Will changing/removing a factory (DELL) set RAID 5 configuration from a home desktop PC interfere with rebuilding the OS (XP Pro) from the factory restore discs? [more inside]
posted by lyam on Nov 19, 2009 - 4 answers

I errantly deleted all of my saved usernames and passwords from Firefox. Is there any way to get them back? [more inside]
posted by sockpup on Nov 17, 2009 - 4 answers

I'm going to wipe my hard drive and reinstall Windows XP. But my files are in a huge mess and I'm scared I'm going to screw something up. [more inside]
posted by kitcat on Sep 30, 2009 - 16 answers

Is my iPod touch dead? [more inside]
posted by Ghidorah on Sep 3, 2009 - 12 answers

How do I smooth out creases in a fairly fresh oil painting? [more inside]
posted by hermitosis on Aug 13, 2009 - 7 answers

Since upgrading to the latest Firefox (3.51?) the Session Restore feature which restores windows, tabs has NEVER worked. I get a white screen which says how embarrassing it is my previous session can't be restored. I'd just like to start every session as a new one, it would save a lot of time, but can't figure out how to avoid the restore function. The Mozilla/Firefox support site is so dense and discombobulated I can't find anything helpful there. Any suggestions?
posted by NorthCoastCafe on Jul 31, 2009 - 5 answers

I'm using Firefox 3.5 (on Leopard). Whenever I re-open FF, it remembers my tabs as it should, but there's a catch. All of them will "load" forever without actually doing anything unless I go to the location bar of each and hit enter. Hitting "Reload all tabs" doesn't work, instead it makes them all go blank. Also, until I switch to another tab and back, the URL of the first tab doesn't even appear. [more inside]
posted by N2O1138 on Jul 12, 2009 - 3 answers

I need to help my friend upgrade from Intrepid Ibex to Jaunty Jackalope. I'd appreciate any tips or advice for doing this. What's the best backup tool to use, and how do I restore from the backup if things go wrong? I'm thinking something like Time Machine would be nice, but I can do command line stuff, too. Any other best practice tips for the upgrade itself? Thanks so much in advance.
posted by zenja72 on Jun 19, 2009 - 10 answers

Is there a fairly comprehensive method I can use to image a hard-drive quickly, in case I end up needing that backup image later? [more inside]
posted by geodave on Apr 6, 2009 - 14 answers

How can I install Windows 7 (via Boot Camp or rEFIt) from an ISO? I think the Superdrive on my Macbook Pro (10.5.6) is on its last legs, because it ejects almost anything I put in it. (Meaning blank DVDs, and the DVD I burned of the ISO on my Windows XP desktop with ImgBurn). It's not extremely old (I got it refurbished on Christmas 2007), but still old enough to be out of warranty (at least I would think so). What I have available: 1tb My Book Firewire External Hard Drive 4gb 1st gen iPod Nano, that isn't even formatted as an iPod right now, so it's basically just a 4gb USB flash drive. I know I can boot from it if it's set up right, because I've been using it with this [more inside]
posted by N2O1138 on Mar 17, 2009 - 6 answers

I recently lost a raid array on a ubuntu 8.04 server forcing me to rebuild it from scratch and/or restore data from backup. (I have copies of /var, /etc, and /home) The problem is I can't seem to rebuild the server so that it works exactly the way it did before, this is killing me!! (fyi... I inherited this system). My specific problem seems to be with Samba. I'm looking for help in two different ways... help 1) either figure out how to restore this system with what I've got backed up. Or fix samba so it works. See details below: [more inside]
posted by purenitrous on Feb 17, 2009 - 9 answers

Is it safe to restore an iPhone unlocked with AnySIM? [more inside]
posted by doomtop on Feb 7, 2009 - 3 answers

Please help me restore the shape of my Coach bag. [more inside]
posted by happy scrappy on Jan 10, 2009 - 4 answers

What are the alternatives on converting a physical computer to a virtual machine that would run (preferably) on a Virtual Box emulator? [more inside]
posted by fcoury on Dec 29, 2008 - 3 answers

A couple of weeks ago I had to do a System Restore on my PC, after which I had to reinstall Microsoft Office (2007). Ever since, every time I I open an office program like word or Excel, the program has to go through a long configuration process. [more inside]
posted by Sara Anne on Nov 14, 2008 - 4 answers

