back up system on laptop

[nolaces]

im not very techie minded ok,
how can i tell if i have a back up system on this laptop please?
thanks
i have vista home basic

[dizmouk2009]

What laptop is it (make and model) and where did you buy it from?

[dizmouk2009]

Also define 'backup' system. Do you wish to 'role back' to when you first got the laptop or do you wish to 'back up' all your documents?

[MarkRae]

http://tinyurl.com/yag7ncy

[dizmouk2009]

Personally I prefer Norton Ghost although since you aren't very techical minded I'd suggest that you follow MarkRae's post.

[nolaces]

well, ive no particular reason for wanting to know really.

(the reason why i asked, i was just watching something on tv, eastenders as it happens lol, and some photos had been deleted on a laptop and the person said 'if theres a backup system on here i might be able to retrieve the photos)

so i was just wondering if i had one on here (acer aspire) because i know ive deleted pics in the past and i thought about having a go at getting them back if it was possible.

thanks all for responding to my post and for your help.

[dizmouk2009]

nolaces you can only recover files if you have backed them up in the first place - in theory.

Data can be recovered after it has been deleted by recovery software but it isn't cheap. The demo/free trial recovery programs I have tried usually only let you see what you can recover (file names) but not actually let you recover it. This makes you 'purchase' the item.

This means of recovering files/documents is used by the police (a company working for the police) to prosecute criminals such as paedophiles.

It would of been easier in the first place if you have told us why you wanted to know in the first place as I could of told you.

[MarkRae]

> would of
> could of

AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

[dizmouk2009]

lol Mark sorry, I said could because I may not have :)

Since I hate eastenders....

[nolaces]

sorry diz,
i didnt realise i needed to say why when i initially asked,
so like i just said theres no particular reason and it was just what the lad on ee said that made me wonder.

is there nothing i can go into to see if stuff is being backed up, no?

i know it was a bit of an up in the air vague sort of question lol - apologies!

[MarkRae]

Nothing is being backed up if you haven't created any backups - they don't happen automatically...

[dizmouk2009]

Apology excepted....
If you follow the instructions that MarkRae posted earlier and go to the 'restore' part then you could see if anything is backed up. I doubt the backups run themselve without initially setting them up before hand though...

http://tinyurl.com/yag7ncy

Worth a try I suppose!

[nolaces]

ok, thanks mark and diz for both your help, very kind of you,
sorry for being a bit ditzy! lol

[MarkRae]

Basically, the rule of thumb is that a computer will only do what it's been told to do...

If you bought a brand new computer which had no operating system installed, it would just sit there looking back at you until you told it to do something...

It's just a machine...

[nolaces]

ok, thanks mark