How to i put my files into my harddrive?

[Cool Guy]

People tell me, back up your files before you reinstall windows on your computer, but all they say it put them in your harddrive. How do i put them in my harddrive?

 

[djmaxx007]

they probably said "put them on an external hard drive". your hard drive will be erased when you reinstall windows so it wouldn't make sense to put them there. an external hard drive shows up and works just like a usb memory stick. the capacity is just a lot bigger. copy and past whatever files are important to you onto the external hard drive, reinstall windows, then copy and paste them back when you're done. (don't reinstall windows with the external hard drive attached!)

 

[goodygoodywitch]

1. Back up for files to an external harddrive. Purcahse external and copy/paste.1a. You can also back up for files to online drives (Xdrive, mozy), but it'll take forever to d/l them again.1b. Burn files to a CD2. You may want to image your drive before you install windows. This will allow you to keep personal settings and programs. I think. I'm not too good with it, since I've never dealt with that (whoohoo CCleaner). Anyways, do a search for image harddrive

 

[Shiladitya]

one thing you can do is create a small partiiton on your hard disk but do not label it as system disk. there you create a backup of all your files. after installing a new O.S you can retain your files from there

 

[ChrisD]

When you reinstall your computer. you wipe out your hard drive, so if you save everything to your hard drive and reinstall you will loose all your data. What you can do: Buy an external hard drive (which plugs in your usb port) and you can save everything you need to that. (But this will cost a lot) You can also save all your important data on a flash drive (cheaper method) however you cant store as much as an external hard drive)Burn to a cd. If you only have a few files you want to save you can just burn them to a cd.If you have 2 computers you can map a network drive put all your files in a folder which will transfer to the other computer. then just save it to your desktop (on the computer your not erasing)If you need help doing this i cant tell you step by stepgood luck!