MRG
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Greetings all
How many times have you wanted to reinstall Windows, only to find that you have about a gazillion Gigs in your Download folder? Well if you're like me, you save every file you download & over a period of time that folder can get pretty big is size. Case in point, I reinstalled WinXP 2 nights ago & had approx 9GB in my download folder. After going through the files & deleting 50% of them, I was still left with about 5GB. Well while DSL & Cable is fast @ downloading stuff, i'm not one of them lucky blokes to have that new Fiber Optic ISP that lets you download 1 GB a second & so i'm left with backing up that which I want to save onto CD's (Or if your lucky a DVD)
So, what to do, what to do...
Well there are SEVERAL ways you can do it. WinXP has a very handly burning program built into it that allows you to Drag & Drop files to a blank CD & then burn them. Now that works if you have the time to go through all your files to make sure that some arn't too big to fit onto a CD or whatever. This way is also great if you have under 650mb of files in your download folder. 650mb is the normal size of regular blank CD's. Of course you already know that. You also already know that some CD's hold more, 700mb & even 800mb.
So, what do you do if you have say ONE file that 850mb or 1.5GB or SEVERAL files that you cannot lose or re-download ( No, praying you'll get lucky & it'll all fit on one CD won't work. Trust me, i've tried. )
While there are several ways to back up files using many different programs, some that come with your CD-R/RW or DVD-R/RW drive, there is 1 very quick & easy way to do it. It will work if you have a regular CD-R/RW burner or a DVD-R/RW burner.
Part 1
If file size(s) total is LESS than a single CD's total capacity
1)Have a CD or DVD burner. (Like Duh!)
2)Have enough blank CD's or DVD's. (Like Duh! again..)
3)Place Blank CD or DVD disk in drive. ( Won't work otherwise for some reason..)
4)To make things easier, copy all file(s) you want to save to your desktop. Condense everything into one main folder. Sub-Folders ok.
5)Right click on "My Computer" & click on "Open" (You can also double-click, though this does not always do the same thing for everyone)
6)Now double click on your CD burner or DVD Burner which as you know will be under "Devices With Removable Storage" A blank screen will pop-up. Now resize that screen that poped up by either pressing on the square up in the top right corner of the screen or by manualy resizing the screen by left clicking & holding the mouse button down on the EDGE of the screen. Make it so it's small enough so you can see 1/2 of your desktop.
7)Now Right click on the folder that you want to burn & drag it over the screen that poped up & "drop" it onto that screen. (release the mouse button)
8)You should see a small screen pop-up that says "Copying" at the top. You should also see the folder in the screen as well. After that small "Copying" screen finishes, it'll disappear & now there will be an image (might look faded) of the folder. Now on the screen that poped up, off to the left you will see under "CD/DVD Writing Tasks" "Copy these Files To CD/DVD" click on it & another screen will pop up. This is just asking what you want the CD to be called. Defualt is just the current date. Press Next/Ok to continue. Depending on the size of the file, it'll take up to about 5 mins to burn everything to the CD/DVD, less if the file(s) size is small. Be very sure that you don't have anything blocking the CD/DVD drives tray door, because after the files are done burning onto the CD/DVD, WinXP will eject the CD/DVD This way you also know when it's done burning the file(s).
Part 2
If file size(s) total is MORE than a single CD's total capacity
1)Go here & downloadWinRAR 3.41 Install once it's finished.
2)Right click on folder with all your files in it & click on "Add to Archive"
3)When the screen pops up, enter a name for your backup under "Archive Name"
4)After you enter the name, go down to "Split To Volumes, Bytes" & choose the size of CD you have. I would advise you to pick 1 size smaller, so if you have 700mb CD's, then choose "650m -CD 650m". A little extra buffer space on your CD is always good. Until you get comfortable with using WinRAR, leave all the other options alone & only do the steps I type here."
5)Now click on "OK" at the bottom. Depending on how big the folder size is, the next step is just to wait for the program to finish making the archives. This step CAN take awhile if you have alot of big fimes to archive. After it's done, you will see a bunch of new files on your desktop, all in numbered order. So if you named the archive "Backup" You'll see files that say "Backup1", "Backup2" ect.. Each of these archives will be the size that you chose. (650m -CD 650) Now just copy each of the archives onto a blank CD (Follow Part 1 above)
6)After you are done formatting your HDD & have reinstalled WinXP, take the CD that had "Backup1" & copy it to the Desktop, do the same thing with all the other CD's. After all the archives are copied to your desktop, double click on "Backup1". When the screen pops up, click on the "Extract To" tab at the top. At the next screen, navigate to your desktop (Click on Desktop" on the right of the screen) & click on ok. It will now decompress & reconstruct the archive(s) into the one original folder. You do NOT need to double click on "Backup2" or any others. Just the FIRST that was archived. i.e "Backup1"
WinRAR will auto-extract & decompress all the other archives. After you are satisfied that everything is as it should be & all files are done. It is safe to DELETE the "Backup1, backup2" archives.
Follow my above typed out guide step-by-step & you'll soon be back up & running.
Any questions, please let me know.
