Thanks for the information Kyle. I guess my thought behind the formatting of
the drive is to clean out all the unused DLL's and all the junk that is
there and taking up space, but not being used. Can you explain this imaging
program to me a bit. I have never heard of such a thing. It takes an image
of your C drive and puts it on the D? When you say an image, do you mean it
copies exactly what you have on your C drive to the D? If so, how often
should you run this. Drive contents are continuously changing. Thanks for
your help.

Jeff


>From: Kyle Elmblade <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: PCBUILD - Personal Computer Hardware discussion List
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] Formatting 1 of 2 Drives
>Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 21:15:40 -0800
>
>I'm curious why you want to reformat in the first place.  Do you think
>something is corrupted?  As a technician who works with both workstations
>and servers, I always go the long route before suggesting a reinstall.  If
>the problem appears to be fundamental to the OS, then there may not be an
>option.  Otherwise, there are registry cleaners and disk cleaning utilities
>that can take care of a lot of problems that may be occurring.
>
>With that said, reinstalling over the old application is not a problem in
>most cases.  You may, with some of them, get unexpected results.  For
>instance, I once did a reinstall (which I actually do quite often on my
>home
>system because I just HAVE to tinker;  it's the geek's bane), and wanted to
>keep my settings and saved games from Half-Life, which was installed on my
>second drive.  So, after formatting and rebuilding my primary drive I
>reinstalled the application over the old copy.  This all worked out
>perfect,
>except for one tiny little detail.  I could not use either of my mouse
>buttons to fire my weapons in the game, and no amount of playing with the
>configuration would correct the problem.
>
>In this case, I just ended up running the uninstall, whacking (aka
>deleting)
>the folder the application was installed in, and reinstalling.  The game
>worked fine after that, but I had to start over from the beginning.  The
>painful part was the fact that I was entirely through the game and on the
>last big-bad beastie, and I couldn't finish.  Argh!
>
>So, here's what I'm saying (sorry if I'm going on a little bit).  You can
>probably get away with installing your applications over the current copies
>to get them registered with the OS, but you may have to back-track and do
>an
>uninstall then fresh install if something goes haywire.  In most cases
>you'll be o.k., and if we are talking about 15-20 or more applications, I
>would say that is going to be the most efficient way to do it in the end.
>If, however, you only have a few applications, the safest way would be to
>install all the applications fresh.
>
>One more word of wisdom.  Before I did any of this, I would find myself a
>good imaging program (Ghost or something along those lines) and put an
>image
>of drive c: on the d: drive.  That way if something screws up you can image
>the c: drive with the original and be up and rolling in no time.  If there
>is not enough room on the d: drive for the image, find another drive that
>will be large enough and add it into the system just for doing the image
>(borrow one if you have to).  Once you have everything up and going with
>the
>new install, you can decide if you want to delete the image.
>
>Good luck!
>
>Kyle Elmblade
>Distinct Computer Solutions
>Sales - Upgrades - Training - Consulting
>[log in to unmask]
>"A closed mouth gathers no foot"
>
>From: "Jeff Allen" <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2001 6:21 AM
>Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] Formatting 1 of 2 Drives
>
>
> > Thanks for the warning Kyle. I appreciate it. I now know what I have to
>do.
> > I will back up everything, and format the C drive and then reinstall my
> > applications on both drives. Is it neccessary to uninstall the
>applications
> > on the D drive though, or can I just reinstall them over the existing
>ones?
> > Also, is it best to just format both drives, then put everything back
>the
> > way I had it?
> >
> >
> > >From: Kyle Elmblade <[log in to unmask]>
> > >Reply-To: PCBUILD - Personal Computer Hardware discussion List
> > ><[log in to unmask]>
> > >To: [log in to unmask]
> > >Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] Formatting 1 of 2 Drives
> > >Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2001 22:18:34 -0800
> > >
> > >Hey Jeff,
> > >
> > >Big red flags, claxons, bells, whistles!  Other programs you install
>not
> > >only put files in your system directory, but make entries into the
> > >registry.
> > >And, some may even have sneaked folders and files into your c:\program
> > >files
> > >directory without you knowing it, which could cause even more havoc.
> > >
> > >Typically, if you want to reinstall your OS, you're looking at
>reinstalling
> > >all your applications as well.  The only exception to this is if you
>are
> > >attempting what's called a "refresh install", which is essentially
> > >installing the same OS over the top of itself (i.e. running the Windows
>98
> > >setup on a machine that was currently running Windows 98).  This type
>of
> > >install can sometimes repair .dll's or a corrupt registry, but I've
>never
> > >had any smashing success with it.
> > >
> > >I hate to rain on your parade, but I don't think you are going to get
>away
> > >with the new OS install with out reinstalling your current
>applications.
> > >If
> > >another lister has an ace up there sleeve that might work, I would be
> > >greatly interested in hearing it.
> > >
> > >Good luck!
> > >
> > >Kyle Elmblade
> > >Distinct Computer Solutions
> > >Sales - Upgrades - Training - Consulting
> > >[log in to unmask]
> > >"A closed mouth gathers no foot"
> > >
> > >From: "Jeff Allen" <[log in to unmask]>
> > >Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2001 8:14 PM
> > >Subject: [PCBUILD] Formatting 1 of 2 Drives
> > >
> > >
> > > > Hey...I'm hoping perhaps one of you can help me out. I have 2 hard
> > >drives.
> > >C
> > > > & D. C houses my OS, Windows 98. I want to format drive C but I am
> > >concerned
> > > > that doing so will affect programs on drive D as well, because some
>of
> > >these
> > > > programs automatically installs files in the SYSTEM folder in drive
>C.
> > >Would
> > > > it be enough to back up the SYSTEM folder, format drive C, reinstall
> > >Windows
> > > > and then put back the SYSTEM folder? Any suggestions how to handle
>this?
> > > > Thanks.
> > > >
> > > > Jeff
>
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