My first problem is I bough an eMachine

[RTSDaddy2]

Moderators, I'm quite sure I have this in the wrong place - move as needed.

When we got ready to install a computer in our arcade machine, Best Buy had a relatively inexpensive eMachine available. Now, I'd heard both good and bad about them, and decided to take a chance.

For a while, all was well.  Then this summer, the little thing caught a virus or something, and I had to reboot. No really big deal, it made a backup of all my files....and all was lovely again.

About two weeks ago, for unknown reasons, it quit working again....I could get no pic on the arcade.  Thinking no major problems, I hooked it up to our smaller monitor where our business PC, and found that - sure enough - a boot file was missing. So, I did the usual reboot procedure and (STUPIDLY) let it save to "My Backup" (I cannot recall seeing a way to change the directory or filename)  and let Windows reboot fully.

It fixed my problem, all right, and created a catastrophe in the process. All the files in the backup folder, including the backup folder from 7-2009 are gone.  I have lost all the work I put in to our Arcade Jukebox, my movies created with Pinnacle Studio 10, including my dad's funeral (mercifully that was burned to disc months ago) are gone, everything, just "poof."  I know what happened but it just ticked me off that I did not try, nor see if I could, change the directory of the backup file....but honestly if there isn't a way, then I had no choice.  It was either do what I did, or be stuck with a $400 paperweight. The computer was doing us zero good in that format; to the plus at least it's working again.

I know about making backup discs, but my problem is that I've 1) got to find my emachine backup first, and 2) even if I do, there's not a guarantee I backed up after the first time it died - so I may still be out Studio 10 (I've lost my activation key somehow and Pinnacle no longer supports it), which really ticks me off at myself.

Oh well...a vent for what good it did. If you know of a way I might recover that old backup file from July / August of this year from the D Drive, please post it here...I'll be forever indebted to you if it recovers that material!

At this point, I concur - stay away from eMachine, they are nothing but trouble after a couple years!

[TOK]

While they are definitely low end machines, I think they would probably be fine for most MAME stuff.
The problem you had whether virus or drive related could have happened even if you were running an $8000 Alienware. eMachines doesn't make the drives, you just had some bad luck.

[TheSlim]

how did it "catch a little virus" if you were just running mame?  I unless you were following links in the games like Pipi & Bibis 

Anyway, with the emachines, and I am just speculating generally, they usually have inadequate cooling methods (that is where they cut their costs).  Check to see that it is not overheating too.  That could lead to some of the problems you mentioned.   When they are cooled down, they should be fine for mame.  Unless you are trying to run a chd game. 

As for the backup stuff, I could not really follow your post, are you asking a question? 

[DJ_Izumi]

Sounds like the machine is fine and it was just the hard drive that messed up, which you really can't blame on the 'economy design' of the computer as hard drives are pretty standard.  You can't really 'cheap out' on a hard drive afterall.

[RTSDaddy2]

When I'm  I do ramble, and apologize for that...it's a flaw, I'm working on it.

My question, simply stated, is there any chance of finding some of those files that are supposedly erased on the D Drive (recovery drive), and if so, how would I go about doing so?

Rambling goofy response nets me rambling goofy answers, that's for sure. While I'm here, to clarify, ours is hooked up to the net, sure - how else would I download the next version of MAME if I so wanted it? I'm not completely dense, I know where the virus came from, if it is a virus.

Slim, I will check on the heating as I can...if it is that, it'll be a while before I can afford to have that fixed probably (without work at the moment).

[Silly Burrito]

RTS, if you haven't already (and assuming that you have or can find a copy of XP), try booting into something like UBCD4Win (http://www.ubcd4win.com/). Burn the ISO on another computer, then stick that CD into your system with a large USB drive or external drive connected upon bootup. Handy Recovery should be on the ISO (along with other various recovery tools, just in case). If you don't see the files immediately using the File Explorer (I use the A43 program, but the plain Windows Explorer works too), then you can try using Handy Recovery.

If you don't have any copy of XP, you can either try downloading UBCD (http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/) and using some tools there, or Knoppix (http://www.knoppix.net/) and seeing if you can find the files and save them to the external drive. I like UBCD4Win as it has a LOT of tools, including virus scanners. Also, if you do get UBCD4Win up and running, you may want to run a chkdsk c: /r or a fixboot c: at a command prompt. Possibly some files are corrupted and a chkdsk may help, along with running Avira or one of the other built in virus scanners.

By the way, I fix PCs on the side, and I see more problems with eMachines and Gateways than any other brand. This was true when they were seperate companies, and it's still true now that they're all made by Acer, I believe. Every company makes lemons, but in my own personal experience, I see more motherboard and other part failures with eMachines and Gateways. Viruses/Spyware on the other hand, show up on any PC brand. They're not picky.

Hope this helps!

