Laptop Question

I have an Acer laptop. When it was new, I made a set of DVDs as
follows:

1. Set of 6 Acer System Image
2. Set of 4 Acer Recovery
3. Set of 1 Acer Repair

I put them aside and promptly forgot about them. :-)

Recently, the HD died and I replaced it. I reinstalled Win 7 and a
bunch of programs and data files.

Then I found the aforementioned disks. :-) Are they of any value now?

Thanks.

On Thu, 27 Nov 2014 14:07:43 -0500, Alek Trishan wrote:

I have an Acer laptop. When it was new, I made a set of DVDs as
follows:

1. Set of 6 Acer System Image
2. Set of 4 Acer Recovery
3. Set of 1 Acer Repair

I put them aside and promptly forgot about them. :-)

Recently, the HD died and I replaced it. I reinstalled Win 7 and a
bunch of programs and data files.

Then I found the aforementioned disks. :-) Are they of any value now?

Thanks.

I'd say a definite No for the third one, and if I had a spare disk, I'd
stuff it into the computer and try the other two CDs as an experiment.

Translation: I don't actually *know* the answer.

For safety's sake, if your laptop has two drive slots I'd take your
newly set up drive out for these tests.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

Alek Trishan wrote:
I have an Acer laptop. When it was new, I made a set of DVDs as
follows:

1. Set of 6 Acer System Image
2. Set of 4 Acer Recovery
3. Set of 1 Acer Repair

I put them aside and promptly forgot about them. :-)

Recently, the HD died and I replaced it. I reinstalled Win 7 and a
bunch of programs and data files.

Then I found the aforementioned disks. :-) Are they of any value now?

Thanks.

At the very least, keep the "driver" disc.

If you already have a Win7 SP1 installer DVD on site, then
you may not need much from the disc set.

The Acer will have "cruft", like maybe some NTI utilities.
Or an unending pile of Zynga games or something. Those
didn't seem to attract me all that much (I wasn't even
curious).

If you want to sell the laptop, you may want to return
it to factory configuration. Your choice of course.

If the media is RW, then it could be recycled. It it
was write-once, just throw the discs in the carry bag or
shipping box or something. You can also image the discs,
and store them as ISO9660 on your backup drive(s). That
way, they don't take up any space, if you want to shred
the discs.

Paul

On Thu, 27 Nov 2014 14:57:36 -0500, Gene E. Bloch
wrote:

On Thu, 27 Nov 2014 14:07:43 -0500, Alek Trishan wrote:

I have an Acer laptop. When it was new, I made a set of DVDs as
follows:

1. Set of 6 Acer System Image
2. Set of 4 Acer Recovery
3. Set of 1 Acer Repair

I put them aside and promptly forgot about them. :-)

Recently, the HD died and I replaced it. I reinstalled Win 7 and a
bunch of programs and data files.

Then I found the aforementioned disks. :-) Are they of any value now?

Thanks.

I'd say a definite No for the third one, and if I had a spare disk, I'd
stuff it into the computer and try the other two CDs as an experiment.

To see what happens when they boot, you mean?

For safety's sake, if your laptop has two drive slots I'd take your
newly set up drive out for these tests.

I don't think I've ever seen a laptop with two drive slots.

Thanks.

On Thu, 27 Nov 2014 17:19:30 -0500, Paul wrote:

Alek Trishan wrote:
I have an Acer laptop. When it was new, I made a set of DVDs as
follows:
1. Set of 6 Acer System Image
2. Set of 4 Acer Recovery
3. Set of 1 Acer Repair
I put them aside and promptly forgot about them. :-)
Recently, the HD died and I replaced it. I reinstalled Win 7 and a
bunch of programs and data files.
Then I found the aforementioned disks. :-) Are they of any value now?
Thanks.

At the very least, keep the "driver" disc.

Which oen is the driver disk?

If you already have a Win7 SP1 installer DVD on site, then
you may not need much from the disc set.

I do. That's how I reinstalled Win 7.

If the media is RW, then it could be recycled. It it
was write-once, just throw the discs in the carry bag or
shipping box or something. You can also image the discs,
and store them as ISO9660 on your backup drive(s). That
way, they don't take up any space, if you want to shred
the discs.

Interesting idea. Do you have a favorite program for coverting the DVDs to
ISOs?

Thanks.

