[auntiebea]

Hi.. I am not computer savvy at all . I need some help . My dell inspriron laptop couldnt connect to windows. I called Dell ( my warranty expired last month) After buying a exteneded "advice "package, i was then told that my hard drive is no good and i would have to buy a new one. I asked if i would lose all my data and they said possibly and to tell who ever I have install hard drive to be sure to "save" the data.
I went to local ofc supply store, A young man explained to me to try to back up hard drive with an i-portable by iocell. It took me a while, but i figured it out how to take out my hardrive , and put in in the i-portable, (there were no instructions) but when i tried to connect it to my desktop, it wouldnt download the software / drivers (failed), I tried several times, it did not acknowledge the device. the i-portable is working, the green light was on, And i am confused about what to do when if and when it does recognise the device, will it automatically dowload to my deskop?

I dont know what to do. when i bought the laptop, the os was already installed, there was no backup disk. I think I had to backup myself, and I have 3 disks. I do remember trying to back up, but i was so unsure how to do that , i am not sure I did it right. I really hope I didnt lose the data on the current hard drive, that is why i am hesitant to put those disks in.

Any advice that you would give (and think i could understand (lol) would be appreciated.

Barb

[silenthelp]

Hi, I am sorry to hear of the problems you have.
Firstly, IF the Harddrive has totally failed, meaning you cant hear it startup then attaching it to a external case to plug into your pc wont help.
Did you take the laptop to ofc supply store so he could check whether the harddrive was still spinning when the laptop was started.
Did the laptop actually go to Dell, or was it just over the phone?
The external case that you have placed the laptop harddrive in, I presume plugs into the usb port on the PC. You may be getting a green light to indicate you have power, but the power may not be sufficent to spin the harddrive.
A usb port only provides about 500ma of power, not much.
have you tried another usb port on the PC. also dont have other devices plugged into usb ports, whilst trying to start the harddrive.
IF the drive does startup windows should detect the harddrive as another mass storage device.
You will then need to search the drive and download what you need to your PC.

[auntiebea]

I was up til four am trying to figure out how to install the drivers and software for the i-portable. Then, i found in a black felt pacage a small cd that was the install cd (i thought it was just a bag to protect i-portable) so i got that stuff installed on my desktop pc. Although there was a user guide, I still dont know what to do.

Thank you for replying

the old hard drive from my laptop does spin on the i-portable. I dont know what i'm doing wrong. there are two usb plugs coming from the i-portable. Am i supposed to use the long one? thats what i was using to hook up to my desktop. Then i dont understand what the short one is for. i will try disconnecting things from my desktop and see if that works.

[silenthelp]

Normally if the external case has one cord with two usb plugs you may need to plug both of them in to the pc to provide sufficent power.

[auntiebea]

i did as you advised. You were absolutely right.! I disconnected some stuff, used a different usb port so now it shows up on my computer (K: recovery) 14.6 gb and it does show OS-283 gb. is that a good sign? Now to save this do i just right click it , copy, save ? Do you think I should just save it to disks? or just save it on my pc till i either buy a new hard drive for my lap top or try reinstalling the laptops os back up that i "think" i copied right when i originally got the lap top?

[auntiebea]

argh! I had to go out and when I cam e back and re plugged in the i-portable, i am right back to where i started. the desktop doesnt acknowledge the iportable. I've disconnected another plug in device (the speakers) , This is driving me crazy!

[auntiebea]

i surrender. I cannot get the info off the old laptop hard drive, ...I bought a new hard drive, put it into the lap top, now what do I do? i tried to find out on line but i dont understand when they talk about bios (?) and etc. I have discs I think i copied when i got the computer, but i wasnt sure what i was doing then either.

Would anyone be willing to guide me thru this?

Barb

[auntiebea]

bump

[silenthelp]

Hi again.
Now lets see where we are upto.
To get sufficent power for the iportable i would make sure you have both usb ends pluged into the pc at the same time.
ONce the iportable spins up you need to find what you want to backup such as my documents, my music, etc. You can then drag each item to your desktop on the pc if you like.
Now lets look at the new harddrive in the laptop.
The problem now is we need to get windows on to the laptop.
Can you give me the model of the Dell so i can research how dell stores and allows backup of system.
Then ill get back to you

[auntiebea]

Oops didn't post it before. It's an Inspiron. 1545. I finally took the old hard drive to a best buy. They checked and said that the disc was not readable and to retrieve info id have to have it sent out and that would costs hundreds. I don'tt understand where the info went. Yesterday it was on there when I. Plugged the storage device with old hard drive in it to my desktop oc. I seen a deprecate is system (not c but is"k). I right clicked hit copy. Showed it was copying like 15 thousand things. Stopped copying and now I can't find it anywhere. I am so upset about this. I lost a lot of pics and I know it was my own fault for not backing it up.

[auntiebea]

Hi Thank you again for helping me. I I ended up buying the new hard drive and inserting it only to find that the "copies" i made when i first reced the computer were no good. I called Dell , and they are sending me the installation disc. (for a charge of course) But I really appreciate your taking the time to give me advice and in a way I could understand. I am still going to try and find my info on my desktop from the old hard drive. It copied once, so I am hoping its in here somewhere. I was told by one of the guys helping me (at best buy this time) that maybe--maybe- it might be on the "clipboard" but I cant find the "clipboard" in vista. also to type jpg in seach (no luck there )so, i am going to continue on with the search.. But, thank you again......

[silenthelp]

HI
ITS a shame your not in australia, or id suggest you send it to me and their are a few methods i can try to start up the drive.
regards

[auntiebea]

Thank you. I took it to a guy who owns a small computer shop. The previous two places I went were chain stores. Anyway. He said he's gonna try to get the info and it'll take a few days. He didn't seem to think they were lost and that the storage device wasn't working right. I am keeping my fingers crossed.