Computer question ref. a thumbdrive

[britfish]

ok, I am not very computer savy so please no laughing!! We have to send our lap top back for some warranty work and they told us to download all of our documents on a thumb drive before sending it back.
I bought a thumb drive, now what do I do?
Also, do I just download document or do I have to download programs that are on it?
Any insight would be GREATLY appreciated. We are leaving for WDW and I want to send this out before we leave!

 

[Jestocost]

Any documents that you want to save--word processing, spreadsheets, photos, etc.--should be transferred to the thumb drive. You can just drag and drop if that works.

Unless you have a HUGE thumb drive, it's probably not practical to do the same with programs. Hopefully you have other media to reinstall those.

 

[P.I. Squirrel]

When you plug in your USB drive, it will be seen as any other drive in My Computer. You can drag and drop as mentioned earlier, or cut and paste from your My Documents folder to your USB drive. Do the same for wherever you stored your pictures.

This is a precaution just in case the computer repair tech needs to format and restore your hard drive. As you said this is warranty work, that is very likely to happen.

 

[britfish]

When they work on our computer will I end up loosing things I have installed like my anti virus and my Picasa photo program? We are sending it back because ther plug cord doesn't make a good connection in the laptop so its hard to get it to charge.

 

[BunsenH]

When they work on our computer will I end up loosing things I have installed like my anti virus and my Picasa photo program? We are sending it back because ther plug cord doesn't make a good connection in the laptop so its hard to get it to charge.

The repair that you mention should not have any effect on your data or applications. However, copy the information in the unlikely event of a disaster (dropped, lost, wrong repair tag, etc.).

 

[JR6ooo4]

The repair that you mention should not have any effect on your data or applications. However, copy the information in the unlikely event of a disaster (dropped, lost, wrong repair tag, etc.).

the number ONE step in computer repair:

BACK UP ALL YOUR DATA

never ever even think something like, "this repair should not affect your data". because the first time you think it, it will happen.

Just like when clients ask us "Don't you trust me?"
"Not since you said that?"

You think you have everything backed up, but if there is a full data loss, once you start working with the computer again... I usually realize I have missed something. Like emails, or browser bookmarks, registration numbers etc...

I reccomend a USB backup drive, they are dirt cheap now. I saw a 500 gig for $89!

then just copy your entire hard drive to it. it might need to run overnight depending on the amount of data.

Mikeee

 

[britfish]

thanks for all your replies and advice, its so helpful!