Restore Laptop To Factory

C

Curinor

New Member
Hey everyone :D

Laptop over time has become very slow and sometimes unresponsive. It's around 3 years old now.

I have cleaned up the HDD, run virus and spyware programmes, defragged and generally kept it clean as i can. However i've decided that my next course of action to get it's glory days back is to restore it to factory. I have used the back-up and restore programme to back-up all pictures, video's and documents to an external HDD.

I have checked the external HDD for the files and it says "Backup Set" once clicked on that folder it shows me 4 folders saying "Backup Files" and "Catalogs". In the backup files folder everything is saved in .rar "Backup files 1" Backup Files 2" etc. In the "Catalogue" folder it says "Global Catalog" Which is a windows backup catalog file.

My question is this: If i run a factory reset now, will these .rar files give me my pictures, video's and documents back?

Many Thanks.
 

My Computer

System One

Welcome
An rar file is
a collection of documents,that have been reduced in size.

That is all we know about the files. If you have backed up properly, you will be able to restore after factory reset. Without knowning more about how your backed up, if done properly, etc. I do not want to make a definite commitment as to your ablity to restore your documents etc.
I will say this. If you backed up properly, using compatible software, yes you will be able to restore after you perform the factory reset.

Can you test somehow, perhaps try to restore some of your doucments, before the reset and be sure that it works?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
If all your documents are in the same place on the main PC as with the pictures as a precaution you can always back up to dvd by just copying them. This is sometimes usefull as a dvd can be stored away for future use.

To check your backup on the HD then get a free copy of winrar and double click on the rar file on the HD.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    I5 3570K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77-DS3H
    Memory
    4 x 4GB corsair ballistix sport DDR3 1600 Mhz
    Graphics card(s)
    Gigabyte Geforce GTX 660 TI
    Sound Card
    creative x-fi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Primary CiBox 22" Widescreen LCD ,Secondary Dell 22" Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    Both 1680 x 1050
    Hard Drives
    2 x 500G HD (SATA) 1 x 2TB USB
    PSU
    Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Complient PSU
    Case
    Antec 900 Ultimate Gaming Case
    Cooling
    3 x 80mm tri led front, 120mm side 120mm back, 200mm top
    Mouse
    Technika TKOPTM2
    Keyboard
    Logik
    Internet Speed
    288 / 4000
    Other Info
    Creative Inspire 7.1 T7900 Speakers Trust Graphics Tablet
Here's where to get a free version of WinRAR to be able to view the files: WinRAR free version 5.1 Free Download - Powerful archiver and archive manager. RAR files can usually compress content 8 - imFreeware.com.

What program did you use to perform the backup (name and version)? What type of backup did you do (complete image, full,...)?

Copying the data to a DVD will not guarantee the backup will work, but it will be a good "backup" of the backup and possibly provide an alternate way of recovering the data if the restore does not work. If you're that concerned, it's worth a few DVDs to improve the odds.

If you can test restore a few files and/or folders, that would be a good thing to do (even if you verified some of the files with WinRAR). Although it isn't an absolute guarantee everything will work later (there just are no absolute guarantees), it provides an excellent way to verify the process itself at least works, that at least some of the data is good and the all the information or the entire backup has not been corrupted, and increases the odds that the overall restore will succeed dramatically.

A lot of this was already said above and I've just tried to combine those suggestions (I think they are both excellent and worth doing/trying) and provide links and further explanations. As you seem concerned and there's no way to give you an absolute guarantee, I recommend you follow all of these suggestions to be on the safe side. You will then have done everything reasonably possible to protect your data and should be able to restore it one way or another.

I hope this helps.

Good luck!
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inc. MP061 Inspiron E1705
    CPU
    2.00 gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo 64 kilobyte primary memory
    Motherboard
    Board: Dell Inc. 0YD479 Bus Clock: 166 megahertz
    Memory
    2046 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM) [Di
    Sound Card
    SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic PnP Monitor (17.2"vis)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1200 pixels
    Hard Drives
    Hitachi HTS541616J9SA00 [Hard drive] (160.04 GB) -- drive 0, s/n SB2411SJGLLRMB, rev SB4OC74P, SMART Status: Healthy
    Case
    Chassis Serial Number: 5YK95C1
    Mouse
    Logitech HID-compliant Cordless Mouse
    Keyboard
    Standard PS/2 Keyboard
    Internet Speed
    1958 Kbps download ; 754.8 Kbps upload
    Other Info
    Optiarc DVD+-RW AD-5540A ATA Device [CD-ROM drive] Dell AIO Printer A940 Conexant HDA D110 MDC V.92 Modem 6TO4 Adapter Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter Microsoft ISATAP Adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface Router Linksys / WRT54G -01
Almost everything that can be said already was. Thanks for the backup Roy and Lorien.
As I gave the matter some thought, however, I realized that without proper maintenance, you will be in the same situation in the very near future.

Here are some tips that I gave in the Seven Forum, but just as appropriate here.
Suggestions for Proper Maintenance - Windows 7 Forums
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
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