Can I 'system image' recover

Well so far...

I had to install the OS to the m-sata (not recommended apparently) since it wouldn't allow an install to any of my harddrives (something about these being the wrong format??).

Anyway after this I copied and pasted all the files from original 'c' drive to a usb drive (a kind of backup), quick formatted it and reinstalled Win7 again, formatted the m-sata to erase that OS. Now atleast it seems to be working again and the m-sata is working as a cache for the 'c' drive...whew!!!

Another question though...

With several large game files on a seperate drive, how can I get these to work without having to download and install them again? Is there a means by which their registry entries can be extracted from a backup and placed in the new registry?

your help and advice is appreciated (the reason for not wanting to download these 6+Gb files is obvious with the slow internet speeds I get)

regards

Do you have a UEFI BIOS? If so it requires special steps and formatting to install to UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Forums.

This could account for the wrong formatting error you were getting.

I'm not sure what you mean by installing to the MSATA, then installing from there to C. How would this overcome the formatting error? Is the MSATA a caching drive? Where is the SSD in this?

No...i didn't do a UEFI install...I'm new to this type of bios...perhaps I'll try one day!!!

I did a temp install to the onboard msata (this is a Z77-UD3) just to allow me to copy the files and folders off the OS harddrive before I formatted it (sure there was probably a much easier way)...anyway now my OS harddrive is formatted with a fresh win7, the msata is the on board cache.
Everything seems to be working again but now I want to avoid having to download huge software files (Games etc that are on a seperate harddrive) as I'm not sure whether they have an option to be reinstalled/activated in the registry???

Why would any installable app or game not be able to be reinstalled? I've never heard of that in Win7.

If we'd known we could have showed you how to rescue your files from unbootable Win7, Step 3 in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 which also are the steps to get and keep a perfect reinstall.

How did you re-enable the MSATA as a caching drive? In the BIOS?

-regarding apps/games...the ones I am thinking of are complete update installs ie there is no .exe to install from, only the original disk...which will obviously try to update its self...again!!!

-yeah thanks...I thought that would be the case but I gave up finding the tutorial

-Intel Rapid Storage Technology...don't ask me how but it did the trick!!!

You may need to start from scratch if you really want the game/ Check the maker's website for a newer download with updates included.

If you have access to an image of your old install you can mount, you might be able to google how to reinstall the AppData or Program Data files that contain the game settings and data. But a program usually needs updates to be applied again that are later than its latest installer.

May I ask how you disabled IRST to format and install to its caching drive, then re-enabled it afterwards? Was this done in the BIOS or was a driver or software installed to the HD that enabled it?

Hi,
regarding IRST...before installing the OS and irst software the cache drive was seen as an ordinary harddisk, therefore I managed to install the OS to it.
After getting my harddrive up and running with Win7 I installed irst and the gigabyte software(EZ Setup-contains EZ Smart Response), enabled then disabled acceleration, once you disable the cache drive the software allows you to format it again, then I enabled acceleration once more...job done!!!