Best backup practices and recovering lost data.
Backup and Recovery
How can I get data off an old hard drive?
Episode 975
Dave from
Dave accidentally stepped on his laptop screen and broke it. He bought a new computer to transfer the data and got stuck with Windows 8. Leo says to return it and call Dell to request a Windows 7 machine. As for migrating the data over, Leo suggests telling the salesman at a big box store that he'll buy the computer if they'll transfer the data for free. Or he can get a universal drive adapter that he can plug that hard drive into and then connect it directly.
Why won't my computer boot up after Windows Update?
Episode 972
Mike's friend has a Compaq Presario that no longer will boot up since installing Windows Updates. He was able to get it to boot up into a Linux boot CD, however. Leo says that the hard drive has likely failed, and that it was just coincidental with the Windows Update.
How can I recover a username and password in Office 365?
Episode 972
Patty has forgotten her username and password for a new Office 365 login and can't remember it. Leo says that Patty's other accounts will still work. What about her Outlook account? Leo says that she could call Microsoft and let them know what her account number is and they'll help her create a new account. They may also be able to tell her what her account is by using her secondary recovery login/password credential.
How can I backup my applications off site?
Episode 968
Bill wants to know about how to backup applications when he does his off site backup. Leo says that he wouldn't backup apps when doing these backups. Only the data itself. Bill can always reinstall the software. He'll want to backup any serial or key numbers, but backups are largely just data, especially when sending it off site via something like Carbonite.
How can I stop Internet Explorer from crashing after hibernation?
Episode 967
Dave is having trouble with Internet Explorer crashing after Windows hibernates. Leo says that he has the same issue in Windows 8 where IE crashes every few pages. He recommends running the recovery or installation disk and choosing "Repair". Windows will scan his Windows installation and repair any damaged files.
In the chatroom, the suggestion is to try a restore point. Restarting from hibernate isn't really a proper restart, either. It's best to just reboot the computer completely when it goes into deep hibernation.
Why won't my computer recognize the bootable USB key I created?
Episode 965
Robert wanted to create a bootable operating system on his USB key, but his computer won't recognize it. Leo says it may not be formatted properly. He should go into the BIOS and make sure USB is an option to boot to in the boot order. The Chatroom suggests holding down ALT+O when booting up and it'll tell the computer to look at the USB, but Leo hasn't done that so he can't vouch for it.
How can I get rid of malware?
Episode 964
David's computer runs Windows 7 Home Premium. Lately, he's getting a lot of failure messages. He ran MalwareBytes and has stopped malware that was running. Leo says that Malware Bytes may have taken out system files that the malware has attached it to. Leo suggests using the recovery discs that David can burn from his computer and then just start over. Back up the data, then restore from those recovery discs. That will format the drive and re-install Windows.
How can I get a system restore disc?
Episode 961
John just bought a refurbished HP laptop on eBay. He wants to create a restore discs because they didn't come with any software. Leo says that usually the laptops come with an option to create restore discs. John says they don't have it. Leo says it's probably not a refurb, but a used laptop that the seller installed an OEM version of Windows Vista on. If he got no serial number or software, then chances are John has an illegal copy on the machine. Leo advises buying a legitimate upgrade copy of Windows and upgrading it to Windows 7. That way, he'd have a legitimate copy.
What external hard drive should I buy? (Part 1)
Episode 961
Ronald from
Ronald needs to back up his data, and is in the market for an external hard drive. First of all, Leo says he should look for a USB 3.0 drive instead of USB 2.0 because it's much faster.
How can I upgrade my RAID?
Episode 960
Robert from
Robert has two 300GB Western Digital raptor drives in a RAID 0 configuration (which Leo calls "scary RAID" because when if one drive dies, everything is lost). He's upgrading to Intel drives, but the software doesn't recognize the RAID. Leo says it should. RAID is something that's configured in BIOS. Leo says if it's not working, then don't use Intel's software, just do a simple copy of the data.
