I've killed our computer

[Georgette]

Our family computer seems to be dead :o When I push the button it goes blue very briefly, there's a whirring noise and then nothing. If it really is dead, have I lost everything that was on there? :o

[KiteRunner]

Oh dear. Fingers crossed it can be fixed, but if not, I have heard that it's possible to remove the hard drive and hook it up to another computer to read the data off it, but don't ask me how it's actually done!

[WendyPusey]

Yes it can be saved if you know someone who can do it for you.

My son Dave saved a lot of baby photos from a friends computer when it died. She was so relieved as she didn't have any backups and she would never have been able to take them again.

[Night Owl]

When our old one died, the local computer repair shop were able to extract most of our files. I can't remember how much it was but it wasn't that expensive and well worth it. Needless to say I back up more regularly now. Good luck with yours.

Jackie

[Genealogy Printers]

There are hundreds of reasons for a computer to die.

One of those reasons is Hard Drive failure, if that's the case then you have lost everything unless you pay someone with very expensive recovery software to get it back, this method is beyond the means of the average user.

If you decide to take it to a repair shop and the Hard Drive is okay then TELL THEM NOT TO FORMAT IT. Everything is recoverable if the Hard Drive is okay. You can always install it as a 2nd drive and make it a slave drive and you will be able to access everything on it.

[Georgette]

Thank you all for the positive replies, I feel a bit less panicky now, I was really worried about our photos :o

[Georgette]

There are hundreds of reasons for a computer to die.

One of those reasons is Hard Drive failure, if that's the case then you have lost everything unless you pay someone with very expensive recovery software to get it back, this method is beyond the means of the average user.

If you decide to take it to a repair shop and the Hard Drive is okay then TELL THEM NOT TO FORMAT IT. Everything is recoverable if the Hard Drive is okay. You can always install it as a 2nd drive and make it a slave drive and you will be able to access everything on it.

Thanks for that, Ron. Let's hope it's not the hard drive.

[kenw55]

I know it will not help the OP but it might spur somebody else into doing a backup.
I remember a quote from another forum years ago.

" There are 2 groups of people in this world Those that have made backups and those that are going to lose data "

Blank CDs are only a few pence and it takes but a few minutes to backup your data.

Most people who use Windows save everything into My Documents so it could not be easier.

If you have not backed up yet do it NOW before disaster strikes.

Ken

[Heather Positive Thinker]

I lost ALL my stuff when the hard drive went. Luckily I had backed up most documents when I started to get warning signs of something not right with the puter. And Id used interent back up for my FTM

[Genealogy Printers]

Wise words indeed Ken.

I think some people rely to much on their computers and they either don't realise how easy is it to make a back up or face lose everything.

I'm paranoid about it and the whole hard drive is backed up every couple of days onto an internal slave drive, if the main hard drive goes all I have to do is bung in a new one and copy it all back over, I'll be out of action for 30 minutes tops if my main drive ever gives up.

[louise a]

my hard drive went but the person who put me a new one in knew how to save some stuff of it so i still have my pics

[kenw55]

Hi Louise

So have you learnt your lesson and now backup ?

Ken