Excuse me whilst I rant!

[minos_6]

Before I took my laptop in for repair, I backed up all of my work, which proved difficult since the machine had severe problems. I do backups frequently anyway so I wasn't too concerned.

Now I have my machine back. They installed a new hard drive, and left me to reinstall all of my software.

The laptop cannot read any of my backup discs, for some obscure reason - even the ones I burned before I had problems. New discs that I burn now are fine. It's the same damn software!

I've lost:

Bryce 5.5c
A load of extra content I purchased to go with it
Michael and all of his goodies
Endless home made morphs
All of my props etc
My web site software (and thus access to my website)
All of my work for the past 4 years (other than compressed jpegs I can get from my own website)

It's going to be some time before you all see anything new from me, if ever! I really feel like throwing in the towel right now!

Be warned. You can back up your work as often as you like, but you can still lose everything.

Dzanetos

[bigH]

The laptop cannot read any of my backup discs, for some obscure reason - even the ones I burned before I had problems. New discs that I burn now are fine. It's the same damn software!

Have you try to read the them with any other program ?
that might do it for you . I had that problem with my new computer not reading the old disc from my old one - that did it for me .

Henry

[minos_6]

Thanks for the thought Henry - the discs won't even run - it's as though there's nothing in the drive! :(

[bigH]

Did you try to use one to make a new backup ?

Don't do it just try .

[minos_6]

The laptop thinks the drive is empty, so there's nothing I can do with them, except maybe fasten them together with wire to make an ornament for my home!

[bigH]

send you a PM - if they don't work you might have to get new drive .

Or use a diff. computer - see if it will read them !?

[Lady of the Lake]

Don't think it has to do with just "laptops". I have burned things also and put the dics away thinking I will have them for later. And then they will not read on the SAME computer. This saving stuff is not a science.

I have gotten so that if I really want to save something, like a program download.....I put it on at least two discs. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wherever you bought your Bryce/etc....they will probably let you download again. Most places are very nice about it.

BIG HUG....sounds like you need it. :-)
Lyla

[Robert_S]

thats hard, my friend - seams to be for self-shooting... don't do that! Try some of Henrys suggestions! :ambulance

I now have a PC since more than 12 years (I think its the fourth now), backups are the golden rules 1-3. Don't give up 'cause you have backups a lot! Try to read them on different machines. I have a bunch of backups too (about 50 dvds) ' cause I don't wanna loose anything! I would try everything to get my work back! I'm on your side, my friend!

[LilianaSapphire]

wow what a bummer!!

I hope you get your stuff working again!!

Anna

:sherlock:

[AnnaKirsten]

For future use, it might be a good idea to acquire a separate moveable hard disk which you plug in via USB port. We use these for backup and they are invaluable. I think Amazon have one on special offer for £59.99 right now. I have one of those - 40 GB!

The other thing to remember (and boy did I discover this in a nasty way once) is to never put any of your disks at all anywhere near speakers or anything that has magnets in them. The magnets will wipe them!

Meanwhile, keep trying to see if any other computer will read your CD's. But apparently they have an average useful life of between 3-5 years before they start to disintegrate.

[shadowwalker]

I had this happen when I rebuilt one of mine not to long ago. And I about pulled my hair out,if they did a complete reload... I dont know which version you are using, but there is a little add on to read universal disks that gets excluded from time to time. Cd players dont automatically read everything stuck in them.You can find the patch at microsoft or...(I'm a little rusty,$9000 for certification and I dont use it like I should) load burning software on your machine,usually they have the added code in the software so your machine can read burnt cd's. My crash recently almost gave me a heart attack because I recieved a platinum membership at Daz to finally get quality props and have been slowly gathering them and they give you a small time period to download them and then their gone. My solution....mirrored drives on one machine and a slave for my art machine. Lap tops may be a problem for this(I dont even use mine,it collects dust in the closet)but a desktop this has proved effeciant. I have all my programs on the main drive and save my artwork and all models on the slave.So when and if there is a crash,the corrupt main drive doesnt touch my slave drive and I can even pop it out and through it in another machine to be up and going again.Just a safety proceedure I use. Dont be discouraged(easier said than done,I know) but you do fantastic work and it would be a shame.pm me or email me if there is anything I can help with.These type of things are a nightmare,but they are fixable. Dont loose faith my friend.
David

[minos_6]

Thank you all for the nice comments :)

David, I've already reloaded Roxio EMC7, and its patches (this is what I used to burn the DVDs) but the codec they provide isn't working. I even loaded that onto the machine separately just in case.

