• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Windows 10

Got an invite to download the new Windows Edge this morning, seems like a big improvement, lots more to learn again but I think it will be worthwhile.
 
Got an invite to download the new Windows Edge this morning, seems like a big improvement, lots more to learn again but I think it will be worthwhile.
I been using the New Edge for about a year now as MS developed it and they actually reacted to feedback I gave them. It is as good as Chrome, in fact I sometime forget whether I am using Chrome or Edge. It can also use Google Chrome extensions and DuckDuckGo extension. You have to get them from the MS store. It will easily import bookmarks from other browsers.
Google Maps will run in New Edge but Google add a pop-up saying Chrome is better but it goes away ... ;)
 
Last edited:
I have an Acer Commodore PC, some time ago a PC engineer fitted me an additional Hard drive in a draw on my PC telling me it would continue storing/updating my files, so if it 'crashed' I would not lose my pics, docs etc... Does that mean after doing a recovery they will automatically be replaced or do I have to do something ? I forgot to ask him. Eric
 
Hi Eric, in the unlikely event that you need to carry out a 'Windows Recovery choose the option

'Keep my files'
which removes apps and settings, but keeps your personal files.


It may pay to check what is actually on your separate drive and see exactly what it is backing up.
If you type 'This pc' in the Windows Search and then look at the configuration of your computer. You should see all the drives which are in your PC. Click on the back-up drive and it should show the files on it.

Win 10 is now so reliable it is very unlikely that you would need to use Windows Recovery.

My desktop computer is an Acer. I back up important data photos etc to separate usb 500gb drives manually once per week.

oldmohawk
 
It sounds like you have two physical hard drives, with Windows and all your personal files on one, and these "backup" files on the other.

So I THINK if you did a Windows recovery it would only update the hard disk with Windows on it and not the other hard disk.

However we don't know what program he used to create and maintain this "second" hard disk so we cannot be certain.

Also after doing the Windows recovery we do not know if these other files on the second hard disk will still be viewable (if they were created with a special backup program they may only be viewable by that backup program).

Sadly there are so many ways to setup and maintain a Windows computer it is hard to give a definitive answer.

Is there any way you can ask the engineer who set it up as any Windows recovery could destroy these backups.

Also I would make a FURTHER backup of all these files as one backup is never enough.

Why do you need to do a Windows recovery?
 
I have a 64gb usb to back up my files, but it only shows as 32gb. I have less than 1gb left for back up, so how do i access the other 32gb. Hope this makes sense!
 
I had a 32Gb usb on which I installed a bootable Linux and when I decided to later use it as a normal usb I formatted it and found I had only got 2GB available! It had become partitioned and a normal format only acted on the 2Gb partition. I had to use a Disk Management tool to re-partition the usb to get my missing 30Gb back.

You could try the Disk Management to look at your drives and the usb

Right click on the Start
Scroll up to Disk Mangement
Click DM and have a look

My laptop shows as below
Disk 0 is the data HDD disk
Disk 1 is a SSD and has the operating system on it
Disk 2 is a removable USB I had just plugged in
disks1.jpg

Please note altering partition sizes and any formatting removes data on a usb so any files must be temporarily backed up somewhere else ...:)
 
Last edited:
Eric, you should go back and have a chat with the engineer who fitted this additional hard drive and ask him/her how they configured it.

If you do not know this, then clarify for your own piece of mind what has been done. Speculation without facts is a race to the bottom.

I have a lot of photographs and documents on my computer that I would hate to lose. Therefore, I have additional hard drives that backs up my computer every hour automatically to a remote location.
 
Thanks for your help, I followed old Mohawk's advice and it appears that the back up hard drive that the eng fitted has all my pic, doc and music files (up to date) and asks me if I wish to restore said files (whatever that means) I will have a word with the Engineer (PC PAL) a 2 man local company who I find very good. As OM said it is unlikely to crash and I also have my pics and doc files on CD and DVD which I regularly update. My main concern is I have 225 pics of my sold/donated paintings which I would be unable to replace apart from those on the Forum. Thanks again for your advice and help. Eric
 
Last edited:
I had a 32Gb usb on which I installed a bootable Linux and when I decided to later use it as a normal usb I formatted it and found I had only got 2GB available! It had become partitioned and a normal format only acted on the 2Gb partition. I had to use a Disk Management tool to re-partition the usb to get my missing 30Gb back.

