Reinstall - what should I save before wiping disk ?

[- Bobb -]

Trying to make reinstall easier and checking if I should copy these
folders to a spare disk first. Checking my XP partition and I see:

the INF folder ( has 56mb in it - will it save me from searching for
drivers that I'll need ? )
or
C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386 = 514mb
or
C:\WINDOWS\Installer\$PatchCache$\Managed\ that has Ms office stuff - 2
folders ~215mb each - keep it ?

you get the idea - I'm trying to avoid NOT having a driver/ file that
will be necessary during install .

Thanks
Bobb

 

[peter]

That really depends upon why you are reinstalling.Normally I would just save
my personal files and any programs I dont have the CD for.
The i386 folder is on the XP CD........what version do you have installed
...SP2?? are you reinstalling with SP2 or will you need to download SP2???
The INF foldr has info on your hardware devices..included on the XP CD or on
the drivers CD that came with your hardware which you will need to reinstall
as well.MS Office is always better to reinstall and then update from the
update site.

So Why are you reinstalling???
peter

 

[Guest]

Useless to save any Windows files since everything has to be reinstalled.
Just save your personal files--documents, pictures, finance backups, settings
etc. The Files and Settings Transfer Wizard is very helpful. Good reinstall
guide here: http://www.djdenham.com/Install Procedures.htm#Install

 

[- Bobb -]

my reply follows

That really depends upon why you are reinstalling.Normally I would
just save my personal files and any programs I dont have the CD for.
The i386 folder is on the XP CD........what version do you have
installed ..SP2?? are you reinstalling with SP2 or will you need to
download SP2??? The INF foldr has info on your hardware
devices..included on the XP CD or on the drivers CD that came with
your hardware which you will need to reinstall as well.MS Office is
always better to reinstall and then update from the update site.

So Why are you reinstalling???
peter

===================
Reply:

Cleaning up : I have multi-boot systems and finding I no longer need an
OS, on another I now want XP on C - rather than E and I'll purge the
old stuff from the system.

As for the drivers ... I figure - rather than tracking down all of my
oem CD's, I know that I HAVE working drivers ON the drive now. My X64
CD is an early version so that will need a lot of updates after install.
I had issues with drivers there. My OS CD's are ~ 2 years old: so why
not keep what I know works and install from there rather than use " old
drivers" (which may have compatablitity problems with all my updates
since then). Since PCI-E didn't exist when I first bought XP , I'd be
swapping cd's for each device. And maybe the driver has been updated
since then by the manufacturer (and maybe not at windowsupdate) So why
not keep the INF folder ?? That was my thinking - but I wanted to see
what others did / do .
My XP CD came with SP1 but I have downloaded SP2 and made a slipstreamed
CD for the first time.( I'll see how that goes ! )
In case I have issues I also have SP2 on a separate CD too.

Bobb
======================