How to save stuff before you reformat your computer?

Question

Is it true that if you put files in your "my documents" folder before reformatting, that they will be safe and you won't lose them?

And if not, is there a way to save them without moving them to a disk? I know that is the safest way to do so, but I don't have that many disks or the patience, so I was just looking for a quick and easy answer.

Answer 1

NO!

Put them on a USB thumb drive, wont take very long.

Or if you have a fast internet connection, you can back them up using one of the many free web storage service:

http://www.idrive.com/

Answer 2

When you reformat your hard drive, things get wiped clean, including things you save in My Documents.

Transferring files to another drive or storage device IS the safest thing to do--you are definitely right about that. If I were you, I would get an external hard drive and transfer important files there--things like your pictures, music, documents, anything else you might have that you want to keep. External hard drives can be hooked up by USB or SATA cables and come pretty cheap at $100 or so for a few hundred gigabytes. They are definitely worth investing in, in fact, some people now store everything on those hard drives, leaving only important things like programs and the operating system itself on the internal hard drive.

If you don't have that many files, you can store some things on CD-R's or CD-RW's. However, this is limited as each disc can only hold 600MB or so. Another alternative is using a USB flash drive--some can hold up to 8GB now, which is good if you don't have a lot of stuff like music, movies, and pictures in your machine. USB drives are pretty cheap nowadays, with 2GB ones priced at around $40 or so. They are also small and can be stored in boxes. I'd recommend sticking to a reputable brands like Lexan, Corsair, SanDisk, etc as cheap ones tend to fail, risking data loss.

Good luck with your file transfers! Also, I sure hope you weren't meaning floppy disks when you mentioned "I don't have that many disks" in your question! At a puny 1.44MB, they can hardly hold a song or picture with today's resolutions and file sizes. Please don't even consider a floppy for this!

Answer 3

Reformatting hard disk erases all the files . If you want to save them
-copy them on another partition on the same hard disk and do not format that partition. If you want to reinstall windows , then formatting the C drive will be sufficient. If you have partitions say D, or E etc, then you can copy all the files there and do not format them during reinstallation

Answer 4

That is totally not true.

If your hard disk has a partition, C: and D:, then formatting one drive won't erase the other and the other way around.

It might be worth to spend some money and get you a DVD writer, or an external hard drive as you don't want to lose some important documents.

Answer 5

"Reformatting" deletes everything from your hard disk. Even your operating system (OS).

What you can do is save all your important data onto several CDs, or you can buy a backup drive. Backup drives are devices that you can plug into your computer, and with the touch of a single button, it will transfer ALL the data on your computer and store it on itself.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822144085

A backup drive can also be set to make a backup of all your data periodically (like every three days, etc) and you can also choose what to backup (you can choose to back up one specific folder every day, etc).

However I suggest you get some help from a friend who's nearby to help you with your computer.

Answer 6

If you have 2 hard drives you can save your files on the one you don't install your system ... just reformat your computer reinstalling Windows XP, then choose the option keep files and they will be there for sure, other way to do it is by saving them in a USB memory stick, blank cds or blank dvds, or in an external hard drive :)

Answer 7

it is not true... they will only stay if you do a windows repair... reformatting destroys everything. If your computer burns DVD's the best way is to burn files to DVD disks, they hold the same as 6 regular CD's... dual layer DVD's double that... if not, then it's worth the time over losing everything

Answer 8

If you don't have a second computer, then about the only way would be to burn to disc, or to move all your files on a flash drive (I would recommend this). If you don't have one, a 2 GB one can be had for $30 or less.

Hope this helps! :)

Answer 9

no that is not true. wen u reformat ur hard drive everything will be erased. u need to either get a external drive and move all ur files to it or burn cds or dvds with all ur files on it. if u do not all ur data will be erased wen u reformat.

Answer 10

Don't move stuff to a disk. Buy an external hard drive. Problem solved.