Can i reinstall Vista without losing files?

GunJack

is the caddy the 2+1 type, i.e. 2x USB to plug into the host pc?? If it is, make sure both are plugged into the host pc, or it won't have enough current to drive the external drive (in the caddy)...

longwalks1

Figment

I've bought a 500Gb Seagate one from amazon @ £59.99, do i simply plug it in, screw it in place and away we go? Then insert my installation disks I got with my laptop originally?

GunJack
Interesting... I didnt try that so I will do, although the caddy LED did light up, and you could hear a really feint 'clicking' or 'ticking' coming from it, not the usual whirring sound

Figment

In theory, yes, although you may need to go into the BIOS and change the boot order so the CD/DVD drive is the first boot device.

You'll probably also need the Drivers disk originally supplied by DELL some devices (namely sound card and network adapter(s)) may not be supported by the native drivers installed with Windows.

Once the system is up and running, install some Anti-Virus software, then use Windows Update to get the OS up to date.

After that you will need to reinstall whatever programs you had installed on the laptop prior to it crashing.

Figment

Before doing the above, check the caddy again as suggested by GunJack (i.e. if the USB lead supplied with the caddy has two USB plugs on one end, plug both into the computer) and see if you get the same result as before.

longwalks1

Plugged in both USB plugs into the gf's laptop and for the first time it came up in bottom r/h corner 'installing device driver'. Then the drive came up as F: drive, titled 'RECOVERY'. I went to properties and it only shows 9.99Gb, half used, half as free space. But after looking in the folders on it, none of my docs..?

Its better thasn it was, any ideas?

Thanks again

closed

It sounds like it can't see all the partitions

Worth a try for the price a blank cd

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/rk-express/download_old.html

macman

Your drive is dead. either resign yourself to that or go down the route of forensic data recovery by a professional company-this will cost upwards of £300 though, possibly much more. And you may not get your data back anyway.
In future save yourself all the hassle by backing up your data regularly. All drives fail eventually, it's not if but when.

longwalks1

Thanks guys (I think) Learnt a valuable lesson and am kicking myself still... am gutted in fact

Is backing up on a simple external hard drive OK?

macman

Yes, though of course that still leaves you vulnerable to data loss in the event of fire/flood/pestilence. For more security keep another copy off-site or in the cloud.

longwalks1

Also, when i plug in my new internal SATA drive for first time and switch it on, what process do i need to follow? Do i need to already have my install disc in the drive? the change the order of boot to 'cd drive' so it loads from scratch?

and do i need to/should I partition the new 500Gb drive?