John Weiss said:
Do you also relocate your Outlook/OE files and other data that apps try to store
in the "Application Data" folder?
Great question, because as we all know, and for reasons that remain a
mystery, MS makes management of OE data a royal pain in the arse. God knows
why MS can't store the data, profiles, etc., in a format that would
facilitate backup and relocation. Nope, they make it as convoluted as
possible. I'm aware there are third-party apps/gimics, but the fact they
exist at all is a testament to how bad OE is constructed.
That said, I only use OE for NGs! I use web-based email, specifically
Yahoo! Mail, for several reasons. First, I like the idea of being able to
access my mail ANYWHERE I might happen to be. Second, I like the idea of
placing the backup burdens on someone else, in this case, Yahoo. Third, OE
is a virus *factory*. I've been using Windows since 3.0, and have NEVER,
EVER had a virus. One reason being that I avoid the most deadly avenues for
attack, like OE, it's attachments, even Word docs and potential macro-based
viruses. Finally, it makes my backups that much easier.
In a nutshell, I avoid OE as much as possible. But I do have to admit that
I like its NG management compared to other tools, which is the ONLY reason I
continue to use it. Since I consider NG data to be far more expendable than
my email (afterall, I can use web-based NG readers as well), it's not a big
deal if I lost my NGs (a bit of a pain, but I'll live to see another day).
What I will do, however, is use the File and Settings Transfer utility to
make a backup of OE. Seems to work VERY well, and only takes maybe 3-4
minutes to complete the task. If I want to return to a prior incarnation of
the OS, I'll make that OE backup to a shared data partition, reboot and
restore the old OS, then run the File and Setting Transfer wizard again to
restore OE. So far it's worked out well.
That's why I always say there are exceptions. There are other programs here
and there that insist on maintaining their data on the OS partition as well,
usually under the relevant Program Files folder. But most are small and
manageable. For example, my third-party scheduler, System Scheduler from
Splinterware, maintains its own Events folder, which is nothing but a set of
INI files that describe the 30 or so scheduled events I run. I use Centered
Systems Second Copy to make periodic backups of these types of files to
another partition. These backups are triggered every couple hours. If I
know I'm about to reboot and restore, I'll run ALL the Second Copy backups
just prior. When I then restore an old OS, I'll synchronize the saved
Second Copy backups back to the C: partition, and I'm back in business. I'd
do the same thing w/ OE if only it allowed me to backup from a batch process
or use Second Copy. But as I stated initially, OE makes management of its
data very difficult, so the File and Settings wizard is admittedly an
exceptional case.
Btw, one other thing I strongly recommend -- KEEP A LOG OF CHANGES! Many
ppl worry about the hassles of imaging and restoring their OS because
they've made numerous changes to the OS over time. This may include desktop
shortcuts, registry optimizations, and various other tweaks. In order to
minimize the impact of a restored OS, I keep a log of changes, even minor
ones. Then, if I do restore an old OS, I examine the log and reapply those
changes (sometimes I don't if I subsequently decide the change was not to my
liking). I'm in the habit of NOT employing lots of needless changes to the
OS, such as WindowBlinds (schemes) anf tweaks. While they may be nice to
have, they make loss of the OS or restoration just that more complex. I
keep it SIMPLE and as close to the original installation as
possible/practical. IOW, I have less to lose and regret if I never had the
feature/change in the first place
In other cases, I use .reg files for
must-have registry changes and store them in a batch file for easy
reapplication.
Jim
