Backing up & Upgrading your computer

Backup and restore your computer. Also some information about upgrading to a new computer.

Backing Up your Computer

If your computer decides to malfunction, that is the hard drive crashes! I'm sure you, like most of us, don't want to lose your precious photo's and important documents. Unfortunately it is just a fact of life now living with computers, that they can malfunction at any time! At 1st Choice Rentals, we urge you to back up your computer regularly so you don't lose any photos or documents.

All you need is a decent external hard drive and 1 Blank CD/DVD, a small price to pay for peace of mind, you can ask us and we can add an external hard drive to your computer orlaptop rental package. Or if you prefer, you can pick one up from as little as $60 from any major retailer, such as
Dick Smith Electronics or
JB Hi Fi.

Ok, so now your asking how do I back up my computer? Windows 7 makes it easy to back up and be able to restore your computer in 3 simple clicks! Please Click Here for step by step instructions.

For users with previous versions of windows, stay tuned to this post for an update.

Upgrading your Computer – can I use my backups to transfer my old data to my new computer?

The simple answer here, is you can use your backup to transfer your photos and documents to your new computer. It is a little more complicated when it comes to transferring your programs.

There are a few factors to consider when trying to restore programs, programs are only designed for specific operating systems, not all programs are compatible with Windows 7. In addition, we need to consider the number of bits an operating system uses, that is usually either 32bit or 64bit.

So we must look at our programs and see if they are compatible with our new windows operating system. Even if your program is not compatible, there maybe an update available on the web that will enable the program to run on the new operating system. Be sure to
google it first.

So, you will need to re-install all your programs onto the new computer and sometimes you will need to download an update to your programs from the web! So be sure you keep all your program disks in a safe spot, and if you have programs that you have downloaded from the web, keep the downloaded file in a handy spot on your computer, usually your “Downloads file”. The good thing with restoring a system backup to a new computer, is that any documents and shortcuts we have for those programs, will be copied over when restoring your back up onto a new computer.