Hi, back again, having gotten sidetracked researching a new computer system. I bought a Maxtor external Drive but I am taking it back after reading many many posts suggesting they fail more often than others. I also am finding that even when you use an external drive, that most people recommend that you back up to DVD/CD as well. So I am wondering if you have to back up the external drive, then why have one at all? I didn't want to spend the money on small flash drives to 'store' my data on, because it would not be cheap in comparison to much more storage space on an external drive for the money. But I think I would like to use ONE flashdrive? memory stick? [Are they the same, btw?] just to transfer my data from the old computer to the new. They can be written over repeatedly, correct? After I am finished transferring, I would like to use the flash drive to put my most valuable docs and photos onto the flash drive and use it to store in a safety deposit box. Is that possible? I am thinking that once I get onto a new machine with a new DVD player that would also allow me to write to a DVD, that I could back up that way. Am I making sense? Any experiences that would suggest I should think of doing something else? Oh, btw, I do have a wireless home network and two laptops use the network. One is a Macbook and at the moment one is a PC. Is there anything I should know about formatting my data so it can be used by both Win/PC and Mac? Any storage media I can get that will allow me to use it on both? Thank you all for the input... :-) pm2

granms, it took me quite a while to study/read through your posts. I see what you mean and I do know that there is a difference between trying to do a recovery and doing a restore. I am trying to protect myself in case the same thing happens to me as happened to you and when zep mentioned the "Vista installation disk"......well tlhat sounded like something I needed to have. I DO have the Factory recovery disk. I asked for them when I bought my computer from HP, and they were sent with the computer. I also made recovery disk myself, so I have two sets of recovery. Thanks for taking the time and effort in giving so much detail and info in your posting, I'm sure I'm not the only one who has studied it and gotten good information from it.

If you did not have them before and they suddenly appeared I would get rid of them, the fact they both say they are in beta is yet another reason to get rid of them. I would also run malwarebytes free to see if you have any malware on your pc that may be responsible for this. Do you by any chance have Advanced System care on your pc? If so that is probably where it came from. This is not a reputable company it is by IOBIT which has been in the news for stealing the code from other companies like malwarebytes and others. Also if you have the registry cleaner I would definitely get rid of it and stay away from registry cleans period. If you feel the need to use some type of clean up utility use ATF ATF-Cleaner follow directions and it is safe. How to download and install Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware application for Windows computers

I am using DVD+R to reuse one I have, looking in my physical file I see I have 5 new ones that don't need to be erased. Still I wonder. I purchased these back in 2007, progress may have left them behind. The label is: DVD RW, DVD+R I should be able to read and write, hum, doesn't say erasable. The mfg is Memorex and proudly proclaims: Recordable, Enregistrable and Grabable the last two of which I have no clue to the meaning. I think I may have purchased them for use in a DVD audio/video recorder.. but that is digital too. I am pretty sure I can stick in my DVD player/recorder (not on the computer) and erase/overwrite..not sure I want to got to the trouble to check. Thanks for the link to third party DVD software. I'll look there but most likely will just use a new DVD. It lists a 4.7 GByte capacity. Does newer technology hold more? I think the Toshiba script talked about 4.7 GByte (may be the standard still) and two DVDs.