Can a computer break down and lose all data?

Question

Say a computer is suddenly quiet for some reason( virus, hard errors, long life) . Do I lose all data? ok I read that the data is not entirely lost but ... The question is : shall I save my important data on cd-s to be safe?

Answer 1

yes you should save everything on CD or DVD. it is possible to lose your data if the hard drive crashes, which will eventually happen to all hard drives as they have a limited life of maybe 3 to 5 years, give or take.

I do not recommend external drives because they too have a limited life just as internals do, and because they are external they are subject to dropping them or bumping something against them which could crash that drive as well losing all your precious, possibly unrecoverable backups.

CD-RW or DVD-RW is the best way. once that back up becomes out dated all you need to do is erase that disc and reburn the same disc with the updated information. CD-RW cost maybe 15c USD per disc and DVD-RW are maybe 40-50c per disc USD. Small price to pay to back up your things.

It is always safe to have backups of important things OFF your computer just in case of such a crash.

Answer 2

If you know what you are doing, you can recover just about anything from a windows based system through dos.
However, I'd be safe and put your important files on CDs, before the whole thing goes.
A corrupted hard drive can help you to lose a lot of info.
So, a back-up is always a good idea.

The last time I thought my hard disk was going bad, I bought a Firelight External hard drive that connects thru the usb port, and just dragged all the necessary stuff to it in explorer. Ended up not needing it, because the hard disk did not fail as I thought it would.
So, now I use it as my back up. Whenever I save something locally, I also save it to the Firelight.

Good luck. Save whatever you can now, just in case.

Answer 3

The answer is a firm yes. There is the CD method to prevent such a loss of data.

I prefer another way: I use external removable hard drive. It cost a little more than discs but you easily get your money back by not buying CD's, have to burn them, store them in useless piles and of course trying to get the latest or right one when you need it.

So all windows components and all my installed softwares are on c: drive. I save all my personnal data, like music files, movies, pictures, games, word documents, and the rest onto the removable drive.

The sweet thing about it is if you know you are about to do something that is not recomended(high risk web sites, dealing with *.dll or *.exe files, etc.) you just have to unplug your USB cable and your precious data is completely safe untill you connect it back.

Wish this helps....

Answer 4

I'm available 4 Pm on abiusx@yahoo 4 mail [e-mail]
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Okay
if you've got important data, use softwares such as GOBACK
never forget to store Critical Data on CD and DVD

Only data which are being worked with may slash out by system crash. Remember to have a up-2-d8 antivirus, This stops viruses from responding.

more info, i'm there;)

Answer 5

Yes, you should always create back ups of important data and keep it in a secure place somewhere that your computer isn't; not only for the situations you list, but also to insure against things like theft, and fire.

Answer 6

nope. computers are perfectly stable, especially Windows ME. in fact, you don't actually HAVE to perform security updates or anything like that. some people recommend them but I don't know. you now what else protects data very well? attach magnets to the tower of your PC and it will guard against viruses and hacker attempts even better.

Answer 7

Save all your inportant data on CD's cause it happened to my friend and he lost everything.

Answer 8

yes of course .

put a schudele for yourself . every period save your data on a CD
and check your system before you do that .

if you save your files while it is infected you will infect any pc you operate these files on it .