You could try the Disk Management to look at your drives and the usb

Right click on the Start
Scroll up to Disk Mangement
Click DM and have a look

My laptop shows as below
Disk 0 is the data HDD disk
Disk 1 is a SSD and has the operating system on it
Disk 2 is a removable USB I had just plugged in
View attachment 145278

Please note altering partition sizes and any formatting removes data on a usb so any files must be temporarily backed up somewhere else ...:)
It shows 25.8 unallocated, so, any idea how to allocate this before it runs out of space (999mb) left.
 
It shows 25.8 unallocated, so, any idea how to allocate this before it runs out of space (999mb) left.
Data cannot be written to unallocated space so using the disk management tool you need to expand the current active partition or create a new partition and write data to that. It has been some time since I did this so I'll go back through my notes. I also might have used a DM called Easeus.

Google 'using unallocated space' and expanding partitions/volumes would probably show methods but try it on a spare USB not your back-up ... :)

edit .... I think I used a method like this to restore a usb after I had used it as a Linux boot disk
 
Last edited:
I have a 64gb usb to back up my files, but it only shows as 32gb. I have less than 1gb left for back up, so how do i access the other 32gb. Hope this makes sense!

I would not play around altering partitions etc on your USB memory stick in case you get it wrong and alter the partitions on your hard disks making them unusable (this is easier to do than you may think, I remember reading of one person who formatted their whole external hard drive containing priceless backups while doing a Windows reinstall as they left it plugged in while doing the Windows reinstall).

You can buy a 64GB memory stick for less than £10 off Amazon.

Here is one as an example (there are many others). Many large supermarkets also sell USB Memory sticks.


So I would buy one or more USB sticks (maybe larger ones like 128GB for only £15) and backup your files to them as well. Always best to have multiple backups.

Maybe get your engineer friends to sort of the missing space on your USB memory stick.
 
Last edited:
Data cannot be written to unallocated space so using the disk management tool you need to expand the current active partition or create a new partition and write data to that. It has been some time since I did this so I'll go back through my notes. I also might have used a DM called Easeus.

Google 'using unallocated space' and expanding partitions/volumes would probably show methods but try it on a spare USB not your back-up ... :)

edit .... I think I used a method like this to restore a usb after I had used it as a Linux boot disk
Thanks oM, i don`t have a spare usb, so i may as well buy a larger size 128gb for my backup & then try using Easeus to sort out the missing 32gb on the one i`m using now.
 
I would not play around altering partitions etc on your USB memory stick in case you get it wrong and alter the partitions on your hard disks making them unusable (this is easier to do than you may think, I remember reading of one person who formatted their whole external hard drive containing priceless backups while doing a Windows reinstall as they left it plugged in while doing the Windows reinstall).

You can buy a 64GB memory stick for less than £10 off Amazon.

Here is one as an example (there are many others). Many large supermarkets also sell USB Memory sticks.


So I would buy one or more USB sticks (maybe larger ones like 128GB for only £15) and backup your files to them as well. Always best to have multiple backups.

Maybe get your engineer friends to sort of the missing space on your USB memory stick.
guilbert53, I`m going to buy a 128gb usb for my back ups, & maybe try easeus to restore my other usb to full 64gb. Thanks.
 
guilbert53, I`m going to buy a 128gb usb for my back ups, & maybe try easeus to restore my other usb to full 64gb. Thanks.

If you are going to try to sort out your 64GB using Easeus try to do it on a spare PC and not your main one.

So easy to get confused with various disks and USBs on a computer and it is easy to make a mistake.

Maybe do it on a spare laptop or other PC, or get your PC engineer friend to have a look at it.
 
On Friday 29th I let Microsoft upgrade/update my Dell laptop and Acer desktop to Version 2004 OS build 19041.264. It took 40 minutes and all running well ...

Only problem is 'I can't see anything really different' ... they must be running out of new features to add !
 
My desktop died yesterday so it's all in bits waiting for a new power supply unit, got out this beautiful laptop but keep hitting the wrong keys:mad:
 
Back
Top