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  • #31
    That's what I'd like to know. I have his email address, but he never answers me. We haven't worked together in some time; neither of us still works for that company (which is all for the best).

    Comment


    • #32
      Quoth emax4 View Post
      Did you or a friend build the computer you have now or did you buy it from a store? If it was store-bought, you may have recovery discs that allow you to install the software just like it came from the factory. of course, now it's put in the larger hard drive you now have installed.

      If it's a Dell, you may not have the discs, but instead of paying for a restore DVD you may be able to contact Dell and get one sent to you for free.

      If it was built by someone they should have given you the operating system (XP, Vista, 7) CDs or DVD to allow the same type of restoration.
      This is the next step.
      Ok. So use Magical Jellybean Key Finder. I have a suspicion that this is possibly a pirate version.
      IF this computer is not a retail pre-built machine (Dell, HP, etc) it's going to be even more interesting!! Yay, somewhat.
      Create the tech disk http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html; you have GOT to get the Admin (God Admin) password.

      @ Barcode - she's got a restoration partition on the very front of the drive. That MIGHT work if the drive croaks
      Eireann--DO NOT PANIC.
      What I want is to have a way to re-install stuff if anything goes bad. And, also, what if YOU need to reinstall stuff later here?

      You will need to use a 3rd party software to recover the Administrator Password (but are you an Admin?) If you're an admin, you'll be able to run and change this partition stuff. Still, we're going to need that Admin password.

      So correct me if I'm wrong
      You have a PC running Windows 7 (what version, Home Premium?)
      You have a 1TB hard drive that IS working but you need to change your partition allocations
      We need to know if you're Limited User or Admin
      You do not have a DVD copy of the OS
      You do not have a key for this OS
      You do not have the Admin Password for this
      The goal here is to use a tech disk, UBCD to change the partition setup.

      Use CCleaner to tidy up your C: drive
      Use Magical Jellybean Key Finder to get the OS key, if there's Office 2007 etc key, all the major programs. You will need to keep those anyways.
      I think it's possible to change the partition from that CD - because it's running Linux stuff. Without the Admin password.
      But I feel it is very important to get the Admin password in case you need to use the "restore" partition (the little tiny one in the hard drive); to totally reinstall the OS. That's later.

      Am I correct?
      In my heart, in my soul, I'm a woman for rock & roll.
      She's as fast as slugs on barbituates.

      Comment


      • #33
        Okay, facts:

        I bought the computer pre-made, with Windows XP installed (though that was on my old hard drive).
        I do have a CD for reinstalling XP, which came with the computer.
        Mr. Computer Guy has Admin rights; I don't.
        I've downloaded CCleaner. I bailed out when it asked me if I wanted to delete certain files.

        Let's see - what else?

        Comment


        • #34
          Quoth Der Cute View Post
          This is the next step.
          So correct me if I'm wrong
          You have a PC running Windows 7 (what version, Home Premium?)
          You have a 1TB hard drive that IS working but you need to change your partition allocations
          We need to know if you're Limited User or Admin
          You do not have a DVD copy of the OS we got this info
          You do not have a key for this OS we got this info
          You do not have the Admin Password for this we got this info
          The goal here is to use a tech disk, UBCD to change the partition setup.

          Use CCleaner to tidy up your C: drive
          Use Magical Jellybean Key Finder to get the OS key, if there's Office 2007 etc key, all the major programs. You will need to keep those anyways.
          I think it's possible to change the partition from that CD - because it's running Linux stuff. Without the Admin password.
          But I feel it is very important to get the Admin password in case you need to use the "restore" partition (the little tiny one in the hard drive); to totally reinstall the OS. That's later.
          Am I correct?
          We need to know that list I've typed up there. (thank you for the info on pre built retail computer and XP OS, that does help)

          If you feel uncomfortable with CCleaner, why not run it "Analyze" and take a pic, we can show you what is ok, or good tips to work with it. CCleaner is great for temp files and little stupid bits that get left over. Think of crumbs in the kitchen. But run it, (you personally don't want to clean, that's ok) just post a pic up here for us.
          Do the same for the registry. Top left hand side of menu is for files/bits and bobs. Analyze, picture, post.
          2nd item on menu on left side is registry cleaning.
          Analyze, picture, post.

          Do you know if you are a limited user? Do you have ANY admin access? (not the God Admin, but the I can install stuff and rearrange stuff and delete stuff admin)
          To check: Start Menu, Control Panel, User Accounts, top right hand side should be a box with your login name. Below your name: Administrator, or Standard User. Let us know.

