Dell 780 Problem:

In message , Paul
writes:
J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message ,
Mark Twain writes:
OK,. I guess I'll have to order some CD's.

Robert
Or salvage a floppy (-:

He might have a USB card read in the floppy slot.
So no floppy.

True.

USB keys are more expensive than a CD or a floppy,
but you get to reuse them. You have to figure out
how to get them to boot of course.

Floppies are reusable too!
[]
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Electricians do it 'till it Hz.

In message , "J. P. Gilliver
(John)" writes
In message , Paul
writes:
J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message ,
Mark Twain writes:
OK,. I guess I'll have to order some CD's.

Robert
Or salvage a floppy (-:

He might have a USB card read in the floppy slot.
So no floppy.

True.

USB keys are more expensive than a CD or a floppy,
but you get to reuse them. You have to figure out
how to get them to boot of course.

Floppies are reusable too!

So are re-write CDs and DVDs!

--
Ian

I do have a flash key but as you say then
I have to figure a way to get it to boot.
I'll just order some verbatim CD's tomorrow:

https://www.amazon.com/Verbatim-Rewr...18484&sr =1-1

However, another issue has come up, I cannot
find my computer bookmark folder? I checked
the trash bin and it's not there and I checked
every folder and I can't find it. I have no idea
what happened to it? How could a folder just disappear?

Could I just pop in my backup HD and copy/paste from
it without doing an actual recovery since we made it
bootable and should have most of the files/links I need.

In passing, I don't like this new FF version at all
there's a notable lag and definitely do not like the black
tabs and they've switched the controls around a bit.


Thanks,
Robert

I tried looking for the computer folder on the
WD backup HD, but apparently the bootable version
doesn't have what I'm searching for. Especially your
instructions for doing backups and recovery with pics.
I don't want to loose those as they are very helpful
but I also don't want to have to restore my entire 8500
just to get the computer links/folder.

I checked again in all folders and I cannot find the
computer folder and have no idea what happened to it.

Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
I tried looking for the computer folder on the
WD backup HD, but apparently the bootable version
doesn't have what I'm searching for. Especially your
instructions for doing backups and recovery with pics.
I don't want to loose those as they are very helpful
but I also don't want to have to restore my entire 8500
just to get the computer links/folder.

I checked again in all folders and I cannot find the
computer folder and have no idea what happened to it.

Robert

If you're using Macrium, you can access an MRIMG backup
you've made, as if the contents are their own hard drive.

In other words, you don't have to restore it. You can browse
inside the MRIMG instead.

In this short article, their example MRIMG only has one
partition in it. Your backup could have more than one.

https://knowledgebase.macrium.com/di... dows+Explorer

In their example, the partition they're playing with
was called "Recovery". They put that tick mark by it, because
they wanted it to mount like a hard drive. They assigned
a unique drive letter "E" for the drive. You can use
a higher drive letter if you want. I picked "W" for my
description below. "W" will become the drive letter
for your (backup) version of "C".

https://knowledgebase.macrium.com/do...ts=drop-shadow

In your case, you'd want to select the C: drive that
was inside the backup image. You could only refer to
it by name, if you assigned the C: drive a nice name
before the backup was made. Not all my partitions have
names, and if that happens, you can glance over at the
"size" field, to figure out which partition is which.

In your case, you only need to select one of N partitions
for mounting. You don't have to mount the garbage partitions
like System Reserved for this mission.

Once you're happy with the dialog settings, you click OK.
There's no need to tick the "Access restricted folders"
one, since you don't need to get inside System Volume Information
or other "Access Denied" folders, Your bookmarks folder may
be on your (backup) C:, which will be assigned a letter
like "W" when you mount it. It will be any drive letter
except C: when it mounts. The drive letter selector is
change-able, and you don't have to accept the default
assignment. The purpose of picking a letter you like,
is so you won't confuse the two partitions.

After you click OK, there will be two very similar partitions.
The new one, the W: , should pop up.

C: Your regular OS drive
W: Copy of C: from backup --- new partition pops up

Now, you can use File Explorer to examine W: , look for
your bookmarks folder, and so on.

When you're finished with accessing W: and copying off the
Bookmarks folder, you can follow that same article for the
"dis-mount" procedure, which will cause W: to disappear.

"Unmounting a temporary mounted drive"

https://knowledgebase.macrium.com/do...ts=drop-shadow

This procedure works, as long as your backup drive is
physically connected and the drive is powered up so you
can gain access to your collection of MRIMG files. Once
you're done with the external drive, you can select the
"Safely Remove" icon in the lower right, and then the
external will be ready for power-off and disconnect again.

You don't have to boot the backup drive and restore something,
every time you need a single file. Just "mount" the previous
backup using a nice drive letter like "W", get your goods,
copy them off, then dismount "W" and... done.

HTH,
Paul

This is all very confusing...

