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From: Percival P. Cassidy on
I have one machine with XP Home SP3 that is acting strangely --
sometimes reads FAT(32) media, sometimes won't; sometimes takes for ever
to boot; sometimes takes many attempts before it will shut down; etc. I
think it's time to reinstall; I'll try a repair install first (I have an
SP2 CD), but if that doesn't work I'll start over.

All I have on C: is the OS itself and apps that refused to install to
D:, which is my Apps drive. All my downloaded stuff is on E:, backups on X:.

If I create an "archive" using Files and Settings Transfer, can I select
what gets copied back? I assume that transferring all the old registry
settings would not be smart. Can I save the Desktop layout?

Perce
From: Percival P. Cassidy on
On 02/22/10 04:10 pm, I wrote:

> I have one machine with XP Home SP3 that is acting strangely --
> sometimes reads FAT(32) media, sometimes won't; sometimes takes for ever
> to boot; sometimes takes many attempts before it will shut down; etc. I
> think it's time to reinstall; I'll try a repair install first (I have an
> SP2 CD), but if that doesn't work I'll start over.
>
> All I have on C: is the OS itself and apps that refused to install to
> D:, which is my Apps drive. All my downloaded stuff is on E:, backups on
> X:.
>
> If I create an "archive" using Files and Settings Transfer, can I select
> what gets copied back? I assume that transferring all the old registry
> settings would not be smart. Can I save the Desktop layout?


Forgot to mention: restoring from recent restore points doesn't solve
problems; attempts to restore from older restore points don't work.

Perce
From: Daave on
Percival P. Cassidy wrote:

> All I have on C: is the OS itself and apps that refused to install to
> D:, which is my Apps drive. All my downloaded stuff is on E:, backups
> on X:.

In the event that you wind up performing a Clean Install, make sure C:
is at least 50GB. Also, it is important to have the OS and all the
applications on C:. Almost all of your programs will have preferences,
associated registry keys, etc. on the C: partition, so you might as well
keep it all together. And should you wish to create images of C: for
disaster recovery purposes (highly recommended), you will be all set.
:-)

D: can be for *all* your data. You may have a "downloaded stuff" folder
on it if you wish.

I would not have a backup partition on the same drive (if the hard drive
is toast, you will have also lost your backup!). An external hard drive
should be used for this purpose.


From: Percival P. Cassidy on
On 02/22/10 05:08 pm, Daave wrote:

>> All I have on C: is the OS itself and apps that refused to install to
>> D:, which is my Apps drive. All my downloaded stuff is on E:, backups
>> on X:.
>
> In the event that you wind up performing a Clean Install, make sure C:
> is at least 50GB. Also, it is important to have the OS and all the
> applications on C:. Almost all of your programs will have preferences,
> associated registry keys, etc. on the C: partition, so you might as well
> keep it all together. And should you wish to create images of C: for
> disaster recovery purposes (highly recommended), you will be all set.
> :-)

I've been caught too many times by programs that save data in the
program directory. If that's on C: and I have to reinstall the OS --
including reformatting C: -- I've often lost data as well. In one case I
installed a new version of a program without uninstalling the old one;
unbeknown to me the new version was using the data file originally
created by the earlier version; then when I uninstalled the old version
the data file disappeared too.

Even now I have programs that -- even though installed on D: -- insist
on storing configuration and data files in C:\Documents and
Settings\<User Name>\Application Data\<Application Name>\ rather than in
the application's own directory (or a subdirectory thereof) or in the
folder I have defined as "My Documents" (not on C:).

> D: can be for *all* your data. You may have a "downloaded stuff" folder
> on it if you wish.
>
> I would not have a backup partition on the same drive (if the hard drive
> is toast, you will have also lost your backup!). An external hard drive
> should be used for this purpose.

X: is a separate hard disk.

Perce
From: C on
Percival P. Cassidy wrote:

>> I would not have a backup partition on the same drive (if the hard drive
>> is toast, you will have also lost your backup!). An external hard drive
>> should be used for this purpose.
>
> X: is a separate hard disk.
>
> Perce

External I trust.

--

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