Restoring your laptop
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Experienced a windows failure, virus attack or data loss? Accidentally deleted a folder, corrupted a file or misplaced important data?
You may need to restore your laptop.
All Computers for Teachers laptops feature a restore, recovery and rescue software application.
With this software, you can restore and recover files, folders or data, and repair laptops to a useable state.
Before restoring a laptop, you need to:
- back up all data to an external device
- plug your laptop into a power point
- empty and close the CD/DVD ROM
- ensure that no peripheral devices are plugged into your laptop.
Full user backup restoration
A full user backup restoration will restore a PC laptop to a backup point specified by you when you first connected your laptop to the IT network.
When you conduct a restoration to full user backup, all modifications and data that you initially specified to be included in the backup snapshot will be preserved.
Step-by-step guides are available for restoring and backing up laptops:
- How to rescue files prior to restoration of a Lenovo (PDF, 428k)
- Restoring a Lenovo to full user backup (PDF, [an error occurred while processing this directive])
- Restoring a HP6530b to full user backup (PDF, 165k)
Restoring an Apple Macbook with Time Machine
Apple laptops come installed with a program called Time Machine.
With Time Machine, you can recover files that you create and modify.
Time Machine works by automatically backing up your files and/or software applications.
It's easy to Switch Time Machine on.
When you do, you need to select what you do not wish to back up. Otherwise, Time Machine will back up everything on your laptop.
More information about Apple Time Machine (PDF, 43k) and a step-by-step guide on restoring files and folders on an Apple Macbook (PDF, 1.1M) is available.
This guide will also help you locate your backed up files, with Time Machine.