On Fri, 28 Nov 2014 12:19:11 -0500, Alek Trishan wrote:

On Thu, 27 Nov 2014 14:57:36 -0500, Gene E. Bloch
wrote:

On Thu, 27 Nov 2014 14:07:43 -0500, Alek Trishan wrote:

I have an Acer laptop. When it was new, I made a set of DVDs as
follows:

1. Set of 6 Acer System Image
2. Set of 4 Acer Recovery
3. Set of 1 Acer Repair

I put them aside and promptly forgot about them. :-)

Recently, the HD died and I replaced it. I reinstalled Win 7 and a
bunch of programs and data files.

Then I found the aforementioned disks. :-) Are they of any value now?

Thanks.

I'd say a definite No for the third one, and if I had a spare disk, I'd
stuff it into the computer and try the other two CDs as an experiment.

To see what happens when they boot, you mean?

More liek to see what happens whben yu try to use thaem.

For safety's sake, if your laptop has two drive slots I'd take your
newly set up drive out for these tests.

I don't think I've ever seen a laptop with two drive slots.

I *think* I have, but in any case, it's pretty rare. It would not be on
a small laptop, more like on a desktop replacement. I'm too lazy (and
stuffed with turkey) to look on Google...

I once had a laptop with a slot on the side which could take a
proprietary optical drive, and if you didn't have one, or if you
traveled without the existing one in place, there was a cover plate for
it. It could use other accessories, but I don't recall if a hard drive
was among them.

Thanks.


--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On Fri, 28 Nov 2014 12:21:56 -0500, Alek Trishan wrote:

At the very least, keep the "driver" disc.

Which oen is the driver disk?

A disk labeled "Driver Disk" came with this motherboard. In your case,
it could be a separate disk that came with the computer. If there is
one.

If not, then the factory restore disk would be where I'd expect the
drivers need for the as-delivered state, but I don't think you could get
at them normally. That's only speculation, of course.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On Fri, 28 Nov 2014 14:05:21 -0800, Gene E. Bloch wrote:

I'd say a definite No for the third one, and if I had a spare disk, I'd
stuff it into the computer and try the other two CDs as an experiment.

To see what happens when they boot, you mean?

More liek to see what happens whben yu try to use thaem.

I can't believe I didn't notice the cute little wiggly red lines that my
spell checker generates :-)

How about this:

More like to see what happens when you try to use them.

The above shows you why it's *very important* for me to spell check...

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

Alek Trishan wrote:
On Thu, 27 Nov 2014 17:19:30 -0500, Paul wrote:

Alek Trishan wrote:
I have an Acer laptop. When it was new, I made a set of DVDs as
follows:
1. Set of 6 Acer System Image
2. Set of 4 Acer Recovery
3. Set of 1 Acer Repair
I put them aside and promptly forgot about them. :-)
Recently, the HD died and I replaced it. I reinstalled Win 7 and a
bunch of programs and data files.
Then I found the aforementioned disks. :-) Are they of any value now?
Thanks.

At the very least, keep the "driver" disc.

Which oen is the driver disk?

If you already have a Win7 SP1 installer DVD on site, then
you may not need much from the disc set.

I do. That's how I reinstalled Win 7.

If the media is RW, then it could be recycled. It it
was write-once, just throw the discs in the carry bag or
shipping box or something. You can also image the discs,
and store them as ISO9660 on your backup drive(s). That
way, they don't take up any space, if you want to shred
the discs.

Interesting idea. Do you have a favorite program for coverting the DVDs
to ISOs?

Thanks.

My Acer made three DVDs which are quite full. And those
restore the Windows 7 partition.

The fourth disc is much smaller, in terms of content, and
you'll see the word "driver" in the folder names. I used
that because it has the Acer graphics driver for the laptop.

The driver disc is offered in that separate form, for
users who use the COA key off the sticker, use a
Microsoft installer DVD, and attempt to install
the OS without using the restore partition. The
drivers should be good enough to get things working.
I think I was primarily interested in graphics, as
that's usually the hardest driver to find. While the
Acer site could have drivers, it's a bit more difficult
if the NIC isn't working yet.