I'm not understanding dialog settings

what is a N partition?

You said to use Macrium but your also
talking about using Explorer,....

I'm not understanding this.

Robert

In message , Mark
Twain writes:
This is all very confusing...

I'm not understanding dialog settings

what is a N partition?

You said to use Macrium but your also
talking about using Explorer,....

He meant, when you have "mounted" a Macrium image of a partition, it
actually appears in Explorer as if it was a drive/partition, rather like
a USB stick does, and disappears from Explorer (again, like a USB stick
does) when you "dismount" it [or unplug the drive with the image on it].
(I think; I've never done the "mount/dismount" thing.)

I'm not understanding this.

Robert
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

You've made a happy man very old. - Stephen Fry, on QI, 2014-10-18


Mark Twain wrote:
This is all very confusing...

I'm not understanding dialog settings

what is a N partition?

You said to use Macrium but your also
talking about using Explorer,....

I'm not understanding this.

Robert

Physical Disk

+-----+-----------------+---------------------+-- -- -- -- --
| MBR | System Reserved | C: partition for OS | Data partitions...
+-----+-----------------+---------------------+-- -- -- -- --

You made a Macrium Backup several days ago - this is the MRIMG file
which contains an image of the selected partitions. "some.mrimg"

+------------------------------+
| MBR | SR | C Partition | Data|
+------------------------------+
| X |--- tick this partition only, not the others

Use the mounter W: --- select a drive letter to mount the backup

Now, in File Explorer, a new partition appears, called W:
and it shows the contents of the backup you made. You can
navigate inside the W: virtual disk, find the Bookmarks
folder and retrieve it, and copy it to the "real C"
partition.

So what's happening is, the MRIMG file is being made to
appear in File Explorer, as if there was a real physical
disk drive. It's called "browsing a backup image", and
several backup programs have this same capability,
although the GUI interface will look quite different.

By browsing the backup file, you can "pick" individual files
out of the MRIMG, without needing to restore the entire backup.
It's very convenient. You can get your Bookmarks folder back,
without a lot of sweat.

Paul

I tried it and now I can't get the WD backup
to eject safely.

http://i63.tinypic.com/207qql0.jpg

http://i66.tinypic.com/10pr1ar.jpg

http://i65.tinypic.com/4vs0h2.jpg

http://i65.tinypic.com/f2isqt.jpg

http://i68.tinypic.com/ru6x5f.jpg

Robert

It only showed me My Documents files,..
I need the computer bookmarked folder.

Thanks,
Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
It only showed me My Documents files,..
I need the computer bookmarked folder.

Thanks,
Robert

And what volume do you keep that on ?

Is it somewhere on the C: drive ?

Where would it normally be located ?

Paul

And what volume do you keep that on ?

Is it somewhere on the C: drive ?

Where would it normally be located ?

Paul

Well it's on the FF sidebar when online. So
I don't know how to look that up? I also still
don't have a clue why it disappeared? I've checked
every folder just in case I accidentally moved it
with my mouse but I can't find it. Is there a way
to search for it? What was that program you gave me
to search for things? (See why I need the folder?)

I also still need your assistance to detach the WD HD
from the 8500.

Thanks,
Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
And what volume do you keep that on ?

Is it somewhere on the C: drive ?

Where would it normally be located ?

Paul

Well it's on the FF sidebar when online. So
I don't know how to look that up? I also still
don't have a clue why it disappeared? I've checked
every folder just in case I accidentally moved it
with my mouse but I can't find it. Is there a way
to search for it? What was that program you gave me
to search for things? (See why I need the folder?)

I also still need your assistance to detach the WD HD
from the 8500.

Thanks,
Robert

I have a suspicion you're referring to a folder
within the Bookmarks Manager.

In the first picture, is the Bookmarks Sidebar. To get this
in the old Firefox, you selected Customize and added the Sidebar
icon to the tool bar. Then clicked that to select Bookmarks Sidebar.
And that would appear on the left. There are two Bookmark Sidebars
in the picture. The left-hand one is Firefox 53. The right hand one
is Firefox 59 (Nightly compile). You can see the color scheme
changed around Firefox 57, and the image is that "flat" looking.

https://s7.postimg.org/f05kbgg0r/firefox53_vs_59.gif

In both pictures, you can see "BobsFolder" which is a
test folder I created for sorting my bookmarks. This could
be what you've done, sorted your bookmarks into categories.
Now, yours have disappeared, and the bookmark sidebar, or
the Bookmarks Manager (control-shift-B).

So the reason I'm showing both Sidebars, is to show you that
Firefox 59 (after Quantum) supports the bookmarks just the
same way as Firefox 53. The appearance is the same. I didn't
lose any bookmarks.

In addition, in Firefox 59, I did a "restore" of the bookmarks.
When I started Firefox 59, it started in a private profile, not
the same profile as Firefox 53. To "populate" the Sidebar and
bring in my bookmarks, I did a restore.