The DVDs I used were all brand new (Maxell, so not total rubbish!) but they were burned under poor circumstances. The problem is that I had most of my work archived to DVD anyway, but these are apparently useless too.

I'm going to speak to an IS friend about my old hard drive (they returned it) to see if anything can be recovered from it, but I'm doubtful...

And LESSON LEARNED! Once I've moved home, I'll get a PC for all of my work and an external drive for backups - my days of using CDs or DVDs are over.

As for the laptop, I shall take great pleasure in relegating it to internet use :)

I have calmed down a little now. If my original files are lost, then that's it - no use getting myself all :eek:

However, I have a message for Compaq, who sold me this Presario for £1800 ... :moon:

Thanks again my friends,

Dzanetos

[Engel47]

Dzanetos - Try IsoBuster - http://www.isobuster.com/ - Here is what it says:

The Ultimate CD and DVD data recovery tool !

Rescue lost files from a bad or trashed CD or DVD !
Save important documents, precious pictures or video from the family, your only system backup, ...
IsoBuster can do it all !

One tool, to support all formats, for only one very democratic price.
No accumulated cost if you need more than one type media supported.

IsoBuster is a highly specialized yet easy to use CD and DVD data recovery tool. It supports all CD and DVD formats and all common CD and DVD file-systems. Start up IsoBuster, Insert a CD or DVD, select the drive (if not selected already) and let IsoBuster mount the media. IsoBuster immediately shows you all the tracks and sessions located on the media, combined with all file-systems that are present. This way you get easy access, just like explorer, to all the files and folders per file-system. Instead of being limited to one file-system that the OS picks for you, you have access to "the complete picture". Access data from older sessions, access data that your OS (e.g. Windows) does not see or hides from you etc.

Combine this all-revealing functionality with far better read and recovery mechanisms, scanning for lost files functionality, workarounds for a wide range of drive and software bugs, limitations or shortcomings and you have an enormously powerful data recovery tool. IsoBuster is must-have-software for every PC user and is deliberately kept low priced to be able to offer a solution for everybody.

- Data recovery from all possible CD and DVD formats :
CD-i, VCD, SVCD, SACD, CD-ROM, CD-ROM XA, CD-R, CD-RW, CD-MRW, ...
DVD-ROM, DVCD, DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD+MRW, DVD+R Dual Layer, DVD-R Dual Layer, DVD+RW Dual Layer, DVD+VR, DVD+VRW, DVD-VR, DVD-VM, ...
And the list continues ... .


I have used this myself and find it absolutley invaluable!!!! Give it a go - you should be able to retrieve everything on the discs and transfer it to your hard drive and then reburn it.

[minos_6]

Thanks, I'll give that a try - worth a few £££ I'm sure.

I'll let you all know :)

Dzanetos

[Engel47]

Thanks, I'll give that a try - worth a few £££ I'm sure.

I'll let you all know :)

Dzanetos

Actually - for what it does, it is really cheap - about $25 if I remember right :) So well worth the money.

[wile1]

Hmm I don't know about everything but if you bought it wouldn't they still have the records? Couldn't you replace the stuff just by telling daz or wherever you bought it? They will usually give you another download. But I am very sorry to hear of what you lost. Back up is important .. which reminds me I need to get some files off the computer :D

[judee3d]

Just about any purchased items can be re-downloaded, all you have to do is go to the store and ask for a re-set. But I'm the first to admit that re-downloading is a pain! My HD died last august and I had nothing saved anywhere.

One thing I have noticed about DVD's and CD's - they do NOT transfer easily to different DVD players - I've tried to transfer stuff from my burned DVD's to my daughters comp and nope, it won't read them. Yet they work fine on my original DVD that burned them.

I've decided to get an external also - just trying to decide how big it needs to be so I don't overspend!

Hope you get this worked out minos, we'll miss you around here!!

[bigH]

I used CD and DVD for YEARS and never had any problems with getting info. off them - had to do thats - its what I used for all of my helpers when I went to diff. people to help them with their computer . So don't all ways blame them .

Henry

[Engel47]

@ Dzanetos - how are you getting on ? I hope you are managing to get it sorted out - did you check out isobuster? and more to the point did you download it and try it and has it worked? :spotlight

[minos_6]

Everyone - thanks for all the concern - you've all helped to cheer me up :)

Engel47 - I did download isobuster, and thanks for that, but unfortunately it didn't work. I also tried the DVDs on a work computer to no avail :(

However, my company's IS Manager has asked me to take the old HD into work so he can attempt to recover all my data from it, so watch this space ... fingers crossed ....

