Help, Computer Problems

Hey /comp/ well i have an old laptop [Acer Travelmate 529ATX] maybe 5-6 years old, well latley at random times like maybe 4 minutes after windows has loaded [i run TinyXP] the screen goes black, except its not totaly black, if you look really hard you can still see some of the windows etc [maybe opacity like 90%?] and i was wondering if anyone knows how to fix it, or had the same problem before. I know its about time to get a new computer but all my stuff is on it, anyone know of an easy way to copy harddrives? [i have an external one that i can copy onto] Thanks heaps.

you do not want to copy your hard drive, since your hard drive is full of crap.  crap that you do not want to copy.  just copy important files onto a freaking thumb drive like everyone else.

The backlight of your screen seems to be broken or about to fail. Without warranty it's unlikely that it's worth fixing. Probably too expensive.

To copy an entire hard drive, just use tar. But better listen to >>2.

>>1
In order to properly copy the contents of one hard drive to another, you will need to take both hard drives out of the computer.

Open up both hard drives and carefully, carefully (!) pour the data from the first onto the second. Give it a couple good shakes and maybe a few taps with a screwdriver to get most of it out. If some of the data is "stuck" (ie, won't come out) take a medium-sized magnet and wave it around the disk.

After you have poured all the data from your old hard drive to the new, close them back up and install your new hard drive. Some of the files may have been knocked around a bit during transfer, but you can just leave them or put them back in their original folders.