          To find out what version of 7 you're running: To check, click Start, click Run, type winver, and then press Enter. You'll have a box pop up, and you can tell us from there.

          But really, let's focus on cleaning up this drive and then repartition it. We might be able to figger out the Admin password (or reset the dang thing) with 3rd party software. This step would be helpful IF the partition gets messed up. WHICH IS NOT LIKELY. As I said before, I'm just paranoid, ok?

          When you start up the machine from totally off, do you see a "Boot Sequence" phrase in white text? Should have an F12 next to it. Next time you reboot, look for that, ok? We will need to use that when the partition project starts up.

          See, all these questions, you're learning how to get them, I'm sure you haven't realized how much you've learned here. And I bet you're feeling much better digging around for this info, than you did last week! Ok, I'm off to bed. NN
          In my heart, in my soul, I'm a woman for rock & roll.
          She's as fast as slugs on barbituates.

          Comment


          • #35
            Okay, as far as I can make out, there should be no ill effects of repartitioning; these are just safety measures. Correct?

            I do have Admin rights, but not full Admin rights. I have no password on this machine, since I'm the only one who uses it.

            I have the Ultimate version of Windows 7. I have the strong feeling that Mr. Computer Guy expected that both he and I would stay at Former Company for much longer than we did, and that if there were any issues, I could just bring the computer in for him to work his magic on it.

            I'll go ahead and run CCleaner once I've closed the Internet window, which is required.

            Yes, white text comes up when I start the computer; it's a pretty fast system, though, so it doesn't stay long.

            Comment


            • #36
              Quoth Eireann View Post
              Okay, as far as I can make out, there should be no ill effects of repartitioning; these are just safety measures. Correct?

              I do have Admin rights, but not full Admin rights. I have no password on this machine, since I'm the only one who uses it.

              I have the Ultimate version of Windows 7. I have the strong feeling that Mr. Computer Guy expected that both he and I would stay at Former Company for much longer than we did, and that if there were any issues, I could just bring the computer in for him to work his magic on it.

              I'll go ahead and run CCleaner once I've closed the Internet window, which is required.

              Yes, white text comes up when I start the computer; it's a pretty fast system, though, so it doesn't stay long.
              Yes, all this is cover thy ass stuff. I think asking about this stuff NOW while we're helping you will nudge you to get the info. (we don't want to see someone screaming omgomgomg fixy account corrupted!)

              With boot-ups, usually F12 will get you to a boot sequence /boot sequence changer. Start the machine (hear the fans) and start whacking F12. If the computer gets to the Windows screen, turn it off and try again. Try F12 again, and if that really doesn't do anything, do F2. F8 gets you to safe mode.
              (since I dunno what you've got, these function numbers are pretty..generic. F8 is ALWAYS safe mode, but the others can vary. F2, F10, F12)

              The reason I want you to change the boot sequence is to boot off the CD ROM FIRST. I will bet you a dollar that right now your boot sequence is Hard Drive, CD Rom and USB stick.
              We need to change it to CD Rom then Hard Drive then USB stick. Because when you burn that tech CD and put it in, we need to boot off of THAT and use the utilities in it. Not the hard drive! When you change a boot sequence it does NOT hurt the machine. Just changes where to look first for booting up. So, you change boot sequence. Done. You turn the machine all the way off; press the on button, and watch the screen. Should get to the CD's screen, not the Windows one.

              You have Windows Ultimate? Damn! that is a GREAT OS. Gotta find out where that came from; in case you have to reinstall it (fuss with that later)

              Boot sequence change. Burn the CD. Practice booting up and make sure it grabs the CD, not the Windows. Get comfortable with that. CHANGING SEQUENCE WILL NOT HARM THE MACHINE. I swear.
              In my heart, in my soul, I'm a woman for rock & roll.
              She's as fast as slugs on barbituates.

              Comment


              • #37
                Okay, am I burning a CD from the website you mentioned earlier, about repartitioning?

                A guy I know works in IT, and his knowledge is almost scary. I'm going to talk to him about this in a few days - just for more opinions, plus he reformatted the hard drive I bought a few years ago, so he has the advantage of knowing the machine.