*******

A number of third party utilities, can convert optical
media into ISO9660 format for storage on a hard drive.
I have older copies of Nero I've used. But you can
also use things like Imgburn. I haven't used Nero in a while.

http://www.oldversion.com/windows/do...mgburn-2-5-0-0

2.5.0.0_SetupImgBurn_2.5.0.0.exe 2,169,915 bytes Jul 26, 2009
CRC32: 39CD6FC6
MD5: F3791CFACDAC03B9E676E44AA2630243
SHA-1: E07BCC23B495D0A966BAE359EA9E0E3A11888454

When you install that, there are two settings to adjust.
In the "Updates" section, you turn off Software Updates.
Newer versions pulled in off the network, could install
Adware. In the Audio section, you can turn off Audio
Notification, because Imgburn plays quite loud sounds
at the end of an operation.

The reason version 2.5.0.0 is selected, is it doesn't
have adware. The version after it, include adware
and is a 3MB larger download.

Paul

Il Thu, 27 Nov 2014 17:19:30 -0500, Paul ha scritto:

Or an unending pile of Zynga games

+1 LOL



--
/-\ /\/\ /\/\ /-\ /\/\ /\/\ /-\ T /-\ ... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

On Sat, 29 Nov 2014 07:23:11 -0500, G. Morgan
wrote:

Now would be a great time to image the hard drive in case you hose the
system again. If all your applications & drivers are installed & working
just like you want, take an image now and in the future you can restore
it to this state in less than an hour.

You must be a mind reader! I was just thinking that I would finish
installing the programs I need for this machine and then write an image to
an external HD.

Then I would back my data files daily to a 2nd external HD.

I'm old school, I still use Norton Ghost (DOS/NT version 11.5). It just
plain works, and is easy to use. Even if you don't have a 2nd HDD to
make the disk image you can create a partition on the disk/partition you
want clone (using another product like Paragon Partition Manager or
EaseUS Partition Master) and use the "partition to file" option in Ghost.
I like how it's portable, the .exe can be run on just about any PE boot
disk.

If I make a partition on my active HD and write the image to it, how will
I get to the image if that HD fails?

I have a custom PE boot disk I can boot from a flash drive which makes
restoring a disk image easy to do. You don't need a custom PE boot disk
though, put the .exe on any pre-made disk like Hiren's Boot CD (can be
CD,DVD, or USB stick). (queue the *Hey, that's pirating!* gang)

Sounds interesting.


There are several good freeware options to choose from if you don't want
to use Ghost. The important thing is to save the image now before it gets
too bloated with temp files and crap that builds up over time. I would
make sure to use CCleaner at a minimum to clean the HDD before imaging
it.

https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download
(clean HDD of crap)

http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/
(good boot disk)

http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=norton+ghost+11.5+download
(find download links to Ghost v 11.5)

http://norton-ghost.en.softonic.com/download
(ver. 15 trial)
http://disk-imaging-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
(good alternatives to Ghost)

Thanks so much for that information!

On Sat, 29 Nov 2014 13:06:15 -0500, Alek Trishan wrote:

If I make a partition on my active HD and write the image to it, how will
I get to the image if that HD fails?

When you obtain an imaging program, be sure to use the option to create
a bootable rescue CD or DVD. Maybe even before you make the first image.

If you clone instead, the backup disk is readable without such tools. It
is also bootable if you did it right.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On 11/29/2014 4:23 AM, G. Morgan wrote:
Alek Trishan wrote:

I have an Acer laptop. When it was new, I made a set of DVDs as
follows:

1. Set of 6 Acer System Image
2. Set of 4 Acer Recovery
3. Set of 1 Acer Repair

I put them aside and promptly forgot about them. :-)

Recently, the HD died and I replaced it. I reinstalled Win 7 and a
bunch of programs and data files.

Then I found the aforementioned disks. :-) Are they of any value now?

I would say "no", since you have Windows 7 installation media. If you
need anything that came with the bloated installation from the factory,
just download it from Acer's site.


That's short sighted. I buy all my laptops at garage sales and frequently
need drivers.
Vendor websites may not be well maintained for older systems.
Many times, there's nothing listed for the number printed on the bottom
of your laptop. Yep, drivers are probably there...you just can't find 'em.
SAVE everything. 11 disks doesn't take up much space.
And you might wish you had them next time you find the same model in need
of software.

Now would be a great time to image the hard drive in case you hose the
system again. If all your applications & drivers are installed & working
just like you want, take an image now and in the future you can restore
it to this state in less than an hour.

