[OT] Things to back up when doing a clean reinstall of Windows XP Pro

  • Thread starter Thread starter Holy Moly
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Holy Moly

Looks as though my POS IBM HD is about to go any day now. So, I'm
planning on reinstalling XP Pro on a new HD and was wondering what I
should back up, so that I'll have most if not all of the settings,
both for Windows and for my programs.

I know it's a rather broad and general question, but I'd appreciate it
if you guys could suggest things I should pay particular attention to.
Perhaps things which had you regret not having backed up something
when you performed a clean reinstall of Windows?

Thanks for your time and courtesy.
 
Check out a program by Genie Soft called Outlook Express Backup. It will
back up your Outlook Express program (including all users, passwords,
folders, preferences, and saved emails) plus your IE favorites and other
documents. It can save them as a self-executable so you can save to a disk
or flash drive. Has a 30 day fully functional trial period. I found it
useful enough I went ahead and bought it.

Fitz
 
Looks as though my POS IBM HD is about to go any day now. So, I'm
planning on reinstalling XP Pro on a new HD and was wondering what I
should back up, so that I'll have most if not all of the settings,
both for Windows and for my programs.

I know it's a rather broad and general question, but I'd appreciate it
if you guys could suggest things I should pay particular attention to.
Perhaps things which had you regret not having backed up something
when you performed a clean reinstall of Windows?

Thanks for your time and courtesy.
Click to expand...

Since it looks like you have no backup/recovery strategy in place, you
need to start from scratch and examine everything you do & create to
know what is important & needs to be restored. Until you work out all
the kinks just back up _everything_.

When you work all that out make sure the data you create & work with
ends up on a separate partition in a well organized space - IMHO a
"best practice". This is because I favor a 2 part backup strategy-
backup images of OS & installed programs for quick, worry-free bare
metal restores of the "system state" & separate file backup of user
data which is more frequent & comprehensive. This allows easy
continuity of work even through hardware or software issues (which can
be quickly dealt with).

Before doing anything destructive inventory your HW and get the latest
drivers. You should consider installing from a slipstreamed disk &
make backup images of your installation work as you go so you waste
less time & don't have to do this again from scratch. Make a list of
all the software you need & consider reliable & make sure you have all
the installation media & patches for these. Install all these first
(after the OS of course) and make a good backup when done. Keep a log
of your work & indicate what changes are on what backup image - it can
make things easier down the line.

Off the top of my head some common user data you need to think about:
the Desktop, Favorites/bookmarks/links, Wallpapers, custom themes &
sounds, multimedia files, email pop client (both mail & account &
server nfo), newsreader (also incl account & server nfo), saved ftp
site links, Office/productivity data, financial data, encryption keys,
macros & scripts, group policy settings, registration keys/serial
numbers for installed software, passwords, network settings, firewall
rules, program options settings, windows tweaks & customization incl
custom file type associations. Some of these can be done by creating
..reg files from the registry data, some can be backed up or copied
more directly, a few you may just have to write down or remember.

As you can see, trying to retrace everything you did on your computer
that made it your computer & met your needs is a PITA. In the future
you really shouldn't ever be starting over from scratch unless you
have upgraded to a new OS.
 
I know it's a rather broad and general question, but I'd appreciate it
if you guys could suggest things I should pay particular attention to.
Perhaps things which had you regret not having backed up something
when you performed a clean reinstall of Windows?
Click to expand...


I won't try to tell you how to save program settings and things like
that. But I've rebuilt my operating system MANY, MANY times, and I
know what DATA (not applications) I need to save.

1. Everything on the Desktop.

Move these to a separate folder on another drive and then copy them
back to your new Desktop, after re-installing XP, if that's where you
want them.

Don't bother about any Shortcuts on your Desktop. Remember I'm
advising you on how to save DATA, not applications. I personally like
to re-install all my applications occasionally anyway, in order to get
rid of junk applications I tried and don't like or need.

In Windows Explorer, your Desktop will be located in this directory:.

C:\Windows\Documents and Settings\"USERNAME"\Desktop

"USERNAME" is actually your logon name. If there are multiple users,
then you have to go to each directory.



2. Your Outlook OST and/or PST files.

Better yet, put all your Outlook email and other data into a PST file
and work with that, since I've had problems in the past with
re-linking to an old OST file. (OST files are only used if you
connect to a Microsoft Exchange Server. If you connect to a SMTP/POP3
sever, you'll have PST files already.)

The PST files are NORMALLY located in this directory, but you could
have put them elsewhere.

C:\Windows\Documents and Settings\"USERNAME"\Local
Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

I normally put my PST files in a folder called "Outlook" on the root
of C: or D: drive, since it's a such a convuluted path where they are
save by Outlook by default.


3. Your Favorites folder.

It's normally here...

C:\Windows\Documents and Settings\"USERNAME"\Favorites


4. Everything IMPORTANT in your "My Documents" folder.

There's probably some stuff in there that's not important, so look
around carefully and in each subfolder.

It's here...

C:\Windows\Documents and Settings\"USERNAME"\My Documents



That's it.

Remember if you have multiple Usernames logging onto the same
computer, you'll have to repeat the above for each.

If you save all of these files to a CD, or another hard drive, you can
then re-format your "old" C: drive or install a new one, and then copy
these files back to where you want them after you've completed the
new install.

Clark
 
Looks as though my POS IBM HD is about to go any day now. So, I'm
planning on reinstalling XP Pro on a new HD and was wondering what I
should back up, so that I'll have most if not all of the settings,
both for Windows and for my programs.

I know it's a rather broad and general question, but I'd appreciate it
if you guys could suggest things I should pay particular attention to.
Perhaps things which had you regret not having backed up something
when you performed a clean reinstall of Windows?

Thanks for your time and courtesy.
Click to expand...

1) Get the new drive and set this up ASAP. Don't use the
failing drive at all, or as little as absolutely possible...
when it's gone, it's gone.

2) Leave old drive disconnected from system. Setup XP on
the new drive. Get it "finished"/working and make a folder
to copy over data from the old drive. Make a list of
everything you want copied.

3) Boot system with old drive connected. Copy off
everything needed.

There is not easy way to copy over windows settings. There
are a few windows files that could be focused on - beyond
the scope of this group, see itemized lists in a windows
forum. Then there's the Email folder, My Documents, Browser
Shortcuts, things dumped to desktop and any other personal
folders. Icons, cursors, fonts, the list goes on and on
depending on how tweaked the system was. Only you know
these things.
 
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