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#1
Requesting Advice - Restore from old Image or Repair Install
I currently run Windows 7 Ultimate, 64 Bit, with all maintenance installed, except the Win 10 nags. It runs on a custom built system with an Asus p8p67 MB forming the base. (16 GB, OS on Samsung SSD, data on physical separate Raid 1 drives)
My installation is five years old and some things don't work as they should. One, it will not restore from restore points, so I image every couple of months with Terabyte Image for Windows. It won't create a dump file when it BSOD's and the other day it BSOD awakening from sleep after copying all data to an encrypted external drive. Overall the system works and is my main day to day machine.
I thought it might be time to do something like a refresh given it is five years old. My goal is to have everything working again. When I originally built the system and programs I created a bootable HDD clone. This image is five years old so the apps are very much out of date, my processes have changed, no longer using Blackberry and sync iPhone through Outlook using EAS, not to mention the drivers are antiques. That said the clone is a working, authenticated copy of my windows and machine environment five years ago. I ran SFC and had no errors so figure "refresh" is way to go to get everything back in order.
I came to this forum to see if I could get read some advice and came across an excellent article on doing a repair install. ( The information on this forum is really excellent, congrats to everyone who produces). Really liked the idea that programs and drivers remain intact with repair install. Even went so far as to create a bootable DVD with SP1 following the instructions so I could implement.
Both methods seem to be what I'm looking for but I'm not sure. The repair install looks closer to what I want, keeps programs (many were installed after cloning) and drivers, but I do not understand how it may or may not clear invalid window's system registry entries, things that are preventing restores or dumps.
Can anyone comment on how the repair install handles the registry? Knowing that I could use a very old HDD image or the repair install process what would a guru do? (I'm trying to avoid clean install but I did go to Asus MB site to get what they have posted as latest drivers).
Thank you.