Please confirm this backup method works

[borgqueenx]

For reinstalling windows seven thus formatting the C drive im right now doing this:

Made a copy of the whole register to external HDD, wich also contains all applications installed right?
Copied both Program Files folders to external HDD. These will work after restoring register right?
Copied the AppData folder to external HDD.

All "Documents" like my music my video's ect are saved on a other partition wich doesnt need formatting. Will windows register restore make sure it knows where to get all that data again?

Anything im forgetting?

Thanks, and please help me asap since i want to perform the reinstall today or tommorow

 

[richnrockville]

For reinstalling windows seven thus formatting the C drive im right now doing this:

Made a copy of the whole register to external HDD, wich also contains all applications installed right?
Copied both Program Files folders to external HDD. These will work after restoring register right?
Copied the AppData folder to external HDD.

All "Documents" like my music my video's ect are saved on a other partition wich doesnt need formatting. Will windows register restore make sure it knows where to get all that data again?

Anything im forgetting?

Thanks, and please help me asap since i want to perform the reinstall today or tommorow

borgqueenx:

Your process is flawed in that many, in fact, most programs install DLL files in the windows and it's sub directories. Therefore replacing your programs and registry would do you no good.

If you feel the need to format and re-install windows, One way would be to save all of your documents and data to an external drive and then after you have re-installed windows (clean format) then you would have to re-install all of your applications software again, One good reason for saving updates to an external drive.
The only other way to guarantee that your programs will run after a re-format is to accomplish an image copy. That can be with the internal microsoft windows 7 image backup or one of the many image programs available. I personally use Acronis home version. It is cheap and works.

Another caution on a format and install is to make sure that you have all the hardware drivers from your motherboard web site for your machine and the graphic drivers. Put them on an usb or external drive and after windows is installed, you then can update your system with the latest drivers.

Rich

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Made a copy of the whole register to external HDD, wich also contains all applications installed right?
Copied both Program Files folders to external HDD. These will work after restoring register right?
Copied the AppData folder to external HDD.

All "Documents" like my music my video's ect are saved on a other partition wich doesnt need formatting. Will windows register restore make sure it knows where to get all that data again?

You seem to be way off base.

Generally, if you are going to reinstall Windows, the only thing you would backup is personal data.

If you are going to clean reinstall Windows, you will get a new registry and should reinstall your programs. I wouldn't copy Program Files and AppData. There is no point in saving the old registry.

The new install won't have any problems finding your documents. You could either leave the documents on this other partition or copy them back to the Windows partition.

 

[borgqueenx]

but reinstalling everything means 1. alot of time. 2. Alot of searching for data of the applications.
Plus itunes is always acting up like an ass...Do one thing wrong and itunes usally deletes all the playlists ect.

if there is an application that can make things alot easier for me then i take it, no matter if its priced a bit.

An image copy is no good???? that way it will act just like it was before?

 

[mickey megabyte]

you'll waste even more time by trying to make things work after trying your proposed method.

you asked for advice, and it was given to you.

ignore it at your peril!

think of it as a fresh new start.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

An image copy is no good???? that way it will act just like it was before?

An image copy is wonderful. It will act just like it was before.

But, why would you reinstall if you want to replicate what you have now where things will "act just like it was before"??

I assume there is something you don't like about your current installation. An image will only return you to the situation at the time the image was made.

 

[pincushion]

Why not just reinstall Windows on top of the old version and save all your settings in the process? It is often suggested that a format and clean install is the best method but reinstalling over the old version will cure most problems - unless you have already tried that.

 

[mickey megabyte]

this may help, and save you some time: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html?ltr=R

*edit* ah, i see here that you have virus trouble. http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/199189-reinstalling-notebook-how-backup.html

 

[pincushion]

OK, didn't know about your virus problems. If you haven't already done anything and are still worried about Itunes stuff. I don't use Itunes but I do use Spotify which might have a similar arrangement for storing data and playlists. I store the Spotify music files on a separate data partition as you do apparently. The playlists for mine are located in Users/myname/AppData/Roaming/Spotify/Accountname etc. so copying these to a safe location should mean that you can restore them if you have problems later.

My solution to backing up entails storing all data on a separate data partition with all data associated with programs - such as Spotify, BBC IPlayer etc - also stored here. I also have my Favorites on this partition too and these are incrementally backed-up regularly. I make images of the system partition regularly but since some data (like playlists) still exist on the system partition they will be returned to previous state thus probably erasing some items. The only solution, apart from having the complete user profile on the data partition is to regularly image after updating playlists or other programs or by copying this data and restoring afterwards. I don't think even Restore can cater for this but perhaps I'm wrong. I use Macrium Reflect for imaging and I am quite happy with it.