-MRG
How many times have you wanted to reinstall Windows, only to find that you have about a gazillion Gigs in your Download folder? Well if you're like me, you save every file you download & over a period of time that folder can get pretty big is size. Case in point, I reinstalled WinXP 2 nights ago & had approx 9GB in my download folder. After going through the files & deleting 50% of them, I was still left with about 5GB. Well while DSL & Cable is fast @ downloading stuff, i'm not one of them lucky blokes to have that new Fiber Optic ISP that lets you download 1 GB a second & so i'm left with backing up that which I want to save onto CD's (Or if your lucky a DVD)
So, what to do, what to do...
Well there are SEVERAL ways you can do it. WinXP has a very handly burning program built into it that allows you to Drag & Drop files to a blank CD & then burn them. Now that works if you have the time to go through all your files to make sure that some arn't too big to fit onto a CD or whatever. This way is also great if you have under 650mb of files in your download folder. 650mb is the normal size of regular blank CD's. Of course you already know that. You also already know that some CD's hold more, 700mb & even 800mb.
So, what do you do if you have say ONE file that 850mb or 1.5GB or SEVERAL files that you cannot lose or re-download ( No, praying you'll get lucky & it'll all fit on one CD won't work. Trust me, i've tried. )
While there are several ways to back up files using many different programs, some that come with your CD-R/RW or DVD-R/RW drive, there is 1 very quick & easy way to do it. It will work if you have a regular CD-R/RW burner or a DVD-R/RW burner.
Part 1
If file size(s) total is LESS than a single CD's total capacity
1)Have a CD or DVD burner. (Like Duh!)
2)Have enough blank CD's or DVD's. (Like Duh! again..)
3)Place Blank CD or DVD disk in drive. ( Won't work otherwise for some reason..)
4)To make things easier, copy all file(s) you want to save to your desktop. Condense everything into one main folder. Sub-Folders ok.
5)Right click on "My Computer" & click on "Open" (You can also double-click, though this does not always do the same thing for everyone)
6)Now double click on your CD burner or DVD Burner which as you know will be under "Devices With Removable Storage" A blank screen will pop-up. Now resize that screen that poped up by either pressing on the square up in the top right corner of the screen or by manualy resizing the screen by left clicking & holding the mouse button down on the EDGE of the screen. Make it so it's small enough so you can see 1/2 of your desktop.
7)Now Right click on the folder that you want to burn & drag it over the screen that poped up & "drop" it onto that screen. (release the mouse button)
8)You should see a small screen pop-up that says "Copying" at the top. You should also see the folder in the screen as well. After that small "Copying" screen finishes, it'll disappear & now there will be an image (might look faded) of the folder. Now on the screen that poped up, off to the left you will see under "CD/DVD Writing Tasks" "Copy these Files To CD/DVD" click on it & another screen will pop up. This is just asking what you want the CD to be called. Defualt is just the current date. Press Next/Ok to continue. Depending on the size of the file, it'll take up to about 5 mins to burn everything to the CD/DVD, less if the file(s) size is small. Be very sure that you don't have anything blocking the CD/DVD drives tray door, because after the files are done burning onto the CD/DVD, WinXP will eject the CD/DVD This way you also know when it's done burning the file(s).
Part 2
If file size(s) total is MORE than a single CD's total capacity
1)Go here & downloadWinRAR 3.41 Install once it's finished.
2)Right click on folder with all your files in it & click on "Add to Archive"
3)When the screen pops up, enter a name for your backup under "Archive Name"
4)After you enter the name, go down to "Split To Volumes, Bytes" & choose the size of CD you have. I would advise you to pick 1 size smaller, so if you have 700mb CD's, then choose "650m -CD 650m". A little extra buffer space on your CD is always good. Until you get comfortable with using WinRAR, leave all the other options alone & only do the steps I type here."
5)Now click on "OK" at the bottom. Depending on how big the folder size is, the next step is just to wait for the program to finish making the archives. This step CAN take awhile if you have alot of big fimes to archive. After it's done, you will see a bunch of new files on your desktop, all in numbered order. So if you named the archive "Backup" You'll see files that say "Backup1", "Backup2" ect.. Each of these archives will be the size that you chose. (650m -CD 650) Now just copy each of the archives onto a blank CD (Follow Part 1 above)
6)After you are done formatting your HDD & have reinstalled WinXP, take the CD that had "Backup1" & copy it to the Desktop, do the same thing with all the other CD's. After all the archives are copied to your desktop, double click on "Backup1". When the screen pops up, click on the "Extract To" tab at the top. At the next screen, navigate to your desktop (Click on Desktop" on the right of the screen) & click on ok. It will now decompress & reconstruct the archive(s) into the one original folder. You do NOT need to double click on "Backup2" or any others. Just the FIRST that was archived. i.e "Backup1"
WinRAR will auto-extract & decompress all the other archives. After you are satisfied that everything is as it should be & all files are done. It is safe to DELETE the "Backup1, backup2" archives.
Follow my above typed out guide step-by-step & you'll soon be back up & running.
Any questions, please let me know.
-MRG