Dzanetos :)

[ppetersen]

Barring all of the if it gets fixed, contact Bryce and Daz... let them know the circumstances, explain you've lost everything and cannot retrieve even the program....

Most companies, (bryce etc) will have files/records of your purchase and would in good faith send you either a new disc with all information or a place to 'redownload it'...

I had this happen to a few of my programs including PSP and was fortunate enough to have them resend me. :) including key codes...

Good luck... :)))

[SnowDog]

Sorry for your loss and hope you can recover all of your great artwork and software.

All of us loose things due to crashes of one kind or another , most people don't make up backups or think of it until they loose important things.

DVD are usually considered to be one of the most reliable right now and when you do burn a DVD make sure you do a verify on it.

Make multiple copies and verify them aswell and then store the copies at some other house , incase of fire.

All Hardrives will crash its only a matter of time, the bigger the hardrive the more change of loosing more art work and important files. Bigger is not allways better.


DVDs and CDs don't last forever but will last longer if kept in a dark cool place. No one knows how long they will last , you'll see numbers from 2 years to 20 years??? Try to use a better brand name of CDs or DVDs then the cheaper no name brands.

Allways upgrade to the latest new way of backing up. This year you will see two different new storage systems coming out. Blue Ray and HD DVD who knows which system will be better.


Some so called expert said that Tape Backup is better then DVDs or CDs and will last longer but apparently he hasn't heard of magnetism.


I use DVDs and extra hardrives.

Thanks for listening this is my experience being into computers for the last 29 years.

SnowDog

[judee3d]

Dzanetos, good luck on getting back your artwork! I've heard that can be done - didn't try it with mine because the cost was too high at the time. Nice that you have a friend at your company that can help out!

Also, what Pat (ppeterson) said - contact Daz, you will be able to recuperate your purchases - all of them. If you've lost the code for Bryce - just give them your email - the one you originally used for registration, and they will send you your info. I've also been able to get everything back from all of the other stores too. So all is not lost. At least for the programs.

The artwork, that, my friend, is the hardest loss, I do understand that. And I feel for you deeply!! But hopefully you will at least get your programs and other items back and can continue to create.

**

Susan - I just bought an external HD, and I've heard of that program Ghost - I'm going to search for it online and see if it's available in download. Thanks for the reminder, I'd forgotten about it.

Snowdog, in your experience, why would a DVD work on one computer but not another? My daughter's comp does have a DVD player - but it is older than mine, and she has Windows ME. Can that affect the ability of a drive to read a dvd? I wish I knew more about all of this.

I'm still going to back up on dvd as well as the HD. Can't have too many.

:work:

[SnowDog]

Hi Judee


Ghost is a commercial program put out by Norton whois owned now by Symantec. I use it to backup my C: Drive, but I do not use it to back up my other data cause it does put it in a special format. I choose just to use Nero and make a selective data backup for my images and important things.

Why one DVD won't run on another player is sometimes too common a problem all I can say is try sticking to a good burner, my personel preference is LG and good name brand disks. I own one LG CD Burner and 2 different models of LG DVD burners and they all work well together.

I also use only Nero software for backing up and burning.

Make as many backups as you can , it never hurts


SnowDog

[minos_6]

I just can't get over what a nice bunch of guys I've come across since joining IT - thank you all for your help, support and advice.

The recovery attempt from the old HD won't be attempted for a few days, so we'll just wait and see....

For those who knew about the other trauma in my life, I'VE FOUND A NEW HOME! :party: With only 3 days to go before I have to vacate the old one ... property in London is so hard to come by, but the new apartment is large, exquisite, and cheap ... and it's in London!!!! !!!! !!!!

So maybe things are starting to go my way :)

As for my love life ... hehehe ... that's picking up too - details in private only ;)

Dzanetos

[vos]

good news,wish you all the best :hug:

[Hythshade]

Dzanetos,
Have you tried letting someone else with a dVD burner try and open the disks? They might can be re-burned, or the files from the dvd can be uploaded to a server somewhere and you can transfer from there. I had this happen to my laptop, and it was eventually just neccesary to re-install the dvd burners manufacturers drivers. As well as the burning software. Another thing you might try is using another software such as Nero or something.

I would try letting someone else open them on a regular PC and reburning them to disk. You will probably find that while they won't open on your laptop, they will open on a desktop PC.

Best of luck, I definitely feel your pain.

Michael

[Freya]

Hi, dont really have any useful advice to offer, only that I feel your pain!! Here's hoping that with all the advice people have given you are able to get your stuff working again :)
BIG :hug: