[douglasburn]

Hi I am running Win. 7. 64 bit on an Acer Z5600 I recently started to get problems when booting up I ended up with amessage appearing, I would need to close down now to place it here so I will leave that for just now. Suffice to say Windows does not load, sometimes if I time it correctly and hit the enter button Windows will load. I ahve been advised to perform a system recovery. (disc2disc recovery) this will delete everything on the pc and restore to factory settings. I do not wish to lose my files, if I back up these files to an exteranl hard drive will this work ? How do I do it. I apologise for the simplicity of the question but I do struggle with the tech stuff.
Any assitance very welcome.

[nickeriss]

Most user files in Windows 7 are stored in the user's main folder. If you open Computer, Open C:, and Open Users, you should see the name you use to log into Windows with. If you copy this folder to your external hard drive you'll likely back up nearly all your user data.

As far as programs go, just to be clear, any software such as iTunes or anything else that was not installed from the factory will not be there after the recovery.

[douglasburn]

Thanks nickeriss,

I have done as you suggested but being a rather old dim Scotsman I am still stuck,I cannot see a name when I open users I see three folders (1) says administrator, >open says NTUSER.DAT (2) says Home.> open I see my docs. Music etc I think that`s what you are referring to ?? (3) says public.

Is it (2) I save to external. Sorry to be so dim thanks for your help to date.

regards,

douglasburn

[nickeriss]

Whichever user you open and see the documents you use regularly
Is the folder you want. So if you open (2) and see your music/pics/what-have-you then that's the folder you want to copy.

[douglasburn]

Thanks once again nickeriss, much obliged

Regards,
Douglasburn

[nickeriss]

No problem. Be sure to post results of the hopefully successful recovery. And if all goes well mark this solved.

[douglasburn]

Hi nickeriss,

Sorry for taking so long to get back, I have tried using disc2disc recovery as directed by Acer, I have tried inserting recovery discs no luck. At my wits end. have backed everything up.

regards.

[douglasburn]

Hi nickeress,

Apologies for the long delay in getting back, I eventually managed to restore to factory settings however, the same problem remained ?? I was forced to send the desktop back for repair. The report which came back stated they had replaced the memory, updated bios, and completed a recovery. Just for your information. Again can I offer my most sincere thanks, Jim in cold wet Scotland.