I'm old school, I still use Norton Ghost (DOS/NT version 11.5). It just
plain works, and is easy to use. Even if you don't have a 2nd HDD to
make the disk image you can create a partition on the disk/partition you
want clone (using another product like Paragon Partition Manager or
EaseUS Partition Master) and use the "partition to file" option in Ghost.
I like how it's portable, the .exe can be run on just about any PE boot
disk.

I have a custom PE boot disk I can boot from a flash drive which makes
restoring a disk image easy to do. You don't need a custom PE boot disk
though, put the .exe on any pre-made disk like Hiren's Boot CD (can be
CD,DVD, or USB stick). (queue the *Hey, that's pirating!* gang)

There are several good freeware options to choose from if you don't want
to use Ghost. The important thing is to save the image now before it gets
too bloated with temp files and crap that builds up over time. I would
make sure to use CCleaner at a minimum to clean the HDD before imaging
it.



https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download
(clean HDD of crap)

http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/
(good boot disk)

http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=norton+ghost+11.5+download
(find download links to Ghost v 11.5)

http://norton-ghost.en.softonic.com/download
(ver. 15 trial)

http://disk-imaging-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
(good alternatives to Ghost)

On Sat, 29 Nov 2014 15:05:33 -0500, Gene E. Bloch
wrote:

On Sat, 29 Nov 2014 13:06:15 -0500, Alek Trishan wrote:

If I make a partition on my active HD and write the image to it, how
will
I get to the image if that HD fails?

When you obtain an imaging program, be sure to use the option to create
a bootable rescue CD or DVD. Maybe even before you make the first image.

If you clone instead, the backup disk is readable without such tools. It
is also bootable if you did it right.

OK, I'm confused again.

I want to do something that writes something to an external HD so that if
the current HD dies, I can either (1) boot from what I wrote to that
external disk or (2) creates a bootable HD (on an new drive) from what I
wrote to that external disk.

Do I want to write an image or a clone?

Are you saying that (instead of writing anything to a partition of the
existing HD) I should write a clone to a new external HD and that it (the
new external HD) will be "readable" without any addition programs? OK,
what would I do with a readable external HD?

What is the "right way" so it will be bootable? Am I correct in surmising
that if that external clone HD is bootable, I can swap it for the HD that
died, restore my data, and ride off into the sunset?

Thanks.

On Sat, 29 Nov 2014 16:39:58 -0500, Alek Trishan wrote:

On Sat, 29 Nov 2014 15:05:33 -0500, Gene E. Bloch
wrote:

On Sat, 29 Nov 2014 13:06:15 -0500, Alek Trishan wrote:

If I make a partition on my active HD and write the image to it, how
will
I get to the image if that HD fails?

When you obtain an imaging program, be sure to use the option to create
a bootable rescue CD or DVD. Maybe even before you make the first image.

If you clone instead, the backup disk is readable without such tools. It
is also bootable if you did it right.

OK, I'm confused again.

I want to do something that writes something to an external HD so that if
the current HD dies, I can either (1) boot from what I wrote to that
external disk or (2) creates a bootable HD (on an new drive) from what I
wrote to that external disk.

Do I want to write an image or a clone?

Are you saying that (instead of writing anything to a partition of the
existing HD) I should write a clone to a new external HD and that it (the
new external HD) will be "readable" without any addition programs? OK,
what would I do with a readable external HD?

What is the "right way" so it will be bootable? Am I correct in surmising
that if that external clone HD is bootable, I can swap it for the HD that
died, restore my data, and ride off into the sunset?

Thanks.

Both ways work fine. It's a matter of your preference. I do both...

If you make a clone, that's a duplicate of the source, and it will boot
just like the source. You can also just copy files from it with Windows
Explorer to replace something that got messed up after the drive was
cloned.

If you make an image, the result is not a bootable disk. Using the
imaging software, you have to convert the image on the fly to write it
to another drive, which crates a bootable drive which at last is a
decent copy of the original.

To read or copy a file or two from the image, again you have to use the
imaging program; it will mount the image as a virtual drive.

Since you need the software to see the drive, if your original hard
drive crashes, you *must* have the imaging software's bootable recovery
CD, or an installation on anther computer where you can attach the drive
that has the image.

The above is simplified. I have omitted or elided plenty of details, and
the post is still too long...

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)