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Old October 8th, 2004, 06:52 PM
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Strider Strider is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2003
O/S: Windows 7 64-bit
Location: Northern Idaho USA
Posts: 1,650
You can reinstall your apps, so all you have to back up are word processor documents, spreadsheets, photos, etc. that you have created with the apps. Carefully think through everything you do with your computer to identify those files that are yours specifically. Included are Quicken data files, savegame files, your e-mail inbox, etc. If you have a second physical drive you can copy all this stuff over to it, or you can burn it to CD.
Another choice--and this would ultimately be the easiest if your hard drive is in fact dying--software exists that makes a perfect copy from one hard drive to another, or to a set of CDs, for that matter. New drives come with the software (on CD) so you can copy your old hard drive to the new one. Norton Ghost and Drive Image are two commercial products that do the same thing.
Finally, you may be able to find the drive manufacturer listed in Device Manager. If not, there are freely available programs that will identify the drive as well as check the drive's built-in diagnostic routines. I use one called Hard Disk Drive Health.
One more thing--if the drive is still under warranty, the manufacturer's software will provide the documentation the manufacturer requires to replace the drive.
Good luck.
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