I am a new blogger using b2evolution who is considering a switch to Wordpress. I would like to back up & restore the whole blog. What exact steps do I need to take (on both the blog & database side) to accomplish this? [more inside]
posted by Nixie Pixel on Nov 13, 2008 - 6 answers

I have a first generation iPod nano. Over a year ago, I installed linux on it, through some process I don't remember now. Now I want to get it running the standard software, but a normal iTunes restore doesn't help. [more inside]
posted by scottreynen on Aug 8, 2008 - 5 answers

I need to swab my old laptop as completely as possible before I sell it... the only problem is, I don't have a restore or new operating system disc. Please help! [more inside]
posted by bjork24 on Aug 4, 2008 - 13 answers

I'm having some trouble recreating a Drupal site on my local machine for testing/sandbox purposes. The mysql databases are the biggest stumbling block at the moment - very basic, beginner advice is probably needed. [more inside]
posted by Banky_Edwards on Jun 27, 2008 - 7 answers

What's the easiest way to restore my OS X 10.4 backup of my iBook laptop onto my shiny new OS X 10.5 Macbook? The catch: I made the backup using rsync, to a Linux file server. [more inside]
posted by autojack on May 9, 2008 - 11 answers

To defrag or not to defrag (an iPod)? [more inside]
posted by grabbingsand on Apr 10, 2008 - 6 answers

Help me recover some deleted files on an old DOS system. [more inside]
posted by imaswinger on Mar 12, 2008 - 9 answers

Through a series of dumb (though possibly dumb-lucky) mistakes and mysterious errors followed by disk failure, I am piecing a SQL (2005) server back together from not exactly optimal ingredients. I need help. [more inside]
posted by Lyn Never on Mar 2, 2008 - 1 answer

How can I save my digicam pics (retrieved from various old CDs and DVDs) and not spend weeks on it? Currently many of them crash (Windows) Explorer. [more inside]
posted by ClarissaWAM on Jan 14, 2008 - 6 answers

How do I get files from this old backup? [more inside]
posted by Calibandage on Oct 9, 2007 - 7 answers

How do I fully automate restoring my Windows XP test machines to a clean state on a daily basis? [more inside]
posted by TheSlate on Sep 10, 2007 - 5 answers

my brother had a corrupt system file that causes windows XP media center ed. to not boot up. while in the recovery console, he accidentally clicked an option to restore the computer to factory settings. Is it possible to recover the data he lost?
posted by FireStyle on Jun 18, 2007 - 2 answers

Antique Print Restoration: I have 6 or 7 original c. 1860 Gould humming bird prints. These are large (14" x x21" +/-) hand-colored lithographs. In wonderful condition EXCEPT there is slight black "text transfer" visible on the print. This sometimes happens to antique prints when there was no tissue-guard to separate the print from the text on the opposite facing page. [more inside]
posted by toucano on Jun 11, 2007 - 2 answers

Please help my father find as-original decals for the 1955 Ferguson 35 Deluxe tractor he's restoring! [more inside]
posted by Alterscape on May 13, 2007 - 5 answers

I restored my Picasa data from a backup after a crash. Now none of the previously hidden photos are still hidden. Can I recover this automatically somehow? [more inside]
posted by grouse on Mar 27, 2007 - 5 answers

I need to restore a Windows 3.1x backup from 3.5" disks to a safe area of my Windows XP machine. Is that even possible? If so, how can I do it? [more inside]
posted by Hogshead on Mar 22, 2007 - 8 answers

What online digital photo restoration sites do you have experience with? Would recommend? [more inside]
posted by althanis on Mar 9, 2007 - 3 answers

Suddenly when clicking on "restore down" in Firefox, part of the contents of the web page now disappears off the screen. IE still adjusts the "restore down" screen to accomodate most of the original web page. Does anyone know how I can reinstall this feature in Firefox. Thanks.
posted by NinaLee on Feb 16, 2007 - 4 answers

My boss' laptop died last week. I "restored" his Thunderbird profile from his old data (we got it off the old hard drive) onto a new Vista machine, and everything came through - even the POP configs etc. - but he lost all his old emails for people after the letter 'H.' Does anyone understand the Thunderbird data structure enough to help me look for the rest? [more inside]
posted by wavejumper on Feb 4, 2007 - 4 answers