To do this, first I had to locate the location on the C: drive
where the Bookmark Backups are stored. That's in the bottom middle
of the following picture. And in this picture, I use the
Bookmark Manager to do a restore.

https://s7.postimg.org/7iwcwqix7/restore_bookmarks.gif

So when I restored bookmarks from Firefox 53, they worked.

*******

If your Sidebar appears damaged, you could use the Restore
feature, to move backward in time and use a previous bookmarks.
That's why the backups are there.

In addition, you can even create a backup of the current bookmarks.
Although in your case, they're probably pretty empty.

In any case, that second picture should show you both Backup (jsonlz4)
and Restore (from jsonlz4) files. And the menu shows the same dates
as the file folder I show in the bottom of the picture.

*******

To disconnect the WDC external drive.

1) Go to Disk Management.
2) Use the left-most square on the line for the WDC drive.
Select "Offline" to put the drive offline.
3) Now, the Safely Remove for USB devices in the lower
right hand corner of the screen should work.
A confirmation dialog should appear indicating this time it worked.

This workaround has the side effect, that the next time the
WDC is connected, you'll have to:

1) Go to Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc)
2) Use the left-most square on the line for the WDC drive
you plugged in. Select "Online".
3) Only now can you use the partitions on the WDC and
make your backups.

The workaround solves the "busy NTFS TXF problem", for which
I don't have a real cure. I have caught Macrium using that
function, but I don't know why they bother with it. I had
a performance issue, did a little forensic work, and I could
see some TXF activity multiple times a second, slowing
down the data block writes to disk.

It's possible killing the Macrium service might fix it,
but I didn't try that :-) Too messy.

*******

I haven't looked at your pictures yet, and wanted to
write this first and forward it so you can get some
bookmarks without any more "Macrium fun" :-) With some
luck, there are probably enough bookmark backups, for
you to fix this using only what is on the C: drive already.

The only thing that's hard to navigate here, is finding
the Appdata folder which is hidden. You won't need to
try this, to use the Restore menu. This is only in case
you want to see this folder, for example, to check whether
all of these backups were destroyed. I don't know yet whether
there are actually any backups for you to use. So this
string is the general format for where Firefox stored
the Bookmark backups.

C:\Users\User Name\Appdata\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\abcd 1234.default\bookmarkbackups

You can try the following in Command Prompt as yourself.

cd /d C:\Users\User Name\Appdata\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

explorer .

and the File Explorer window that appears, might be
able to burrow below the Appdata folder. Substitute
your own account name, for my bogus "User Name" field.

I haven't tested that, and that might be easier
than fooling around with the folder view in File
Explorer so all the hidden stuff is unhidden.

Paul

In message , Mark
Twain writes:


And what volume do you keep that on ?

Is it somewhere on the C: drive ?

Where would it normally be located ?

Paul

Well it's on the FF sidebar when online. So
I don't know how to look that up? I also still

I think the Firefox bookmarks are somewhere in the Firefox profile - I'm
not sure they're that obvious these days. For better information, ask in
the Firefox newsgroup (you need to sign up to the Mozilla news server to
get it, but it's free).

don't have a clue why it disappeared? I've checked
every folder just in case I accidentally moved it
with my mouse but I can't find it. Is there a way

Two possibilities I've thought of: firstly, if you have Firefox synched
across two or more machines, and have deleted them on one, then (if I
understand correctly what sync is supposed to do) they'll soon be
deleted from the other(s). My other thought was that if it's the sidebar
that has disappeared, then maybe you've just accidentally turned off the
display of it - varies with version, but try under View first. (I
recently wondered where my status bar had gone - I have the status4ever
add-on, and I even tried disabling and re-enabling that, which didn't
cure it - but I'd just somehow unticked it in the View menu.) If you've
still got the sidebar displaying, but it's just missing one folder
(called computer?), it won't be that.

to search for it? What was that program you gave me
to search for things? (See why I need the folder?)

The one that finds files, if you know part of the filename, usually
before you've finished typing it! if your partitions are NTFS (which is
the default for XP), is "Everything", from http://www.voidtools.com/; if
you're looking for something actually inside a file, Agent Ransack seems
to be the one most people like.
[]
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

She's showing her age a little bit. I always say she doesn't have teething
troubles, she has denture troubles! - Timothy West (on their narrowboat!), RT
2014-March

Yes, your correct it's under bookmarks
manager however I didn't sort anything
and the rest of my bookmarks are intact.
I haven't done anything other than updates.

If I do a bookmark restore it would wipe
out all recent bookmarks because it wouldn't
let me just select a single folder would it?

I followed your instructions and was able to
safely remove the WD HD./ I realize I have to
go back and switch to online when I want to
use the WD.

Robert