Formatting and Retaining old Prog/Files??
 

Hi guys


AS A LAST RESORT IF I NEED TO FORMAT MY COMP...

If I want to format my computer how can I format it and have every program, game, etc on my D:\Storage Drive still work without reinstalling them ??

Right now I have Windows XP Pro. I have a 1.5 Ghz Athlonxp, 60 GB HDD

I have a C:\ drive and a D:\drive.
I partitioned my 60 GB drive leaving C with 6 GB and D with 54 GB

I use my C drive to store Windows files, and progams I don't care to erase.
On my D Drive, I have important files and programs that I do not want to erase.

My C:\ drive is F***ked up due to a Trojan!!!! Anyway to format C:\ and leave D intact with programs still working??


Instructions step by step is appreciated


Thanks Guys!

Cosmic

Where is the WINNT directory, on the C drive or the D drive?

If it's on the C drive and you format the C drive you will have to reinstall all the programs. When you install programs they typically write a ton of information to the registry and to various locations within the WINNT directory.

The only types of programs that would not need to be reinstalled are programs that were written during the DOS days and early versions of Windows.

Every single one?

Well, you'd pretty much have to scan the install logs of each game, assuming they even made one when you installed them, then back up the files that were installed to your system disk, and replace them after you're done.

I have my system setup similar to yours, and what I usually wind up doing is reinstalling all the programs into the same directory so that the registry entries get put in. It MAY be possible to install it for the registry settings and then overwrite the dir with what you previoulsy had installed to get back your old settings.

Generally with windows, reinstalling the program is the only way to save it. If you save the registry and then reimport it it might work, but odds are that there are tons of files installed into c: drive even if you wanted the whole program installed to a different drive.

You MIGHT have some programs or games in tact if nothing is copied to Windows or the systems folders. Don't think it's possible at all to retain everything. The trojan's main purpose was to f**k up your file system.

learn to love reinstalling.

not! because your system should get trojans/virii every few months or whatever ...

just because I think it's a good habit to have.

I have very only rarely problems with such things (like, when I run adware type checking progs, i've always got less than 10 problems)...

but I like having a fresh start every so often. After a while, it just feels 'clogged' and so I just start over.
(yeah, it's possible to clean up a system w/o reinstalling...but not quite as thorough).

a fresh puter is a happy puter! :)

(ps) besides, what you're porposing just sounds like a mess to me, tbh.