                Comment


                • #38
                  Eireann
                  Okay, one reason why I've hesitated about repartitioning is that I don't have the discs for several programs
                  That's what/why I took so long to explain to you. The GPartEdMagic on the UBCD is about as rock-solid as it can get. It allows you to move/resize/copy to your heart's content without destroying data. I've used it countless times, and have never lost a single byte of data (unless I used it to re-prep or delete a partition, in which case, it did the job it was told to do).

                  DerCute
                  @ Barcode...swap/page, heard and used both for windows. Wasn't my analogy ok?
                  It was okay if you understand this stuff, but I thought we'd make it a bit more clear to the unintiated... Also, if Eire were to visit a forum where they use one term and not the other, she may be more than confused.

                  DerCute
                  Oh and that app sounds even better than it did before! Man, why couldn't I have had that a few years ago....BTW her comment about Skype? I think she's trying to install Skype for communications; a previous post I had suggested using a sep computer to do this together. Cuz you cant have Skype running when it's partitioning!
                  You can if you run the Linux version of Skype off a bootable CD/USBdrive while running gPartEd! Again, the gPartEdMagic on the UBCD is actually a very small Linux kernel that runs in 192MB of RAM, and features all kinds of utils for doing all kinds of drive and partition-related stuff. It can even browse the web (provided it can load up your NIC driver) to find answers to problems that you may get stuck with. I'd suggest grabbing an old computer with at least 256MB RAM and a CD drive that can read CDRWs, and take the UBCD for a spin to see what it can do. Play with it, destroy things, then rebuild things. Great way to spend a weekend.

                  DerCute
                  OH hey, Barcode..after the partition has been fixed up, how about we redirect My Docs, My Pics, My stuff to the D: drive instead, making sure data doesn't normally get stored on C:?
                  Ehhh. Too confusing. If we resize C for our target of 300GB and leave D with the rest, that should be plenty of elbow room if Eire keeps her archives on D and uses C for the editing/acquisition/folding/spindling/mutilating of the data. From experience, I've set up many folks with a similar config, and they've always managed to forget they have a big, hairy, unused D drive sitting there eating up power. Whenever possible, I make C the largest partition, or just make it the whole frickin' drive for Windows users.

                  Eireann
                  As for documents and pictures {backups}, they're all on the D drive anyway.
                  Errr...NO! That's not the way to think of what we're doing here! ALL these partitions are ONE drive! If something, anything!, gets screwed up, the other partitions could/will be affected! As DerCute said, "Back dat sh!t up!"
                  Again, as I have previously mentioned, gPartEd does a phenominal job of not fscking things up. Your call.

                  DerCute
                  Barcode: What would you think about having her make a recovery disk and backing up this C: drive/ OS stuff to something else? And passwords? Like an external, or something else? I'm just paranoid.
                  Oh and we gotta make SURE there's a utility CD to get in if needed.
                  Count me in! In fact, if you peruse through my last post, you'll see that I mentioned another util on PartEdMagic that can do just this - Ghost4Linux! It's essentially Norton Ghost for Linux. It can group, archive, and write out an entire partition to an external device (CD/DVD/HD), and restore it back if needed. Since it runs off the UBCD/PartEd, you already have the recovery disk.

                  Eireann
                  The video card is, I think, a late-'90s version. S3 TRIO64 V+.
                  Holy crap! That is an old one (circa 1995)! If those drivers don't work, then I've found that Diamond made video cards that used the S3 Trio64V+ (86C765), but they're showing no drivers needed for Me, XP, Vista, or W7. I happen to have one of these sitting right here, and a generic driver CD for the S3 Trio/Virge series of cards. No XP or later listed. Sorry.
                  @DerCute: The Trio should be able to handle 800x600@16M, but if you shove it in 1024x768, then you're limited to 64K colors. My Diamond Stealth64 card has two extra sockets for additional DRAM to bump that up.

                  DerCute
                  @ Barcode - she's got a restoration partition on the very front of the drive. That MIGHT work if the drive croaks
                  Wanna bet? If you look closer at the pic, you'll notice that it says "System Reserved - 100MB". This is the extra info that Windows uses with the newer NTFS and large (>500GB) drives. Besides, when was the last time you saw a copy of Windows use up only 100MB? Even Win98SE takes about 128MB to "option/cabs" on your HD. That is NOT a recovery partition!
                  Oh, Hey! I just noticed it reads "D: Pagefile, Primary..."! Looks like we don't have to worry about that anymore.

