How do I save files???

I don't understand your question.  What is different about this computer from your previous ones?  It also comes with a disc on which you store files and documents.  What exactly are you trying to do?  Are you getting any error messages?  If so, what is the exact message you are getting?

Presumably disc means floppy, which the system doesn't have.  You can back up to CD, DVD, or external drive - your choice.  The important thing is that you MUST keep backup copies.

 

 

As ejn63 pointed out.

You don't have to, but you should to keep your state of mind.

First, floppies don't hold much and a very unreliable for long term data storage.

1st, you should get a USB key. They are very cheap, and even a 256MB model will holds more than 200 floppy disk's worth of data.

Dell has a sale on flash drives:
Flash Memory

4 GB Cruzer Micro U3 Flash Drive - 2-Pack = $49.99
4 GB DataTraveler USB 2.0 Flash Drive = $17.49
Kingston 2GB USB flash drive 2.0 – Lime = $6.71

Then, you may want to also get an external harddrive. If you only turn it on to backup, it should last you many years.

You can also back up by "burning" CD/DVDs. The burned disks don't have as long a life as pressed ones.

There is also tape backup. Very slow, but proven. Not good for incremental backup, but more for archival, like once a month/week. For Home users, not usually a viable option.

There are also online data storage services. Dell themselves provide one. They can be very cost effective. Carbonite.com charges $50/year. With online storage, you don't have to worry about equipment failure, obsolescence of media, ect. Thing to point out though, storing online means you should be on broadband to retrieve the info.

I know some use services from photo sites like flickr, photobucket, ect. Not just to host/share photos, but to also use as online storage backup.

Thing is, any one/all can fail. Usually not at the same time. That's why redundancy is key in backing up your data. Being on these forums, I'm sure you've seen plenty of users (sometimes this being their first post) as to their hard drive crashed and they need the data off of it. That's why $50 a year for online storage (piece of mind) is just cheap insurance.

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@ejn63 wrote:

Presumably disc means floppy, which the system doesn't have.  You can back up to CD, DVD, or external drive - your choice.  The important thing is that you MUST keep backup copies.

 

 

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Ah, makes a lot more sense now. Unfortunately, I have never owned a computer that actually took a floppy disk, leave alone one which only saved on floppies!
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Ah, reminiscing about that old IBM XT. Of course there was the Atari 800 w/tape drive...

Guess you never had the pleasure of updating BIOS with a floppy;)

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@DeathRider wrote:
Guess you never had the pleasure of updating BIOS with a floppy;)

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Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I'm getting a flash drive and looking into a hard drive. Just to clarify; will the usb flash drive be sufficient to save word documents ?

 

Sorry if these are odd questions but I'm not very technical!

 

Thanks again

 

Word documents don't take up that much space.

With a 256MB flash drive, you can store hundreds of documents on it. With a 4GB drive, you probably wouldn't be able to fill it in many years...

Thanks again. Your helps much appreciated