sage windows xp i think i've lost everything

[useless]

*sigh* when a woman asks for help you know she really needs it! I'm very pc literate but this time I just can't figure out what to do...

I run a small business and up until last week ran Sage on my emachine for my work accounts. One evening I didn't switch my PC off properly and woke up in the morning to a kind of helicopter sound. I turned it off at the mains and it just wouldn't start again.

To cut a long story short the guy in the local pc hospital suggested it was my power supply and he would sort it out for £40. My neighbour told me a new one would cost £10 and he would change it for free! We changed it and it still wouldn't start.

My neighbour started talk of putting his sons old motherboard in because that would be the next 'port of elimination call'. I panicked because my hardrive has some precious information on it, ie about 2 years worth of my accounts which I don't have on backup anywhere and made him remove it and gave him my ex's old hard-drive to work with because i couldn't give a hoot about that.

about 2 days later it's working. it's screaming like a banshee and the screen info etc looks like one of those bloody vtech kids things, it has one usb port that works and the dvd drive has completely disappeared but it is working.

so, basically i have a raggy doll vessell with windows xp os and a newly formatted master hard-drive and my own, original precious hard-drive. we hook my original hard-drive up as slave but of course when i click on my original shortcuts ie photoshop and sage there is information missing so it starts, stalls then scolds me. it suggests on both accounts that installing the programmme again 'may' fix the problem. i'm dubious...firstly because i have no faith in technology and secondly because i'm really not that lucky!

I have my sage disk but like i said, my dvd drive has disappeared, i have a nice shiny laptop and even though it runs on windows 7 and my sage disk won't install i've managed to copy all the installation gear from the disk and onto my external usb mass storage device. i go to plug it in to my pc and remember there's only one usb port that works and i need this for my mouse! there is no internet connection so i can't zip and email the files over which probobly wouldn't send anyway due to the 'exe' titles. i feel pretty useless this evening, everywhere is shut so i can't get a multi usb hub until tomorrow so i thought i'd post on here and see if anyone knew a bit more than i did and have a better suggestion.

so...my actual questions are...

1. if i do manage to find a multi usb hub which i can plug into my pc thus being able to plug in my external mass device in order to install sage on my pc will the newly installed sage programme overwrite all the data that's on my hard-drive already or am i completely stressing about nothing since i lost everything when i let my neighbour dismember it in the first place? or will it (like the programme suggests it 'may' do now when i try and open a sage file) actually open my accounts files like they were before this sorry mess?

2. Please, please, please laugh as much as you want but do not try and instill the importance of backing up my data. 3 nights without sleep, 40 cigarettes later and a potentially looming awkward conversation with each and every one of my customers that owe me money (yes, you definitely do sir, though i don't know how much and i couldn't tell you the invoice number) has done the job already!

3. I plan tomorrow to...

buy a multi usb hub

plug it in my pc

save everything in my programme files on my old hard-drive to do with sage onto my external storage device 'just incase'

then try and install the sage programme i copied from my sage disk onto my external storage device directly onto my pc.

is there a chance it may work? am i to install it onto the master hard-drive or my poor original slave hard-drive?

my brain is completely fried.....please someone, give me a light at the end of the tunnel....i could use a few hours sleep tonight.....i really could.

thankyou in advance

emma

[KenB]

Hi Emma and welcome to ExTS.

 

i click on my original shortcuts ie photoshop and sage there is information missing.

This is not surprising.

When you install a program it fragments throughout the drive. It will expect to be on C:\ drive and if you now have it on an external USB connection the drive letter will be incorrect. So launching the program looks for it in C:\.

 

If you buy a USB extension hub you need to install Sage on your new drive.

You should then be able to open files on the old drive.

 

laugh as much as you want

We don't do that - you have a problem and need answers.

 

is there a chance it may work?

I don't see any reason why it will not.

 

If your data on the original drive is needed then do not add Sage or other software to the drive.

Make any changes to the new drive.

Leave the old drive until you can access the files properly.

 

Get back to us if you need more explanation :)

Edited May 17, 2011 by KenB

[useless]

thankyou very much for the advice, it seems like common sense really to remove the original hard drive while i mess about with it. i'll do exactly that. thanks again :D

[KenB]

Let us know how you get on :)