Garrapata wrote:
On Wed, 9 Jan 2008 18:13:05 -0000, "Mary Fisher"
wrote:

A grandson recovered most data but not e-mails or e-addresses or my
Favourites :-(

The old disk is now at the suppliers and they're doing a forensic recovery
which might regain the essential stuff.

How much is this going to cost? I have 3 old hard drives with some
stuff I would like to see again(some art work I did in another
incarnation) but the last time I checked it was too expensive

How much were they charging? If the old HDs are in good shape (=readable
and writable when removed from the old machine), then they shouldn't
charge more than about $50 including media. That's each. Actually, your
friendly 15-year old neighborhood computer geek might be happy to do it
for less, just for the practice.

But only you can know if you artwork is worth $50. OTOH, if the drives
were fried, then, yes, it will cost more, and results are not guaranteed.

Meanwhile, back up everything to CD/DVD. If you don't already have a DVD
burner, I strongly recommend an external one. I have a Plextor, it's USB
and Firewire connectable. Great machine. Just plug it in and go (on
Win2000/XP/Vista, and Mac.)

I've backed up some things on CDs but don't know how to back up e-mails -
and since most of my mailing isn't social or ngs it's important.

I use a gmail account to back up some of my favorites and .ini files and
some other stuff that is hard to re-create, just email to myself and
archive it.

The group will get busier as we approach northern hemisphere spring


Most e-mail programs allow you to Save a file to any folder on your HD.
Go to C:/, click on File -- New -- Folder, and give it some suitable
name, such as "EmailArch". Then from within your email program, Save or
Save As the file(s) you want to archive, browse to C:/EmailArch, click,
and they're saved. If your email program doesn't have this facility,
dump it. Life's too short to put up with inadequate programs.

BTW, most of your programs will automatically save stuff to My
Documents, My Music, etc, which I personally find a Royal PITA. You end
up with with hundreds of files in a folder, and no easy way to find the
one(s) you want. I set up my own archival folders. I also won't use a
program that will not save outside My Documents. Life's too short, etc.

HTH