[Penny Elliott]

I've down loaded the windows service pack for windows 7 but not run the programme yet, as i've been told I need to back uup all the files so far created. If I have a norton back up programme, will this preserve all my documents safely enough for me to install and use the new windows service pack?

I've tried beginning to save stuff on the cloud but it takes so much time and uses a great deal of MB storage adn therefore money to install, let alone time. I don't have free internet or broadband constantly or constant electricity supply either. So knowing whether the Norton antivirus back up disc is sufficient or not,would be a brilliant help.

Thanks a lot.

Penny

[Advertisements]

Your best bet is to buy an external USB hard drive. You can get a 1TB (Tera Byte) USB 3 hard drive for around $80.
Edit: Here is one for $54:  Toshiba Canvio Connect 1TB Portable External Hard Drive, Black
 
Then use a program like Macrium Reflect Free to do an image backup. That's a complete, bit for bit copy of your hard drive so everything is backed up. Then if anything goes wrong when you install SP1, you restore the image and in 20 or 30 minutes you are up and running again.
 
Cloud storage is, as you said, very slow and can be expensive, though I have 100GB via MediaFire for $29 a year. I think Dropbox has a similar price.

[Ztruker]

Your best bet is to buy an external USB hard drive. You can get a 1TB (Tera Byte) USB 3 hard drive for around $80.
Edit: Here is one for $54:  Toshiba Canvio Connect 1TB Portable External Hard Drive, Black
 
Then use a program like Macrium Reflect Free to do an image backup. That's a complete, bit for bit copy of your hard drive so everything is backed up. Then if anything goes wrong when you install SP1, you restore the image and in 20 or 30 minutes you are up and running again.
 
Cloud storage is, as you said, very slow and can be expensive, though I have 100GB via MediaFire for $29 a year. I think Dropbox has a similar price.

[Penny Elliott]

Thank you very much for such a quick reply. As I thought, i need an external hard disc. But, where in DAr Es Salaam Tanzania East Africa will I get one of those TB Toshiba Canvio Connect 1 TB? I'm very nervous about sending off for stuff and it getting lost. I did have a WD external hard drive but it got corrupted and even after many trials of downloading driver tool repair kits ect, I've just had a very frustrating time. If you have an idea of where I could get this 1TB external hard drive then that sounds as though it would be the best thing. Also where do I get the Macrium Reflect free? Is that just from looking on various websites or is that a link that you've written in?

ps sorry to give the full address but a few years ago my bank thought that Dar Es Salaam Tanzania was in Dubai, Oman, or Qatar, so just wanted to make sure.

Once again thank you for your help and, as usual clear simple instructions.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, till Ztruker comes back on line, yes the blue Macrium Reflect, is the link for the download of the free version of Macrium reflect, I use it for my backups and is a very good program.

 

As for obtaining an external hard drive where you are, that is a difficult question to answer, I assume there are no local and reliable dealers in your location?

 

However, can we be sure that this "windows service pack for windows 7" is just the Windows 7 service pack 1, and not perhaps the upgrade to a different system, say Windows 8?

 

If it is just the Windows 7 service pack 1. There is actually little need to back up as the service pack should install with no problems, however a backup is a wise thing to do as a just in case something goes wrong.

 

Nev.

[Ztruker]

Cloud storage is better than no backup at all though. Even if you have to wait a week or more for it to complete, it's worth doing.

 

All you really need to backup is your data, not the operating system.

 

How much personal; data do you have to back up? If it's only 1 or 3 GB then you could backup to a DVD of flash drive.

[Penny Elliott]

Thanks very much to Ztruker, and Nev.

I don't have broadband or the time to allow a computer to run for a week. But you've given me a good idea in that I'll check again on how much I really need to back up. I've tried using CD re Writeables to use as back up but it has not been easy to retreive the docs as they seem to get  corrupted very quickly. I don't know if it's the heat and damp that makes thigns worse. But, I'll try. Thanks also for the info regarding the checking of the service pack. I've looked and it's definitely for windows 7 64 bit. Hey ho. Here we go. Thanks a lot. I'll let you know how I get on.

I really appreciate this help.

Penny

[Ztruker]

A 16GB or 32GB flash drive may be your best bet then, $10 to $20.