                  DerCute
                  You will need to use a 3rd party software to recover the Administrator Password
                  Once again, UBCD to the rescue! Boot the CD, and select "HDD --> Data Recovery --> Offline NT Password...". You will then see a whole lot of gibberish for the unwary, but the default selections are the ones you want, as it is set to use the "reset password" option. You keep hitting enter until you get to the user list being displayed. Select the user you want (by name or user#), and then select the reset password option (it just blanks it out). Once done, then select (Q)uit, and it will prompt you to make sure you want to change things, then it does the reset and bounces you back to the UBCD screen. Just reboot from there, and your password(s) will be cleared.

                  DerCute
                  I think it's possible to change the partition from that CD - because it's running Linux stuff. Without the Admin password.
                  Correct. Linux doesn't give a rat's behind about Windows permissions, and since you're not booting from the HD, it'll do whatever you want to that poor drive (unless you use the mounting util and mount the drive, then it'll be in use, and can't be edited).

                  Eireann
                  Okay, am I burning a CD from the website you mentioned earlier, about repartitioning?
                  I won't re-iterate what DerCute has already said about backups and cleanups (spot-on!). I just wanted to mention that neither one of us has been too clear on one particular matter: ISOs. Essentially, an ISO is an image of the CD, DVD, or even a hard drive, that is treated differently than just a standard file. It is important that you burn this file the right way, otherwise you'll have a non-booting CD with one big file on it. The UBCD website describes this in the notes, and even links to a free program that burns just ISOs, if your burning program doesn't do this. You may have to look through the menus of the program to find the "Burn Image" or "Burn ISO" option. If you have them, use CDRWs, as you can just re-use them if/when a new version of UBCD is released. This will also keep you from making too many coasters. Since UBCD comes in at about 400MB, even some older 650MB CDRWs I had lying around work great. I used to be able to boot UBCD (v2?) from a 210MB CD3", if you can imagine that.

                  This is getting to be long one, huh? After a few tries, you should be able to post "Check for SMART Errors?", I'd post back "UBCD --> PartEdMagic --> SMARTutil --> select device (sda) --> Run Tests", and you'd reply "Got it! Thanx!".

                  @DerCute: What do you think of our tech-in-training? I think she's getting along pretty darn well, considering.

                  barcode
                  Hey! I found that nVidia FX5200 I lost! It was next to the Trio64! Serendipity strikes again!

                  Comment


                  • #39
                    @ Barcode - Wow, yeah, Eireann is doing great! We're throwing all kinds of stuff at her, (trying to explain it) and she's following the steps and picking it up fast. I know users who go click on the last step you give them and try to jump a step ahead. I HATE THOSE. And it really really bothers me when someone installs an OS w/o disks/backup and runs away with the passwords. Pisses me off, tbh. Plus, if she needs to really get in as God Admin, we need to get that password. I didn't think that the partition would BE the rescue disk. I thought it was get into the OS when it's happy, go to Control Panel, Backup, Recovery Disk and that's yours to go to. Wait. Other Guy installed the OS. Is it possible he used a copy w/ 2 or 3 "seats" installs? Gargh. Ok ok back to partition class.

                    I know the UBCD is what we're using (the 3rd party software for password recovery). And yeah, if we enlarge the C: partition she'll have enough room for her doo dads. And I know it's a Linux thing; I've used oh, whats that one on cd only..*brain fart* eh, that one. You boot to the cd, it's running right there. Whatever. Oh, I thought that burning around 32x would be ok, maybe even 24x, just because you want the CD to "catch" when booting.

                    I'm just super paranoid - any time you futz around with data, just...back it up. Friend of mine had me spend over 8 hours recovering data from a drive that went tits up. That was a software problem that rendered the drive unusable/undetected in other machines. I've installed XP to a drive, all the way, at virgin OS status, and had the drive fail. Yeah.


                    @Eireann. What we're saying about back it up is use a separate media. Although you see different LETTERS, it's still one piece of hardware organizing your stuff. My suggestions are such as 1. Burning your important stuff to a DVD. 2. Getting an external drive to save that stuff on (but if that drive is toast..that's why I said DVD) 3. USB stick, depending on how much stuff you have. Then put that USB stick somewhere else. 4. Cloud storage. Dropbox, Amazon, other places. Those you can organize as you like, and add/change files there.
                    Barcode said it right; it's your call - backup before the change or after it. It's up to you, would mean learning more junk here! LOL

                    Get copy of UBCD.
                    Burn as ISO (Nero does that, but 3rd party free software out there)
                    Change Boot Sequence to CD, Hard Drive, USB Stick
                    Put CD in and spin it up, get used to looking at the new interface. Just look, don't touch.
                    If it didn't boot from CD, check your boot sequence. Then try burning another ISO.
                    Take CD out, get back to Windows.
                    Tidy up the files.
                    Tidy up the registry.
                    We want this as clean as possible.

