I need help with 10.0 please

I need to backup everything on my C: drive except the OS. Can someone please give me a step by step so that I can 1) save this exact info and 2) what to name the file so that it will properly reload(if this is an issue, I'm not sure). I have to do a clean OS install. Thanks very much, Shep
PS- I tried doing a my apps backup, but I can't select any files - can someone advise?

 

If you're intersted in backing up just your work files (documents, pics, psreadsheets, etc.) then do a "My Data" backup and select the appropriate directories.

If by "everything but the OS" you mean data/work files plus the programs, then you're out of luck. You need the OS registry for the programs to operate properly with the OS as configured on a particular machine. Yu can't divorce the two. It's not like the old DOS days where you could jsut copy the program files from once place to the next. Nowadays, when a program is installed it is intimately wedded to the OS through the half dozen or so system files that make up the "hives" of the registry. So you can't take programs and leave the OS behind and then expect to restore the program files and have those programs work without going wonky.



Be mindful that "My Data" backups are slower than "My Computer" backups and it might be faster and easier to just to entire disk/partiton backups, OS and all, using the "My Computer" method.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. But won't that leave the OS in the backup? I have to have a clean install as my OS is in the crapper from SP3 RC2. I guess I'd have to reinstall all programs and reregister, etc? Ughhhhhh...

 

if you didn't save an image of the drive that you made before installing sp3, then your best bet would be a repair install of Windows That will take the OS files back to when installed from the Windows OS install CD without mucking up the programs. You then would want to do all the Win updates since back then (excepting, of course, sp3). Did you tried doing an uninstall of sp3? I'd try that first, if no go, then do the repair install, and if that was no go, then do a full reinstall.

Also note that, if you do a data backup now of your documents, you can do a restore of an older full-disk image and then restore or copy the documents from the newer backup. This woul dput your OS back to pre sp3 state, retain your programs, and preserve your latest versions of documents.

 

I guess I'm screwed... I tried the repair of windows 4x, it says it can't see my drives - funny, isn't a drive running the pc!?! I have no older backup of my C: drive, only the one made post SP3. Quite concerned I'm gonna end up in a bigger mess than I'm already in if I try to do the clean install - but - I guess I'm gonna make a new full backup now, data backup next, clean install after that and load the data backup after that. Does this sound like the correct procedure for my dilemma? Thanks alot Sheiber -Shep
PS - in my data backup, should I save the windows folder? that's where SP3 is, isn't it?

 

I just realized something - I have a somewhat dated 2nd drive that is a direct copy of my original before SP3 and well before a few of my programs were installed . I've done a full backup of just my data both with and w/o the Windows folder, but I think Sys. Restore and SP3 would still be in it - coreect or no? Would changing the drive and recovering the data backup be my fix? Is Sys. Restore and SP3 in my data backup a concern? Please advise and Thanks alot - Shep

 

SP3 creates a Sys Restore point before charging ahead. Any chance of accessing that?

Or can SP3 be uninstalled?

 

Thanks for replying - I've tried all that. Unfortunately, I messed up by running Sys Restore before I uninstalled SP3. If I can just find out what to backup datawise, so that SP3 and the bad Sys Restore don't come back to haunt me when I recover the data, I'd be set. The 2nd drive is in fact SP2, and i'm backing it up now, in case data recovery goes south. Any thoughts about that, earthling?

 

If you have access to it the Files and Settings transfer wizard would be worth a try. Much better bet than trying to suss out what you need to backup yourself.