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SuperHero
Joined: 10 Dec 2003
Location: Superhero Hideout
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 Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 6:56 pm Post subject: time to reinstall - a couple of questions |
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Tomorrow I'm planning on reinstalling windows. I've done this a million times before and have no problem with the reinstall process. The thing is I find it tedious and time consuming.
What I would like to do is finish my install including all essential programs and then run something that will make an image file that in the future I could use to return to the clean install and all programs installed state that I will be at tomorrow.
Any recommendations on this? |
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hepcat
Joined: 07 Mar 2005
Location: Daegu
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| Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 7:56 pm Post subject: |
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| ummm...sorry for the seemingly naive question, but: why have you had to reinstall your o.s. even once, let alone "millions" of times? |
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SuperHero
Joined: 10 Dec 2003
Location: Superhero Hideout
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| Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 8:16 pm Post subject: |
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| hepcat wrote: |
| ummm...sorry for the seemingly naive question, but: why have you had to reinstall your o.s. even once, let alone "millions" of times? |
I reinstall approximately every six months. This is generally the easiest way to get a "new" or "clean" system. It clears up all the stray dll files and registry, there's no spyware or adware - yes I regularly run scans but some things are bound to get through.
I also tend to install and uninstall programs on a regular basis and this can make your system rather wonky. In my opinion, and many others that I know, regularly reinstalling your o/s is just good computer maintenance.
for me, it's been about 7 months now and I am getting some strange behaviour and my startup is rather slow - all things that will be fixed once I reinstall. |
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hepcat
Joined: 07 Mar 2005
Location: Daegu
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| Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 8:30 pm Post subject: |
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ahh, I see. That's what I thought. 
I guess it depends what o.s. you have, though... 
The one I have needs maintenance (cache cleaning, directory repair mostly) but a complete reinstall is almost never required (I think it's been done in some extreme cases) |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 2:02 am Post subject: Re: time to reinstall - a couple of questions |
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| SuperHero wrote: |
Tomorrow I'm planning on reinstalling windows. I've done this a million times before and have no problem with the reinstall process. The thing is I find it tedious and time consuming.
What I would like to do is finish my install including all essential programs and then run something that will make an image file that in the future I could use to return to the clean install and all programs installed state that I will be at tomorrow.
Any recommendations on this? |
I've discovered you just can't drag and drop your c drive onto a d drive attached via a usb cable. Some of the windows files are in use and won't allow copying.
There must be some app online. Alternatively, there must be some backup utility provided with windows that will let you back up your whole HD to another HD. |
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SuperHero
Joined: 10 Dec 2003
Location: Superhero Hideout
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| Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 3:07 am Post subject: Re: time to reinstall - a couple of questions |
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| mindmetoo wrote: |
| There must be some app online. Alternatively, there must be some backup utility provided with windows that will let you back up your whole HD to another HD. |
exactly what I'm looking for. I've downloaded Norton Ghost, but I'm not really a fan of Norton (bloatware) products. |
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Horangi Munshin
Joined: 06 Apr 2003
Location: Busan
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| Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 3:48 am Post subject: |
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| Try Acronis true image. It works well for me. After I've got everything installed and running well I back it up to a protected partition on the harddrive. It takes under 15 minutes to have your system fully restored when things go south. |
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SuperHero
Joined: 10 Dec 2003
Location: Superhero Hideout
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| Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 7:11 am Post subject: |
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| Horangi Munshin wrote: |
| Try Acronis true image. It works well for me. After I've got everything installed and running well I back it up to a protected partition on the harddrive. It takes under 15 minutes to have your system fully restored when things go south. |
that looks like what I need. Will download tomorrow and set it up. I just finished my reinstall, but it's time for bed now. |
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rocklee
Joined: 04 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 7:18 am Post subject: |
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Back in the days when I was a sys'em admin I used Norton Ghost. It was command line but you could create your own batch files to compress and decompress an image of your Windows/software setup.
Another method would be to copy your basic windows setup including your most regular programs to a CD or DVD (you'll need to boot up in command line mode).
Every OS needs to be "refresh" as quite a lot of unused installation/temp files are left on the computer after you install or upgrade your programs.
Funnily enough, I'm still using the same OS that was installed on my noteook back in 2004! I think I need an upgrade as well, anyone using MCE? |
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SuperHero
Joined: 10 Dec 2003
Location: Superhero Hideout
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| Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 6:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Horangi Munshin wrote: |
| Try Acronis true image. |
I finished my install, ran all my maintenance software, defraged my drive and then installed Acronis. The backup process was incredibly easy and very intuitive. The restore process appears to be about the same. In a couple of weeks after I've added a few programs and played around a bit, I'll test the restore and see how it goes.
The total back up size after installing office, adobe photoshop, acrobat, illustrator, premier pro 2, encore, nero and a variety of other small applications totals 4.69gb. Just a little too large to fit on one DVD, but that's fine as I've got a separate drive for to use for backups and Acronis also allows you to split the backup on to multiple media if necessary. Anyhow, I think if this works like I think it does I'll find a DVD9 and back up to that.
thanks for posting this excellent software. Mmmm if it is as good as it seems, I'll probably actually buy a real copy of it. |
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Horangi Munshin
Joined: 06 Apr 2003
Location: Busan
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| Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 3:57 am Post subject: |
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No problem. Glad to help.
I've used Norton Ghost in the past. My brother in-law suggested Acronis. |
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Wrench
Joined: 07 Apr 2005
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| Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 4:12 am Post subject: |
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| my god are you serious? Just do system maintanence.. I had a 2k Machine run for 5 years with the same OS. Just as fast as it was day one.. Granted I have scheduled a lot of maintanence apps for when I am not using a pc. |
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Confused Canadian
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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Superhero...
Any feedback on Acronis?
I've just had some computer problems, and I absolutely HATE re-installing all the drivers, programs, peripherals, etc. associated with a Windows re-install.
It looks like Acronis is also exactly what I'm looking for. Once I get things up and running properly, I'll back up the C drive. If I understand correctly, when things go south, I can just overwrite the C drive with the back up, and things will be back to their original settings, right? Of course, my data is backed up on a separate disk, but Windows, divers, and programs will reappear with all the settings intact, correct?
Keeping my fingers crossed that this will be the last Windows reinstall I have to do... |
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spliff
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Please...define "Wonky". |
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SuperHero
Joined: 10 Dec 2003
Location: Superhero Hideout
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 11:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Confused Canadian wrote: |
Superhero...
Any feedback on Acronis? |
I can't recommend it enough. I picked up a second hand laptop and installed it there. While fiddling around I fucked up everything and successfully went back to how it was when I got the laptop. This is important because the guy I bought it from didn't have the restore CD or driver CD.
Yesterday I accidentally deleted an entire folder from the programs folder. The program is from a Korean site (and necessary to me) but I couldn't find the download. I loaded up acronis and restored only that folder and everything works like a charm.
you can also do incremental backups so if things change you can have that added to your image. What I do instead is restore to the previous image get all my windows updates add any programs taht are now necessary and create a new image.
Get this program. |
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