                    Stop there, we will go over this s'more.
                    @ Barcode - thanks for helping! God, I'm rusty with this stuff.

                    @Barcode LOL this is helpdesk 101.
                    In my heart, in my soul, I'm a woman for rock & roll.
                    She's as fast as slugs on barbituates.

                    Comment


                    • #40
                      Okay, I have a copy of UBCD. I haven't burned it yet. I've read the tutorial on GParted, but where do I get the program?

                      Thanks for the compliments. I want to do everything right, here.

                      Comment


                      • #41
                        Quoth barcode View Post
                        Sorry I'm late to the party...

                        Eireann, did you get a copy of the UBCD for the memory install issue you had earlier?

                        If so, then just use that to boot into gPartEdMagic from the menu, and run GPartEd when it gets done booting.


                        Note: UBCD is an auto-booting CD that bypasses the HD and, therefore, doesn't use (mount) it. Gnome PARTition EDitor can then fold, spindle, or mutilate the drive at your heart's content.

                        Once launched, GPartEd can "move" the big partition(s) over to cover the unallocated section, then "resize" the smaller partition to fill the space. Instructions and examples are given in the link above. Personally, I'd move the partitions over, then resize the D drive down about 100GB and hand it over to the C drive for some extra "elbow room". This should give the C drive about 300GB, the D drive about 600GB, and the rest for the recovery/system use.

                        Another useful tool on PartEdMagic is something called "Ghost4Linux". After you get everything set up the way you like it, you can then "Ghost" the drives into "images", and copy them to an external drive (like a Seagate or WD USB travel drive). If something bad happens, you can then boot from the CD and un-Ghost them back to the old (or replacement) HD. It's based on Norton's (Symantec) Ghost utility.

                        barcode

                        Really, UBCD is one helluva tool for techs!
                        @ Eireann - you will need to boot up into the CD, and look at the menus, and use the gPartEdMagic within that menu.
                        That's kind of why I said to boot with the CD, go look inside, and see what's there. You can expand the menus if you want, but don't start anything up. That way you can feel more comfortable, and if you've got questions, post 'em here and we'll do more explaining before you start the ball rolling. I totally understand with you, hon, I don't like doing this kind of stuff blind. (XP had no natural way to re-org partitions and it was just a pain in the ass).

                        Also, I want you to make sure you have changed the boot sequence and totally get into the CD first. As I said before, it really depends on what kind of computer you have, to get to the boot sequence changer. Look yours up on the mfg page. Or try what I said..whack buttons! F2, F10, F11 and F12 are ones to use when changing a boot sequence. (Again, those depend on the mfg.)
                        Plus, we can test if that CD burns right and isn't just a coaster! It would suck getting all ready and prepped up ready to rock, and have...no CD that works. Yeah. So, test the waters.

                        @Barcode - usually there is a black page with white text on it for just the boot sequence change. What if she gets into the BIOS? I know you can change it there, but that's not as simple as the other boot sequence changer.
                        In my heart, in my soul, I'm a woman for rock & roll.
                        She's as fast as slugs on barbituates.

                        Comment


                        • #42
                          Der Cute, can I get your opinion on the graphics card thread I posted here?

                          Comment


                          • #43
                            Okay, I am FINALLY burning the CD. As far as I can tell from previous posts, I need to change the boot sequence on my computer so that I can use the program on the CD to work with the sizes of the C and D sections. Am I correct?

                            Comment


                            • #44
                              Yes. You need to tell the PC to boot from the CD first - the OS/stuff on the CD will catch and you're in where you need to be.

                              Boot sequence is in the BIOS; sometimes one the F keys will take you straight to a small menu for a TEMPORARY boot sequence that you select.
                              It's your call, I do the BIOS cuz it stays that way until you consciously change it back.

                              Keep us posted
                              In my heart, in my soul, I'm a woman for rock & roll.
                              She's as fast as slugs on barbituates.

                              Comment


                              • #45
                                So the next time I turn on my computer, I whack one of the F keys and get it to boot from the CD, and then what? The CD is full of folders.

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