Help Me Choose Product

Hi,

I am dumb as dirt about computers, so please bear with me. My driver is failing and my CD-ROM is not working. Not sure about my DVD. I need to back up all of my system before the computer person comes to replace all of the above. I need to know what products that you would suggest. I was told that Acronis was the best. Any help or suggestions would sure be appreciated. Thank you.

 

There's absolutely no reason why your data would be in jeopardy just by changing out a CD and DVD drive. If they are telling you to make sure you backup your drive before they change out those items that is just their way of absolving themselves of any responsibility for their heavy handedness.

But you should have a backup strategy in any case. Acronis works well for my purpose.

 

Ralphie,

Thank you for answering me. My problem is my driver. Maybe it is called a hard drive, they have to replace it. Isn't everything stored on it. If I purchase a product to back it up, do I need to have a way to use the CD or DVD-ROM? Thank you.

 

If it's a Driver for a CD/DVD Rom or Burner, then you can download those and install them. It will flash the existing firmware on the drive, and replace it with current updated drivers. You should not have to replace the drive IF you're just updating the Firmware.

NOTE:: Make sure you don't any discs in the drive when you "flash" the new firmware update. Just click on the install file, and it will do the rest. Then will ask you to Restart your computer.

 

Even to update a driver for the CD or DVD, should not corrupt the rest of the files on the hard drive. Driver and Firmware are two different things. It's more likely the driver got corrupted. If your operating system is Windows XP, and you can get online, you can actually update the driver yourself by letting the system search for a driver online.

 

Windows should automatically install "Drivers" for a CD/DVD Rom when the computer first boots up. In very rare cases, should you ever have to do a search online.

 

I am not so sure he just has a driver problem. As he stated he doesn't know anything at all about computers so it could be that his HD is failing.

If so, I would be reluctant to tell him to use TI to jump into trying to make a valid image. He should have a competent person do what is necessary to backup his data.

Trying to get TI to backup on a failing system is a bit risky at the best of times. I sometimes wonder if there are various flaws attributed to TI just because the first time it gets run is when the system has already gone wonky.

 

It seems obvious to me that Alliewalker mistakenly used the word "driver" in his first post, while in fact it's the hard drive which is failing.

I would therefore very much agree with seekforever and keep Alliewalker away from flashing firmware or even starting with TI from scratch in his situation.