back-up probs

[jimbo153]

Hi my son had a problem with his pc he had a malware infection and was told he needed a clean install which he did and he backed up his pc as per instuctions the prob is that he cannot retrieve the files off the discs it just goes through the installation process every time? any help please he is running vista.  thanks.

[KingPincer]

Well if your son just put the xp installer and just deleted that partition and created a new one then all those files that he needed will be deleted. When backing up files i suggest you use a usb and an external hard drive to save your files and later put them back again. This is only a suggestion for backing up files but this will help you a lot. 

[jimbo153]

The files are on dvd but we don,t know how to open them the disc is telling us the files are their but how can we open them?

[KingPincer]

Go to my computer and see if there is a symbol of a cd if there is just right click on it and click open.

[jimbo153]

yes thanks for that but it went through the process of installing and I still can,t openthe files

[KingPincer]

What is this you are talking about? You mean it just installs itself automatically? Maybe the CD you are talking about is a bootable cd like the windows xp installer.

[JJ 3000]

Jimbo, when you go into My Computer and right click on the DVD drive, what options do you see?

Are you trying to recover data or programs?

[jimbo153]

Hi it does,nt give any options it just tells me I have 4.37 of disc what I am trying to retrieve are photos thanks

[patio]

What program was used to create these DVD backups ? ?
Did he remember to finalise these DVD's ? ?
If not they will appear blank.

DLoad the Trial version of ISOBuster and see if it can see the data...if so use it to extract the data back to a hard drive and then burn them properly to new DVD's...

[jimbo153]

Hi thanks for your help I have downloaded isobuster and tried to open the files It now says that powerpoint cannot open the file as its noy a powerpoint file so what do I need to do now.

[Geek-9pm]

We are missingsomething here?
What backup program did you use?

[jimbo153]

 he used vista,s back up prgramme

[Geek-9pm]

That same program has instructions on how to do the restore.
So you tried that and the discs could not be read?

Some links:
http://www.vista4beginners.com/How-to-backup-your-data
http://www.zdnet.com.au/insight/software/soa/Using-Vista-s-Complete-PC-Backup-utility/0,139023769,339272295,00.htm

One user posted, on another forum, he had to UN install Nero 7 and then the Vista backup would work right.

[jimbo153]

thanks,  but these seem to be for creating back ups I want to open files on a dvd

[Geek-9pm]

Please notice that HOW you backup files makes a difference as to doing a READ of the files. Exactly Which method did you use?

One method that can be used does NOT let you get into separate files one the DVD. The DVDs are part of a backup set that is meaningful only to the backup/restore program.
So, did you try to do a full restore using the backup program to restore the PC to its former system and file set that you preserved with the backup program?

Pardon me for repeating. I have some trouble with communication in technical terms. The tern 'backup' is used much to freely. What you have may be an 'image' rather that a systematic backup.
Some methods that are called 'backup' do not allow a ready means of restore or view of a single file. This was documented in the 'Viata Complete PC Back' link. Did you use some other backup method? One that does allow you to see the files individually as if the DVD were a standard volume of the Operating System.

I do hope this is of some help.

[jimbo153]

I,m sorry Idon,t underststand any of that.when he had to do a clean install vista asked if we wanted to back up the files which we did.

[KingPincer]

Sorry but i thought you were using windows xp sp2. I haven't used a computer with vista on it, well i have but only once. But still all of us will try to help you with your problem.

[jimbo153]

Hi thanks very much I have found out what happened a clean install was done and the re-install was done from discs supplied by the shop the pc was bought from. before this was carried out the pc asked if we wanted to copy the files which we did on two dvds the only files I'm concerned about are the pictures I hope this helps.