My XP Home SP2 PC is trying to finalize a repair job, but can't. is there any way of performing a system restore? [more inside]
posted by lemonfridge on Jan 27, 2007 - 4 answers

Which index.dat file should I use to obtain accidentally erased Google form history? A little [more inside]
posted by strangelove on Jan 6, 2007 - 4 answers

What's the best way to backup/restore (on a Mac)? [more inside]
posted by Colloquial Collision on Dec 11, 2006 - 13 answers

I had a folder on my XP desktop containing some .wav files. I then deleted the entire folder, and emptied the recycling bin. For some reason, this folder has been restoring itself on my desktop (sans the files) for reasons I cannot fathom. Each time, I delete it, and at some mysterious point later, it shows up again. [more inside]
posted by war wrath of wraith on Dec 9, 2006 - 6 answers

I am a mac, and I (think I) screwed up my gf's HP laptop, there's... [more inside]
posted by bach on Dec 2, 2006 - 11 answers

What are some good programs for backing up photo's to CD / DVD? Specific features requested. [more inside]
posted by sprocket87 on Nov 27, 2006 - 7 answers

4 Bigshot users. Highly customized profiles. All getting new (different) hardware. How do I get the new machines "the way I had it before" for them without spending a week re-doing all the software customizing that they can't tell me how they did in the first place? [more inside]
posted by bartleby on Nov 6, 2006 - 11 answers

I need software/service/help for recovering files from my camera's corrupted memory card. 300 photos from my trip to Spain. Poof. I'm using a Mac, the camera's a Panasonic FZ7, and I do not have ready access to a Windows or Linux machine. Disk Warrior appears to be of no avail (Not using a separate card reader, just the camera's USB connection). Anything I can try from the command line or anything like that? [more inside]
posted by adamrice on Oct 9, 2006 - 7 answers

PC hardware/xp masters, lend me your keystrokes. I have a Dell Demension 9100, or I should say- I am working on a Dell Demension 9100. The computer was working fine until one day when it BSOD'd with an error concerning the /sysroot/system32/SOFTWARE or something of the like. I tried everything I could to get into the recovery console, but no dice, BSOD'd everytime even loading the windows cd. (Should have been my first warning I think...) So I boot into knoppix (it's a 64 bit, so I had to buy an enclosure because I don't have a SATA on my old 500 mhz gx1) mount the drive and copy over all the files to another external disk. I move that onto another one of the org's computers and the Foundation is back in business. See more for the fun part. [more inside]
posted by eleongonzales on Oct 5, 2006 - 14 answers

Is there a dependable program that will do a "freeze frame" of a fresh Windows 2000 install, so that I don't have to install Win, SP4, my basic driver set, DirectX, etc, etc, if/when my computer bites the big one? Ideally it would generate a bootable CD that would replace /winnt and registry.
posted by rolypolyman on Sep 12, 2006 - 11 answers

My girlfriend just had osx reinstalled on her computer - which lead to the overwrite of her mail and ical files ... essentially wiping them clean. is there any chance there is a backup or recovery method for the her mail, calendar, address book archives?
posted by specialk420 on Aug 24, 2006 - 13 answers

What did I do to gain Administrator privileges to install software and how can I do it again? [more inside]
posted by nserrano on Jul 19, 2006 - 18 answers

How to restore the "system state" data on an XP system? [more inside]
posted by Brian James on Jun 21, 2006 - 4 answers

In a nutshell. I have a PC running Windows XP, personal edition. I want to restore the computer to factory standards (when i got it out of the box). No CD's or Discs came withthe computer. IS there a way to do this through XP? Its a HP 523n Desktop, and I have had the computer almost 3 years.... (more) [more inside]
posted by TwilightKid on Jun 6, 2006 - 11 answers

I want to backup a Windows partition to a DVD, so that I can make my own restore disc. Is this possible? [more inside]
posted by northernsoul on Apr 3, 2006 - 3 answers

I used ClamXav for Mac OS X to locate any viruses and had the infected MS Word docs (quite a few) isolated. Now I need a free download to clear the viruses and repair these documents. Know of any and where I can find them? For the future, are there any free downloads that do both the finding and repairing?
posted by auntbee on Jul 29, 2005 - 0 answers