Windows 7 aaargh!

[VanDyke]

Sorry to hear that Kirk.
I think you should not consider changing to Mac, because they can also crash.
I am running W7 64 from the start and had no crash or problem whatsoever.
And from what I hear in general lots of people are as positive as myself.
The best thing you can do in my opinion is not to install the upgrade because that gives most of the problems.
Invest in a w7 64 version an my guess is that all your problems will be solved.

Good luck!

Peter Koning

[Matus Kalisky]

Kirk, as you are under time pressure. Would it be a solution to loan or find some other way to get a backup computer until your will be checked/repaired? Did you consider getting a new PC and maybe keep your old one (once running again) as a backup for the future?

Getting a new PC could be the fastest way to get back to work (which seems to be the top priority for you).

I (as a Mac user) would say - forget the switch to Apple right now - it always cost time (and money) to switch platforms - you want to plan something like that.

[rdenney]

Hmmm.......the ShadowProtect tutorial seems to recommend using the W7 restore software, but from their backup......

That isn't right. You reboot the machine using the Shadowprotect recovery CD (which you make), and then you can either restore from a backup or you can mount the backup as a virtual disk and extract files from it. This assumes that the backup is not affected by the same failure that took down the machine, which is why I backup (daily) to network attached storage. I can't find anything in their web page or my experience that suggests you need the Win7 recovery software. It will work with Win7 snapshot services, so that you can make image backups of files in process (such as exchange server files), and I have had some trouble getting that to work on my box. But it will also make its own snapshot.

It is even possible to load an image backup as a virtual machine if your version of Win7 supports virtualization. I have not fully tested that feature, but it does make me curious. It may require a stronger virtualization tool than what comes with Win7 Professional, such as VMWare. With that, if a machine crashed profoundly, it would be possible to create that very machine as a virtual machine on another computer.

And during a really critical operation, you can set up Shadowprotect to create an incremental image backup as often as every 15 minutes.

http://www.storagecraft.com/shadow_protect_desktop.php

There are probably other products, and maybe even cheaper products, that do just as well, but this is the one I've been using.

Rick "who got tired of cheapie backup software" Denney

[jon.oman]

I could not stand how the backup software provided with my Western Digital USB drive slowed down my computer to a crawl. So, I wrote my own backup software. It does not stay resident in memory, but I can run it on demand. It automatically backs up everything to two USB drives. Normally, it takes about ten minutes each time I do it. This is with 1 TB drives.

[Brian C. Miller]

I am looking for a computer for my boys. Looking at a medium range machine for their high school work, light gaming, photoshop.

Is there a better PC machine out there? I don't really trust Dell -- the comment about HP looking to leave the field has me wondering (I have been looking at them).

Well, maybe this would help both of you. The reason that HP wants to leave the PC field is because the competition is fierce. HP, like IBM before it, is losing money on PCs.

Now, to the recommendation: the machine you buy from the mom & pop stores is like the machine I would build myself. It is comprised of parts bought from suppliers. The machine bought from Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba, etc., has gone through a certain amount of testing, which is the big difference between them and mom & pop. What you can get for $500 is pretty hefty these days in a desktop machine. For a general representation of what's out there, take a look at Newegg.com and browse a little bit. You can get a quad core for $500. Or you could get a decent laptop for the same price.

[peter ramm]

Kirk, I join with those who say that W7/64 is the best (perhaps the only good) windows since XP. I've been using it on multiple machines since introduced and no issues with the OS. Compare that with Vista, which self destructed on me any number of times. However, all OS - including W7 - have to interface to hardware. In the PC world, that is made by everyone and anyone. I roll my own PCs and I've had problems with everything from FW drivers (big time) to hard disk interfaces to power supplies. I have never had one of those problems destroy the OS installation. That makes your case unusual.

Two years is a full generation in computer years. Depends on your finances but my inclination would be to do a clean install on a new machine. I would avoid migration or cloning software. I have had issues with both. Better to uninstall/reinstall software, despite the time it takes.

There have been lots of good suggestions here that would help improve the existing PC, but it just takes one bad solder joint or laggy memory chip to make a really evil computer.

[SamReeves]

I've been wanting to run W7 on my Mac Pro, but frickin Apple doesn't want to release drivers for my particular model. Bah…

Might as well go back to typewritters.

[Kirk Gittings]

Kirk, as you are under time pressure. Would it be a solution to loan or find some other way to get a backup computer until your will be checked/repaired? Did you consider getting a new PC and maybe keep your old one (once running again) as a backup for the future?

Getting a new PC could be the fastest way to get back to work (which seems to be the top priority for you).

I (as a Mac user) would say - forget the switch to Apple right now - it always cost time (and money) to switch platforms - you want to plan something like that.

Thanks all. Matus I am kind of stuck at the moment financially-business sucks-and what money I do have for equipment is going into video. I need to try and make this work and find a better C drive clone. Thanks.

BTW the memory test came back clean.

[Kuzano]

Well, maybe this would help both of you. The reason that HP wants to leave the PC field is because the competition is fierce. HP, like IBM before it, is losing money on PCs.

Now, to the recommendation: the machine you buy from the mom & pop stores is like the machine I would build myself. It is comprised of parts bought from suppliers. The machine bought from Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba, etc., has gone through a certain amount of testing, which is the big difference between them and mom & pop. What you can get for $500 is pretty hefty these days in a desktop machine. For a general representation of what's out there, take a look at Newegg.com and browse a little bit. You can get a quad core for $500. Or you could get a decent laptop for the same price.

OEM machines from Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba usually have less of the driver, and drive subsystem errors because they are tested well on parts and OS compatibility. Machines built from scratch take a lot of research to put the right parts together, and the parts market is HUGE.

I favor Toshiba in the laptop market. All my clients using laptops, for the most part use Toshiba's. Toshiba's always place high in reviews, particularly the Consumer Reports April edition (computers) and usually receive 2 or 3 best choice awards in different size categories. I've also seen reports that Toshiba is the most "parts and assembly in America" laptop throughout the range of laptops.

I serviced Dell on-site for 5 years and still have a high regard for their desktops. Their laptops.... not so much.

I just helped an engineering student entering a four year degree progam configure and buy a new Toshiba with an I5 Intel, 8 GB of RAM and 650 Gb HD for under 700. Another $150 would have made it an I7.

[Francisco Disilvestro]

I would suggest Casper 7 from Future systems solutions as a tool to create C drive clones. I have used it extensively on windows Xp and it should work on windows 7 too.
You can download a 30 days free trial and perform tests to see it if works for you. Basically I recommend to test the cloning of the C drive and then trying to reboot from the cloned drive. If it works, then you could just repeat the cloning each time you update your OS.