Andrea

Dear Andrea,

My motto lately is to always have my data in at least two locations, and this is a perfect example of why.

I can give you some things to try, but if the drive is dead, a data recovery company (which charges thousands of dollars) would be your only option.

1. Have you tried the flash drive in a different USB port? It could be that the port you are using on your computer is having a problem.

2. Have you tried the flash drive on a different computer? Same reason as above, I would always just check even though it is a long shot.

3. Leave the flash drive disconnected overnight in a cool location. Again, this is a long shot, but it occasionally works.

4. If the drive shows up in “My Computer” but you can’t access the files, there is recovery software that you can purchase and try to recover the files. The software is usually between one and two hundred dollars.

5. Your last option is a data recovery company, but it is expensive and you will have to send the flash drive to them. One company that provides both recovery software and recovery services is www.ontrackdatarecovery.com

Elizabeth

Frances

Dear Frances,

On modern computers, there are usually two different ways to connect your mouse. One is the round, PS/2 port, and the other is a rectangle USB port. I have noticed that many Dell computers have dropped the PS/2 connection entirely and depend entirely on USB connections for their mouse and keyboards.

When you go to purchase a mouse, wireless or not, the packaging will say that the mouse is either PS/2 or, USB. Often, the mouse will have an adapter and say both USB and PS/2. As long as you make sure the mouse says USB somewhere on the packaging, you will be assured that it will work with your computer.

Elizabeth

It’s Your Turn: What do you think?
…. Share your experience in the comments box below.

Dear Computer Lady,

I have a question regarding the SanDisk cruzer mini 128MB.

Received it as a gift with no instructions, so I don’t know how to use it.  I know there is a place on the computer to plug it in on both of my computers.  There is a disk drive for it too but that’s about it.

I need a step by step instruction as to what I should do when taking data from one to the other.  Can you give this info to me?

Thank you, Kathy

Dear Kathy,

The SanDisk cruzer-mini is a small usb storage device. If you are using it on a computer running Windows XP or ME, all you have to do, is plug it into a USB port, wait a few seconds while Windows finds the device, and then open “My Computer”. You will see a new drive listed in “My Computer” which you can use just like a floppy drive. Unlike a floppy which holds 1.44Mb, your SanDisk holds 128MB, kind of like 100 floppy disks!

If you have a file that you want to put on the sandisk, just open “My Computer”, double click on the sandisk drive and drag your files into that window. It is much easier to use than a CD burner, and you can edit and change files on the sandisk.

If you are running a Windows 98 computer, you might have to go to the SanDisk website and download drivers for your disk. I have included a link below which you can use to learn more about the drive, and also to download drivers if you need to.

http://www.sandisk.com/retail/cruzer-mini.asp

Elizabeth 

I love your site.. Thank you for all your help….

I have been saving all my recipes to wordpad…I am in the process of getting a new computer.  Is there a way to either save my recipes to a floppy, CD or transfer them to the new computer?

Thanks, Ruth

Dear Ruth,

I like to store lots of information on my computer, from recipes to driving directions. I used to lose a lot of recipes before I stored them on the computer.

If your files will fit on a floppy, you can easily copy them to a floppy disk.

1. First, find your files. Are they all in the same folder? Most programs will have you save your files in the “My Documents” folder. For this answer, I will assume that your recipes are in a folder called “Recipes” which is inside the “My Documents” folder.

2. Go to your “My Documents” folder and double click on the recipes folder to open it. Leave that folder open while you do the next step.

3. Put a blank floppy disk in your floppy drive, and click on “Start” and then “My Computer” if you have Windows XP, or double click on the “MY Computer” icon on your desktop if you are using an earlier version of Windows. Then double click on the floppy A: drive in the “My Computer” window.

4. You will now have two windows open, and you will want to be able to see both of them at the same time. A quick and easy way to do this, is to right click on a blank spot on your taskbar (the bar across the bottom of your screen) and then click on “Tile Windows Vertically” from the menu that appears.

5. With both windows showing, you can now drag your recipes from the folder on your hard drive to the floppy. Just point to one of them, hold down the left mouse button and drag it to the empty floppy window. Release the left mouse button, and the file will be copied to the floppy. You should be able to fit quite a few text files on the floppy disk.

If you are trying to copy larger files, you will need to burn them to a CD using the CD burning program installed on your computer, or you can purchase a USB “Thumb Drive” and follow the directions above to drag files to the thumb drive. Just open the thumb drive instead of the floppy drive in step 3.

Elizabeth