see and I'll get back to you.

Ok, it's alt-F10 as soon as the BIOS screen shows...

You'll still want to make the backup dvds but the only time you'd use them instead of the recovery partition would be if the hard drive itself failed.

 

[LowThudd]

I think it's possible that a majority are... strange that they're from 2 different brands though.

If it's really locked up (which it sounds like it is) you might as well eject the disc and start over... and yes, the previous disks are now trash.

Before you spend any more time or disks on it though... most acers have a built in recovery partition. I'll go back and check on your model of acer, but usually you can get to it by holding down F11 as you boot up.

Let me see and I'll get back to you.

Ok, it's alt-F10 as soon as the BIOS screen shows...

You'll still want to make the backup dvds but the only time you'd use them instead of the recovery partition would be if the hard drive itself failed.

Yup, well aware that there is a backup both from Acer and windows, but IMO, a system backup is absolutely mandatory. On my first laptop, I had to go through the entire registry to find the audio/video drivers when I changed hard drives. The comp was a Fry's special off brand(AMS Tech), and NOONE online had the drivers, but there were like hundreds of posts from people who wanted them. You can't even get to the reg on thes win7s I don't think, but at least the drivers are available online. Thanks, I guess I'll round up my receipts and try and return the discs. I am actually on my last few buck after buying this comp, so every buck matters. lol

 

[LowThudd]

Oh, and the comp isn't locked, just the back up disc burning program. Every thing else is aces...err...Aceres? lol

 

[skri11a]

Yup, well aware that there is a backup both from Acer and windows, but IMO, a system backup is absolutely mandatory. On my first laptop, I had to go through the entire registry to find the audio/video drivers when I changed hard drives. The comp was a Fry's special off brand(AMS Tech), and NOONE online had the drivers, but there were like hundreds of posts from people who wanted them. You can't even get to the reg on thes win7s I don't think, but at least the drivers are available online. Thanks, I guess I'll round up my receipts and try and return the discs. I am actually on my last few buck after buying this comp, so every buck matters. lol

Oh, I agree. I'm a "Back-it-up!" Preacher. It's my job lol...

I'm just saying, the restore that's on that partition is exactly what you'll be creating with those DVD's. The DVD's will be there in the event you lose the physical hard disk completely. You're just not in that time crunch right this second. I'd get it done soon, but you'll be able to restore the computer to it's brand new state with the built in recover.

As for the registry, it's there in win7... just type regedit in the search bar. Incidentally, use that search bar for everything that you're not sure where to find now. It is quite handy.

 

[LowThudd]

Oh, I agree. I'm a "Back-it-up!" Preacher. It's my job lol...

I'm just saying, the restore that's on that partition is exactly what you'll be creating with those DVD's. The DVD's will be there in the event you lose the physical hard disk completely. You're just not in that time crunch right this second. I'd get it done soon, but you'll be able to restore the computer to it's brand new state with the built in recover.

As for the registry, it's there in win7... just type regedit in the search bar. Incidentally, use that search bar for everything that you're not sure where to find now. It is quite handy.

Yea, I noticed that the search feature works quite well, compared to Vista and XP. It never helped me much on previous OS. I was told you cannot get into the reg, thanks for clearing that up I hope I never have to go in there. lol Win 95 was bad enough, I can't even imagine how many files are in win7.

Incidentally, what do you think of win7. I am starting to really like it. It takes quite abit of fiddleing to get it to do what you want. But once it is set up, it seems as smooth as a mac or better. Just a bit of a PITA to set up.

 

[skri11a]

Yea, I noticed that the search feature works quite well, compared to Vista and XP. It never helped me much on previous OS. I was told you cannot get into the reg, thanks for clearing that up I hope I never have to go in there. lol Win 95 was bad enough, I can't even imagine how many files are in win7.

Incidentally, what do you think of win7. I am starting to really like it. It takes quite abit of fiddleing to get it to do what you want. But once it is set up, it seems as smooth as a mac or better. Just a bit of a PITA to set up.

I'm running Win7 Ultimate in a VM on my MacBookPro. I'm about to replace this laptop and I've decided to go back to a straight PC (well, no OSX but I'll still have my linux partitions) because I'm happy enough with Win7.

So, if you knew me, that would speak volumes on what I think of Win7. I'm willing to leave Apple lol...

Any computer is a chore to set up. The mac, ubuntu, android on my phone... Once you get it the way you like it, it's how it performs day to day that matters. Windows 7 has a lot of good features, security is greatly improved, some of the dumb chit from Vista has been fixed. It's worthy of an enterprise class OS again.

 

[LowThudd]

I'm running Win7 Ultimate in a VM on my MacBookPro. I'm about to replace this laptop and I've decided to go back to a straight PC (well, no OSX but I'll still have my linux partitions) because I'm happy enough with Win7.

So, if you knew me, that would speak volumes on what I think of Win7. I'm willing to leave Apple lol...

Any computer is a chore to set up. The mac, ubuntu, android on my phone... Once you get it the way you like it, it's how it performs day to day that matters. Windows 7 has a lot of good features, security is greatly improved, some of the dumb chit from Vista has been fixed. It's worthy of an enterprise class OS again.

Yea, after this Dell experience I was for the first time in my life considering a MAC. But I really like Win7. I mean it took me like 12hrs to go through all the settup and stuff to get it to function the way I needed it to. But man, it is a real smooth OS. I am surprized. The old school guys just want to go back to XP, and they are complaining that the win7 machines you can't get XP drivers for, but now after trying it I can't figure out why anyone would go BACK to XP. XP over Vista, no contest...XP wins. Win7 is deffinately a great OS.

 

[LowThudd]

OK...Now I get it. The two disc sets had the discs stacked onto a VERY flat 'spindle'. The top disc of the Philips DVD+Rs failed in each set. The bottom disc was fine. So I packaged the two one from eacg set into one package went back to the 99 cebt only store and asked to speak to the manager. I hoped I would be talking to someone who would understand my telling them of the potential defect in ALL their discs. FAIL, she couldn't understand WHY I was explaining this to her, she just said "so you want to exchange it for something else?" I told her no, that I waould swap this set of discs for a new one and buy another set, but I would have to end up returning a set. She said fine. This is what I have to do untill I get paid on monday. But at least I got the first two backup discs made, burning the third. But this time I went for the DVD-Rs, hoping maybe they would not have the defect. They are packaged completely differently, so I'm guessing they'll work fine. I'm gonna exchange the kodak discs(different store), though I lost the receipt, so I'll have to buy a new pair. Hopefully they will work and I can trade the duds(most likely my Dells fault however) for another set. I'm frugal, but I am also a Q&A tester at heart(Been a Q&A tester off and on for 20 years). I just gotta know if those Kodak discs were both duds, or if my Dellstructo ate them. At most I'll be out a buck. lol IDK, it's not really worth it, but I am flat broke. When I get paid I'm gonna get a couple Dual Layer discs. Never had a dual layer burner before. I just gotta try that out.

 

[LowThudd]

I was right the DVD-Rs work fine.