[DillonFoulds]

Personally, I use a combination of "Restoration", "Recover4all", "Recuva", and "Active@ Partition Recovery" (In order of severity). It depends if you just pulled a bonehead move and delete a file, or ended up with a virus that wipes your whole hard drive partition (MBR, File tables, etc.).

Typically one of those 4 will work, but it could take you a couple days while you work on it, especially with partition work. Be prepared! Also, if you delete something, be sure to stop using that hard drive immediately to prevent overwriting it.

[romshark]

I've been running an E-Machines (ET1161-07) since May. Of course, the first thing I did was format the drive and put on a copy of XP (legal, purchased years ago for a computer no longer in service). Haven't had any problems.

I do second the UBCD4WIN. That's helped me with a bunch of tasks. I really should make an updated version...

One thing that puzzles me: You're doing video editing on an arcade cabinet?

[Gatt]

By the way, I fix PCs on the side, and I see more problems with eMachines and Gateways than any other brand. This was true when they were seperate companies, and it's still true now that they're all made by Acer, I believe. Every company makes lemons, but in my own personal experience, I see more motherboard and other part failures with eMachines and Gateways. Viruses/Spyware on the other hand, show up on any PC brand. They're not picky.

I think E-machines hold a special place in the lemons catagory.  A friend of mine owned one,  it would randomly turn itself on.  I didn't believe him until I found others reporting the same thing.  Building lemons is one thing,  building a lemon so bad that it just randomly turns itself on,  that's in a special class of terrible.

[smalltownguy]

By the way, I fix PCs on the side, and I see more problems with eMachines and Gateways than any other brand. This was true when they were seperate companies, and it's still true now that they're all made by Acer, I believe. Every company makes lemons, but in my own personal experience, I see more motherboard and other part failures with eMachines and Gateways. Viruses/Spyware on the other hand, show up on any PC brand. They're not picky.

I think E-machines hold a special place in the lemons catagory.  A friend of mine owned one,  it would randomly turn itself on.  I didn't believe him until I found others reporting the same thing.  Building lemons is one thing,  building a lemon so bad that it just randomly turns itself on,  that's in a special class of terrible.

When I took over IT at my job, I surveyed the boneyard upstairs. Guess what I found? 12 desktop computers, and TEN of them were E-machines. Nearly all of them had fried power supplies, and several of those took the mobo with it when the PS died. I was able to 'frankenputer' two good setups out of the wreckage. One of them is still deployed in the field at work, the other one is my MAME rig 

[bkenobi]

EMachines are great for Xmas pressents.  I say that in plural because they only last you about a year before it's time to upgrade.   

Actually, although they do use some of the most budget components, the machines can last quite a while.  The problem with them IMO is that they were sold to the market segment that didn't know anything but were more built for someone that could tinker with them...cause you know something will break and need fixing.  For a non-geek to fix a computer that "just stopped working", they would either need to pay the Geek Squad half the value of the computer or just pony up for a new one.  My inlaws had a couple budget machines that I kept going for a few years with 2-3 simple fixes (PSU, BIOS battery, HDD, etc).  BUT, every one of the problems I fixed for them has happened to at least one of my custom rigs over the years, so... 

[smalltownguy]

I totally agree with bkenobi. Low Budget usually = low tolerance for maintenance and/or repair. These machines were targeted for the disposable computer crowd.

99% of the hardware issues with these machines could haven been avoided if the Bestec power supplies they used would have been a TAD more robust. I've got 8 fried motherbaords to attest to this. 

[Silly Burrito]

And that is the huge problem. When the motherboard goes, it's usually $150-$200 to replace it, assuming you don't have to swap a power supply too. If you try to replace it with another motherboard, you might have to reactivate or buy another copy of Windows. So, you could theoretically be out $300 for this piece of crap PC, when for another $100-200, you can get a brand new one that is faster, has a warranty, etc. Usually, if it's a vendor's PC and the PC is past the two-year period when the motherboard goes, you're almost always better off buying a new PC.

I used to have an eMachines PC back in 2000, and it worked well for roughly three years before I sold it to someone else. Now they all seem to have been bought at Wal-Mart for $399 and are truly disposable if anything more expensive than $100 breaks.

[Namco]

My sister in law's emachine bombed out last year. It was the power supply, and it took out the motherboard with it. Replaced it with the athlon 64 rig out of my arcade cab and replaced it with a nice core2duo setup. 

[Masterful Gaze]

I picked up an emachine myself a while back. The onboard video didn't even survive 12 hours before giving out. I returned it and haven't looked back.

[JohnEDollar]

RTSDaddy2:

Quick question to get this thread back on topic:

What program did you use to make your computer backup, that was overwritten?

Did you use "Windows Backup", or a third party backup program?

As someone mentioned earlier, it may be possible to recover your backup file(s), as long as nothing new was saved to the hard drive, since the backup was made.

[ale8oneboy]

I agree with the fact that eMachines are fairly disposable. I had a friend that ran one to death for about 4 or 5 years. Back on topic. I would also like to enquire as to how you did your backups. Everyone has a different strategy.