[OT?] Things to back up when reinstalling XP Pro

[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
files/directories I should back up, so that I'll have most if not all
of the settings back 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? Also, for Windows
settings, I'd appreciate it if you could indicate the location of the
files. It took me a long time before I found the blasted OE
addressbook.

Some of the things I've jotted down already:
OE addressbook
IE bookmark
Firefox bookmark
Documents and Settings

Thanks for your time and courtesy.

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

What about imaging the whole hard disk/partition?

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

--


Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups

 

[Vagabond Software]

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
files/directories I should back up, so that I'll have most if not all
of the settings back 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? Also, for Windows
settings, I'd appreciate it if you could indicate the location of the
files. It took me a long time before I found the blasted OE
addressbook.

Some of the things I've jotted down already:
OE addressbook
IE bookmark
Firefox bookmark
Documents and Settings

Thanks for your time and courtesy.

If you backup the entire Documents and Settings folder, along with all sub-folders, you should get all of the items mentioned above that in your list. Another option, since you have a new hard drive, is to simply install XP on the new drive, then add the old drive after you have everything installed as working.

The old drive will show up as drive E: (or something like that) and you will be able to quickly copy all relevant files from your old drive. You'll also be able to search all your old data at any time (until the drive finally dies), and you may be able to actually attempt to "save" the old drive with various tools.

It's worth a shot.

carl

 

[Guest]

Use the migration wizard on the Windows XP cd. Insert the CD and under one
of the sub-menus there is an option to backup your files for migration to
another setup of Windows XP. I seems to do a pretty good job finding most
files people want to save, IE favorites, Outlook Express email and profiles,
pictures, etc. I believe the filename it uses is MIGWIZ.exe or FASTWIZ.exe.

~Jeff