Vista Recovery

mealmond · #1 May 9th, 2008, 09:26 AM

Hi

Can anybody help me?

I had Vista Business running dual boot with Ubuntu Hardy Heron, all was fine until yesterday.

I bought a new external drive and made a back up of all the files and folders and then made a ful system back up for recovery.

I am sure it is just one of the odd things that happens, but a few hours later, my laptop will not start up, it says there is an error with the operating system.

The problem I have is that my Vista was an upgrade from XP and I do not have a back up or recovery disc, other than what is on my external hard drive.

I read that you can download and burn a recovery disc that would enable me to connect my external hard drive and use my system restore to get things back.

I have downloaded the file from here but despite following everything I cannot get it right, it's not my day today.

Once I click the link to download the file what do I do next. What I end up is three files but nothing else, I do understand it should be an ISO image, I must be missing something.

Many thanks for any help you can give me.

martin

Terry60 · #2 May 9th, 2008, 09:45 AM

Hi Martin, welcome to the boards.
Try this
http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/G/B...to+a+CD+or+DVD
and post back if it doesn't answer your query.

mealmond · #3 May 9th, 2008, 10:21 AM

Thanks for the response, I will have a look at that.

My problem seems to be once I have downloaded the file with uTorrent.

At home in came in Winzip, so I am downloading it on another computer to see what happens.

Also, which version do I use for Vista Business, I note there are two.

Martin

Addendum:

The file has just downloaded in uTorrent and then this is where I think I may be going wrong.

I right click on the download to open the file and get the following;

A yellow file marked boot
A yellow file marked sources
something marked bootmgr

After that I am stuck, as you can tell I am not very good on computers!

Can anybody tell me if I have done anything wrong, if not what do I do next.

Makaveli213 · #4 May 9th, 2008, 01:48 PM

The File is a ISO file which you burn just that to a disc. You do not need to extract it at all.

Burning ISO Images with ImgBurn - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

There are instructions on how to burn a ISO with a great free applicaiton.

mealmond · #5 May 9th, 2008, 04:41 PM

Sorry for the delay, as you can imagine I now have limited access to the net.

I have tried what is described but get nowhere, if I explain where I become stuck, can somebody help.

Once the torrent is downloaded, and I go into Utorrent, am I correct in thinking I double click the file name.

It then brings the files up in Winzip, what do I do then?

I have burnt the Winzip file but of course this does nothing.

I may be slow to respond again, but all I want is the Recovery Disc, so that I may, just may recover Vista.

Thanks again

Maritn

Makaveli213 · #6 May 9th, 2008, 05:23 PM

In uTorrent Look under Options>preferences>Downloads. Does it say anything?

If not you will have to search the Program Folder for uTorrent and see if the file that is downloaded was saved there. It is just a ISO file. It should not be opened with WinZip but you should burn it with ImgBurn like suggested above. If you burn the Files from WinZip you will get nothing. As that is not a bootable disc. The ISO being burnt will be.

mealmond · #7 May 9th, 2008, 06:23 PM

Thanks for the reply.

I checked UTorrent and there was no specific file to downloard the torrents to, I presume that was causing the problem.

I cannot find the ISO anywhere, so I have started the download again and I hope, having it go to a file will give me the ISO, which I can then burn.

It may now be tomorrow before I can get back on line, so I will keep everything crossed.

I will update tomorrow.

Thanks again

Martin

mealmond · #8 May 10th, 2008, 06:50 AM

Thanks to everyone for the help, more so Makaveli213.

I found my upgrade disc, which although cracked and a little damaged, managed to get everything back as was.

I now need to copy that disc, another learning curve, in case of emergencies again.

Of of interest, I downloaded the file again, it still came out Winrar but I burned it to a disc as was and the computer took and started to load the disc.

It turned out I downloaded the 64 bit version, so the computer says, so is there a 32 bit version, as I presume the download will have the same affect at the upgrade disc.

Thanks

Martin

Makaveli213 · #9 May 10th, 2008, 12:06 PM

Okay to copy the disc you will need software like Nero or Alcohol 120% to copy the disc. Nero is the easiest since you can just get the trial to do it. There is a application installed with Nero called Burning ROM. Just change the selection in the wizard from CD to DVD and you will see right in the list of options there a option to Copy a DVD. Use that to make your copy.

Yes there is a 32 Bit version...

http://neosmart.net:6969/torrent.htm...f55ea0016f7b7b

There is the torrent file for that.

Now there is a difference in these discs. The Disc you have is the full Operating System. The Disc we offer is just a Recovery disc used to repair your starup and also used to use the restore points created. IT will not Recover the full Operating System (OS) if something should go wrong.

I hope that information will help you along to accomplish what you want to do.

I know what it is like to start out. I was there once myself. I am glad to help you figure these tasks out.

kairozamorro · #10 May 11th, 2008, 03:13 AM

Originally Posted by Makaveli213

Nero is the easiest since you can just get the trial to do it.

Mak, Nero isn't free? ...

If it isn't, you should use CDBurnerXP. It has all the features Nero does and (the best part) its FREE! CDBurenerXP can be downloaded at:

http://cdburnerxp.se/

mealmond · #11 May 11th, 2008, 07:39 AM

Thanks to everybody again for there help.

I have burnt two copies of the system disc, just in case anything goes wrong again, I had only just bought a new external hard drive and a built in DVD burner, so that came in handy.

I will also download the rescue disc from here and will burn that as well.

I am still not sure what I ws doing wrong with the downloads, but I now appear to have everything working, again.

Martin

Makaveli213 · #12 May 11th, 2008, 11:04 AM

Originally Posted by kairozamorro

Mak, Nero isn't free? ...

If it isn't, you should use CDBurnerXP. It has all the features Nero does and (the best part) its FREE! CDBurenerXP can be downloaded at:

http://cdburnerxp.se/

Please read my statement again. I never said it was free and i said you can get the trial to do it. CDBurnerXP is great. I use it. But for many people Nero is easier to use for the first time.

kairozamorro · #13 May 12th, 2008, 07:02 PM

Okay then... I just get a defensive feeling with trial-based software. I hate having software order me to go to a website to purchase a full-fledged version or that I only have x amount days left. The worst part, deciding you don't like the software and then having to uninstall it with remaining traces of it on your system.

Computer Guru · #14 May 12th, 2008, 07:23 PM

ImgBurn is the best of the three anyway

Makaveli213 · #15 May 12th, 2008, 09:22 PM

Originally Posted by kairozamorro

Okay then... I just get a defensive feeling with trial-based software. I hate having software order me to go to a website to purchase a full-fledged version or that I only have x amount days left. The worst part, deciding you don't like the software and then having to uninstall it with remaining traces of it on your system.

That is not true. With 2 applications i have i remove the reminders and with a free application i remove all traces of anything i uninstall.

Revo Uninstaller. Will remove Registry entries and cleanup everything else left by anything you uninstall. Nothing left behind.

Registry Crawler will allow you to remove the Trial reminders.

Addendum:

Originally Posted by Computer Guru

ImgBurn is the best of the three anyway

ImgBurn is great but i find it hard to burn just normal files with it.