back up disk

hi
i don't no if you're still there, so to speak, but can you help me please.
trying to keep it short, my pc wouldn't work the other week but as i have insurance or something an engineer came out (after an hour on the phone trying different things with the help line). he said my hd had packed but fiddled with things & it came back on,.
the thing is, on the phone the helper asked if i'd made a back up disk (no) and then the engineer asked if i had received a cd from the manufacturers. i hadn't.
anyway, i now want to do a back-up cd but can't find out how to do it. i am not really pc literate (how did you guess?), but get a pc mag every fortnight & have internet access, so what am i missing. it must be easy but i can't see how to do it!!
can you help please?
thanks
sandra

 

I had to erase all the data on my hard memory recently, since some little fingers have been fiddling with the pc during a restore process and brought it to a complete hault: no matter what key I would stroke, nothing would move.

So I phoned a technician and this is what was suggested I would do: based on a Packard Bell tower, model 1517.

Disconnect everything from the computer such as camera, printer, internet cable...

switch off the computer

switch it on again (I personally would give it like one minute in between)

at the same moment as you switch on and after that, you press repeatidely the F11 key, until the screen basically tells you that it is starting recovering and gives you a choice of a partial recovery or full recovery.
In my case I had to do a full recovery so the computer went back "to the first day" of its use.

Which is fine with me because I store very little in the memory, nothing too important.

Well, good luck if you decide to take this step...

 

If you have vital files on your HDD, get an Ubuntu live CD and start the computer up with it (Do not install it). You will then be able to access your data files and copy them off to a USB key drive/ext HDD. After you have done this, shut it down and you can then restart and reset to factory settings if you want.

 

The simplest way to do backups without any software is to copy any family photos, movies, music to a CD/DVD and 'burn' them.

Honestly, anyone that has not done this MUST DO NOW! You'll be gutted if your PC hd ever crashes or get a virus, and you lose all your data.

I'm guessing you dont all have the latest Anti-virus, and firewall software. Excluding MS/FW. If you dont understand, post back here or ask your nephew/niece :D

I will be happy to point you to the latest advice.

 

so sorry everyone for not getting back sooner. the pc crashed again before i could get back on here so have ended up with a new hd.
i am up & running as you maybe have seen from other topic posts, but 'clean'. ie nothing was saved.
i have a niggle which i have posted as new topic today & it was only after that, that i decided to have a look back through previous posts & saw mine!!
i know i won't be able to help anyone with problems but you never know.
anyway thank you all for your help.

miraflores - that is exactly what i have! i was told to keep pressing F2, but maybe different problem.

newbiegreen - unfortunately, i don't have any family here to help. so any help you can give will be appreciated. if you want i'll explain what (i think) i have in the way of security. let me know.

larkshall - sorry that all went over my head. i'm quite a dimwit now.

still, crossed fingers. At least i can get back on gardenerscorner which is the most important.

cheers
sandra