Is CHKDSK actually any good? [more inside]
posted by edbyford on Mar 4, 2009 - 17 answers

I have a portable usb hard drive that I use for keeping all my documents / backups on. Windows seems to love using this drive for everything, for example I am installing IE7 from windows update, and it is using the drive to hold all the temporary files during the install. Because of this the drive is always in use and I can never eject it. [more inside]
posted by Syntoad on Feb 17, 2009 - 5 answers

What's the best backup solution for (Ubuntu) Linux? I need a backup as complete as possible of a home directory of ~10+ GB, nightly, etc. I have two large external USB 2.0 drives for the purpose... [more inside]
posted by tmcw on May 18, 2008 - 11 answers

Ahhh! My Mac crapped out! Can anyone recommend a good data recovery company that is dependable but won't charge me an arm and a leg to retrieve my files? I really hope so. I have a lot of photos and files that I would be SO distraught over losing. MY MORALE IS IN YOUR HANDS!!! [more inside]
posted by lukeklein on Feb 7, 2008 - 13 answers

My computer recently crapped out and I desperately need to get back the files on my hard drive. I bought a HD enclosure which did not help me out. I tried to change the permission on the files, but it kept telling me that I need to format everything. Is there any other way I could get my files back? (The computer is completely done, but the hard drive is alive.) [more inside]
posted by cheero on Feb 28, 2007 - 14 answers

How can I access restricted files on a Windows partition? [more inside]
posted by benjh on Jun 18, 2006 - 3 answers

What is the best software program for encrypting certain folders on an external hard drive. [more inside]
posted by turbanhead on Mar 31, 2006 - 12 answers

I've overfilled my laptop and want to move files to external drives. But moving keeps getting stopped for various reasons (and what the hell is a cyclic redundancy??) and I'm going nuts. Please send me your speed tips and procedure suggestions! The specifics: Toshiba satellite running windows xp; total c drive size 55.8gb, free space 12.6. External drives: f (in fat 32 which I'd like to reformat to ntfs) has a capacity of 152gb, and has only 66.1 free. Newest drive g (i've just formatted it to ntfs) has a capacity of 111gb, with 103 left after my abortive attempts to put an image disc of c on it. Thanks ... [more inside]
posted by thewhynotgirl on Nov 1, 2005 - 14 answers