Emergency Backup (Files/data Back up)

Emergency Backup

There are thousands of articles on how important it is to backup your data. And still I haven’t met a person whose hard disk has just died, that didn’t loose some files. The simple truth is that “Your data is only as good as your latest backup”!

Backup files from a non-starting computer

If the computer has a hardware problem and is not under warranty any more, take out the hard disk and (temporarily) install it in an external USB box. On most desktops and laptops this is a straight forward job taking about 5 min. However on some laptops the HD is quite hard to remove (like most Apple and some Sony and Toshiba). On these laptops it is not worth it to take the HD out unless it’s being replaced by a new HD, or the laptop is beyond repair.
Once your hard disk is in the USB box, you can connect it to any computer and copy, burn to CDs or print any of your files.

If you have chosen “Make my account private” when you were choosing your password, you won’t be able to open your “My Documents” folder. To fix that you will have to restart in safe mode on Windows XP Home, or turn off “Simple file sharing” on Windows XP Pro (Control Panel -> Folder Options -> View -> uncheck “Use simple file sharing”). After that you can right-click on the folder and choose “Properties -> Security -> Advanced -> Owner” then check the “Replace owner on subcontainers and objects” checkbox, select “Administrators” as the new owner and click “OK”. Now Windows will go through all files and folders in your “My Documents” folder and make them accessible (may take some time).
If your computer has only a software problem and wouldn’t start even after you tried to fix it, you can use UBCD4WIN to start it and then copy your files to an external USB disk. It’s a good idea to have one of these external disks, as making regular backups to them is very easy. However you may even borrow one off a friend if you can, as you would only need it for a few hours until you reinstall/restore Windows. To do this just plug in the USB disk before starting the computer, so UBCD4WIN would recognize it. Then the USB disk will show in “My Computer” as usual and all you have to do is navigate to your files and copy them over.
The two folders that you should always backup are “My Documents” and “Desktop”. Both of them are in “C -> Documents and Settings -> [your user name]“. Your Internet Explorer Favorites are there too. Also some programs (usually accounting and tax software) save everything in their installation folder. If you have any of these installed, copy the entire folder from “C -> Program Files -> [program's name]” to your backup media.
To navigate to the folders listed below you need to enable “Show Hidden Files and Folders” in “Control Panel -> Folder Options -> View”.

• If you use Outlook Express your emails are in “C: -> Documents and Settings -> [your user name] -> Local Settings -> Application Data -> Identities” and your Address Book is in “C: -> Documents and Settings -> [your user name] -> Application Data -> Microsoft -> Address Book”
• If you use Outlook your emails are in “C -> Documents and Settings -> [your user name] -> Application Data -> Microsoft -> Outlook”.
• If you use Thunderbird your emails and settings are in “C: -> Documents and Settings -> [your user name] -> Application Data -> Thunderbird”.
• Your Firefox profile including bookmarks are in “C: -> Documents and Settings -> [your user name] -> Application Data -> Mozilla”.
• Your Opera settings and bookmarks are in “C: -> Documents and Settings -> [your user name] -> Application Data -> Opera”.

Or just delete the “temp” and the “Temporary Internet Files” from “C: -> Documents and Settings -> [your user name] -> Local Settings” and copy the whole folder that has your user name from “C: -> Documents and Settings”. Of course, you will be backing up quite a few useless files that way.

Corrupted Files (The laptop edition)

Yes!! lets face it, you are stuck because your file got distorted? the project is gone? Lets reason out on that..shall we?!

Why damaged?: Computer files can get damaged in several different ways: by a power interruption, by virus or badly written software, by bad RAM or by physical damage to the hard disk.

 Symptoms:
The laptop starts as usual but when Windows starts to load it goes to black screen with either “UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME”, “hal.dll is missing or corrupted” or “windows\system32\config\system” (or similar) is missing or corrupted. These error messages indicate a corrupted filesystem or a failing hard disk, about 40 / 60 chance.

