Oh no! Nothing works, not even system restore!

macman

As a temporary measure, you can back up manually to the extent to which your flash drive gives you room. Just copy the files over, same as you would copy any file. Start with your Documents folder.
Consider what will it cost you to recreate or recover the data when your hard drive fails eventually, as it most assuredly will do? Much more than the £50 or so for a proper external drive.

angelaloveschocolate

Oh dear, I'm just not very good at any of this. Flash failed, and dont have a suitable dvd to back up onto!

But on the plus side I have downloaded macrium, thank you to closed for that

Also, I've been persuaded! Yes, I'm gonna buy an external hard drive. Well, I'm gonna get my husband one for Christmas. Macman you made a very convincing argument in your last post, thank you for that.

Thanks everyone, you've all be so helpful. Hope you dont mind if I call back if I come across other problems

macman

Do a temporary backup in the meantime. Anything is better than nothing.