I think I burned my external hard drive out?

Gikiboi

I haven't used my hard drive since sept 2010. I pull it out today, early March 2011, and it starts clicking. I unplug it and replug it. It stops clicking and I then smell a something burning. What should I do, I need a project I did on it to finish a class and verify my diploma.

Answer
Clicking indicates a hard drive crash. Pull the drive out of the external enclosure and put it into a docking station or connect it directly up to your desktop. You might be able to see it enough to copy the file you need. You should always keep a backup! Idrive.com offers 5gb of backup for free

re imaging computer, Microsoft office, external hard drive.?

Ry Champ

Currently i have a computer issued from my school(a Dell latitude running vista). The school has given us several programs and most valuable being Microsoft office 2010. At the end of this school year the contract from Dell will expire so they are upgrading to macbook airs and selling the Dells. In the selling process they will be re installing windows without the programs giving out individual profiles admin rights and removing all the good stuff. Any ideas how i could save it so that i could get the programs back after they install a new image on it? my first thought was backing it up to an external hard drive but i am unsure how that would help me out. Thanks.

Answer
Re-installing Windows means they will be putting a factory software image on the computer, thus wiping out any software and data currently on the hard drive. Especially viruses and malware.

You can use an imaging program like Acronis True Image to make an exact image of the software on the computer. There are other programs like it, Norton Ghost is one. There are also free programs but I have never used them. Someday I will ...

You use the imaging program to extract data from the hard drive and then the program stores that data on another drive you specify, like an external drive.

For the Acronis software :

You will need to get the retail box of Acronis True Image so you can use the disc inside to boot your computer and run the program without installing it.

OR

You download the program from the Acronis website. You will have to install it on a different computer (and pay for it) to be able to create your own bootable disc.

Once you have an image of the software on the computer, you can reinstall it at any time. And you can have more than one image; you can make an image of the software the school has re-installed (the factory software), and have that available if you even need it.

Now about Microsoft Office 2010. You might not be able to legally "own" that software, the school might have licensed the use of that software and once they terminate the lease, the license is not transferable. The school is a business and business software licenses are not like consumer software licenses. You might find that when you try to update the software to get critical updates (to protect your computer against hackers) that you won't be able to get critical updates for Office 2010, and Microsoft might even rescind the software's registration and make it non-working. You have no legal recourse in that situtation.

But if you never connect that computer to the Internet, you won't bother with critical updates.

It's also possible the Dell computers were shipped to the school with the Microsoft Office software loaded but not "installed" until a valid activation code was entered. The school would have gotten a business license activation code in that situation. You could buy your own activation code and re-activate the Office software.

Long term, if you need Microsoft Office, you can buy the Home and Office version for less than 100 dollars and keep it legal.

===== Acronis True Image :

If you never install this software, you can use the CD to boot any computer and make an image or restore an image. You can make images of your friends' computers for them as backups.

You can get Acronis True Image by mail order if you can't get it locally.

Best Buy has it here :
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/True+Image+Home+2012+PC+Backup+%26amp%3B+Recovery+-+Windows/3144313.p?id=1218379766124&skuId=3144313

Reviews :
2012 version
http://reviews.bestbuy.com/3545/3144313/true-image-home-2012-pc-backup-recovery-windows-reviews/reviews.htm

2011 version
http://reviews.bestbuy.com/3545/1239744/acronis-true-image-home-2011-windows-reviews/reviews.htm

Read those reviews. While I have had no problems with Acronis True Image, other people have not been so fortunate.

Frys.com website :

http://www.frys.com/product/6730455
Acronis True Image Home 2012 - PC Backup and Recovery (40 dollars)

http://www.frys.com/product/6892716
Acronis True Image Home 2012 - PC Backup and Recovery Plus (80 dollars)

http://www.frys.com/product/6892726
Acronis True Image Home 2012 - PC Backup & Recovery - Family Pack 3 PCs (80 dollars)
(this gives you a license to install it on up to three computers)
.

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