Troubleshooting:

The easiest way to diagnose and possibly fix corrupted filesystem is to start the computer from a bootable CD, then scan the hard disk for errors. If the scan completes successfully, the registry can be restored by hand and the computer can be scanned for viruses.
The best way to do that is first to make an UBCD4WIN CD on another computer and start your PC from it. To make the UBCD4WIN you will need a working computer with high-speed Internet and CD burner, and a standard Windows XP SP2 installation disk, “Home” or “Pro”. It is possible to use XP installation disk without a service pack or with SP1, but it will have to be slip streamed to SP2 before building UBCD4WIN (see http://www.ubcd4win.com/ for details). This is by far the best boot-able CD for Windows users, as it will let you use your computer as usual. It comes with hundreds of free programs and utilities that can help you fix almost all software problems.
After starting your computer from UBCD4WIN, go to “Start” button -> Command Prompt and type chkdsk /r /f c: (in the black window that opens). This is the native Windows command for scanning and fixing your “C” drive. Depending on the size of your “C” drive and the number of files you have, this may take from about 30 min. to over 2 hours and if there are errors on the HD – even longer.
If chkdsk shows a lot of errors, especially in “Step 1″ or “Step 2″, you will have to replace the hard disk. You still should let chkdsk finish fixing the disk, so you are able to eventually copy your files to the new disk later on.
If the hard disk is very damaged, chkdsk either won’t start scanning at all or won’t be able to finish scanning it. It will get stuck and stop working. In this case the chances of you being able to copy your files to the new HD are slim. If your files are very valuable, you may consider sending the HD to a data recovery service, however the prices for that start at about $500.
If chkdsk was able to finish scanning the HD showing many errors, shut down the computer, replace the hard disk (if it’s easy to do so) and reinstall/restore Windows, or send the computer for service if it’s still under warranty. Then mount the old HD in an external USB box and try to copy your files. If you have chosen “Make my account private” when you were choosing your password, you won’t be able to open the old “My Documents” folder. Here are some instructions on how to fix that.
If chkdsk finished without any errors, or just 2-3 errors, you can assume that the hard disk is working properly. The file corruption may have been caused by freezing, restarting by itself, improper shutdown of the computer (pulling the cord), viruses or sometimes by bad RAM. If you suspect that there may be any viruses on your computer, use one or two of the antivirus programs that come with UBDC4WIN. To do that you will need Internet connection.
If the error message that prevented the computer from starting was “UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME” or “hal.dll is missing or corrupted”, you can try restarting the computer as normal (not from the CD). If it still doesn’t start (both in normal and safe mode) you will have to reinstall/restore Windows, but first backup your files.
If the error message that prevented the computer from starting was “windows\system32\config\system (or similar) is missing or corrupted”, now you should restore the registry files by hand. To do that (still from UBDC4WIN) navigate to “C: -> Windows -> System32 -> config” and rename software to software.1 and system to system.1. Open another window and navigate to “C: -> System Volume Information -> _restore{any-numbers-and letters}”. There you will see a few folders named “PR” + some number. Sort them by date (right-click on empty space and choose “Arrange Icons By -> Modified”) and open one that’s about a week old. Inside you will see one folder and many files. Open the folder.
Now copy the files named _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM and _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE to the other open folder (windows\system32\config). Then rename them to only SYSTEM and SOFTWARE (no extensions).
Restart.
* The Windows System Restore is useful in only two occasions: the one described above and if a driver or Windows update doesn’t install properly and the computer wouldn’t start in normal mode but still starts in safe mode.

The kenyan shilling

Kenya’s shilling rebounded from the weakest level in 17 years against the dollar after the central bank sold three-month Treasury bills, reducing supply of the local currency in the market.
The currency of East Africa’s biggest economy appreciated as much as 0.6 percent to 89.49 per dollar and traded 0.3 percent stronger at 89.75 by 2 p.m. in the capital, Nairobi. The shilling closed at 90.05 per dollar yesterday, the weakest level since March 1994.
The Central Bank of Kenya, which had offered 2 billion shillings ($22.2 million) of the 91-day treasury bills, received 13.7 billion shillings of bids and accepted 6.7 billion shillings.
“The correction of the local unit is due to tight liquidity following the acceptance of 6 billion shillings in yesterday’s 91-day treasury bill auction,” Julius Kiriinya, a dealer at Nairobi-based African Banking Corp., said in a phone interview today.
Kenya’s government has no plans to stem the shilling’s weakness against the dollar even as it is concerned about the drop, Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta said.
“We don’t want to say that we are going to interfere with market forces” even though there is “some concern” over the shilling’s depreciation, Kenyatta told reporters today in Nairobi, the capital.
Kenya’s central bank rejected all of the 1 billion shillings of bids it received for the same amount of repurchase agreements it offered at a sale today, an official who declined to be identified in line with the bank’s policy said today.
In a repurchase agreement an investor agrees to sell a security to another trader, while at the same time arranging to buy it back at a future date and at a pre-determined price.

originally by: Johnstone Ole Turana in Nairobi at jturana@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net