**Edited cause I need more help!*** Directions on how to save all documents to a floppy disk in case of a computer crash?

Hi,

A while back I posted about how to save your files to avoid losing things if/when your computer crashes, but I can't find the thread.

Can some post clear easy-to-follow directions on how to save all my documents, photos, etc on my computer onto a floppy disk? Is it even possible? I have a CD burner but use it so rarely I always forget how to use it!

Much appreciated!

Re: Directions on how to save all documents to a floppy disk in case of a computer crash?

teri...do you think you can fit everything onto floppies? they don't have much space...the CD is a better option...

either wat...go to My Computer...select the files/folders that you want to save...right click and copy...then go to your A Drive and paste them

Re: Directions on how to save all documents to a floppy disk in case of a computer crash?

hmmmm - I do have a ton of pics - I still think floppies would be easier though. I hate my burner!! LOL

I first need to buy some disks and will then try this - to select all files can you just hit shift and scroll down? Or do you need to choose each file individually?

Thanks!

Re: Directions on how to save all documents to a floppy disk in case of a computer crash?

you may want to zip the files - especially if you're using floppies. You won't find it easier when you see how many you'll need!

Re: Directions on how to save all documents to a floppy disk in case of a computer crash?

hightlight the first file...hold the shift button...then click on the last file...that should highlight all of them...

lisa has a good idea to zip...i would still use the CD...

Re: Directions on how to save all documents to a floppy disk in case of a computer crash?

ok, I'll try and figure out the burner over the weekend - how do I zip the files?! Sorry, I'm clueless with this sort of thing

Re: Directions on how to save all documents to a floppy disk in case of a computer crash?

if you have winzip installed, you should just be able to highlight the files, right click and select the zip option.

Re: Directions on how to save all documents to a floppy disk in case of a computer crash?

yep, I have it and just tested a few docs. I'm sure I'll have more questions in a few days when I have time for this!

Thanks Lisa and Erica!

Re: Directions on how to save all documents to a floppy disk in case of a computer crash?

I'm having the worst time with this! I finally figure out my burner and the documents are too large - so I zip them and try again, made no difference. So then I zipped only a portion of what I want and I successfully burned them onto a blank CD, but now I can't retreive the data from the disc!

I want to make sure they really did burn, but pulling the files back up onto my computer from the disc in my computer's drive, but it's not working. I have 2 disc drives and can't pull either one up, I'm ready to scream!

Anyone know what I'm talking about and can help me?!

I'd appreciate it

Re: Directions on how to save all documents to a floppy disk in case of a computer crash?

Did you format the CD's first? I made the same mistake.

Re: Directions on how to save all documents to a floppy disk in case of a computer crash?

no You always have to format prior to using CDs, for ANY reason?!

Re: Directions on how to save all documents to a floppy disk in case of a computer crash?

Actually any media needs to be formatted prior to use. I lost a ton of holiday pics because I didn't format the media card for the camera. The pics showed up on the camera but I couldn't do anything with them.

Re: Directions on how to save all documents to a floppy disk in case of a computer crash?

Teri? are you on right now? do you have aim? I could have John talk you through it...

Re: Directions on how to save all documents to a floppy disk in case of a computer crash?

sorry Erica - I just got back on now. I don't have aim - I'm using this piece of crap burning software called Nero. Actually, that doesn't now seem to be the problem.

I think it burned ok but I have no way of checking, since I can't even figure out how to retrieve the data from the disc when I insert it into the disc drive of the computer. On my computer, drives D and E are disc drives - D isn't recognized as having anything in it, and E isn't accessible.

Maybe I'll try formatting......UGH! I hate this sort of thing

Re: Directions on how to save all documents to a floppy disk in case of a computer crash?

OK...from John:

* you don't format CDs

* you don't have to zip the files if you are not comfortable...just burn on CDs (and he asks are these really big files - i.e. pictures? or music?- otherwise you should be able to fit them onto a CD)
are they jpegs? they are already compressed so zipping will do nothing to them(nor a mp3)

* as for retrieving the files...he says its one of two things - if nothing is wrong with your CD Rom:
1. you bought really cheap CDs OR
2. you burned it using the wrong format in Nero

did you use the Nero burning wizard?
chosing 'make data cd' in the wizard should burn it correctly...

you may want to chalk the first burn upto making coasters...and try again

Re: Directions on how to save all documents to a floppy disk in case of a computer crash?

thank you both so much! LOL making coasters - you don't want to KNOW how many discs I've wasted trying to burn things in the past

The discs are fuji film CD-R 700 mb - not sure if that's good, but I was trying to burn jpegs as well as word and excel docs so I'll try this again....

oh and yes, I used the Nero Wizard and chose the data cd option.

thanks!

Re: Directions on how to save all documents to a floppy disk in case of a computer crash?

he says it should work...he doesn't know much about fuji..but its not a no-name so it should be fine...

let me know what happens after the next burn

Re: Directions on how to save all documents to a floppy disk in case of a computer crash?

Erica & John - Thank you SO much! I finally successfully burned the data last night. I had to wait til this AM to see if it even worked - I brought the CD into work used my work computer, and it's all there!

I think the problem I was having with the burning was #1 trying to burn too much data at once and #2 trying to zip the files and then not knowing what to do afterwards!

Our computer at home is a few yrs old now, so maybe it just can't read the data on the disc. As long as I can burn what I have now, I don't care though - I would hate to lose 3+ yrs of wedding research, scanned pictures, etc!!!

Thanks again - I really appreciate it.