Can I copy all Drivers?

[fas 0]

Is there an easy way to copy all the drivers from a pc before you reformat, so that after reformat all you would need to do would be to renistall the drivers? Thanks.

[Jasper 0]

There is a program called Driver Genius Pro that will allow you to do this, but of course it isn't free, but it works great for backing up all your drivers.

 

http://www.driver-soft.com/ 29.95

[fas 0]

Jasper, since it's not free, can I have your license so I can use it for free? Just kidding. I saw that one and a few other programs. I was wondering if there was a way to do it for free. Thanks.

[Jasper 0]

Yep you can do it for free. You just reinstall the drivers.

 

Seriously if you find one for free, let us know.

 

The one I recommended it well worth it though because it will keep all your drivers up to date and makes it very easy to back up your drivers. It will even make self xtracting exuctable files for easy install of the drivers.

 

Anyway, happy hunting..

[Billyk 0]

Here is a suggestion. I use it all the time, it is cheap and very easy to do. Find an older version of GHOST. You can get the older versions for about $5-10.00. After you build a customers or your machine just as you like it make a bootable ghost image, then if anything fails like the hard drive or an upgrade goes sour, just boot with the image disk and reload and you are right where you were when you made the image. Very handy especially when you have a lot of identical or nearly identical machines. I have about 200 or so PCs to maintain and would not be caught without it.

[CollinR 0]

Here is a suggestion. I use it all the time, it is cheap and very easy to do. Find an older version of GHOST. You can get the older versions for about $5-10.00. After you build a customers or your machine just as you like it make a bootable ghost image, then if anything fails like the hard drive or an upgrade goes sour, just boot with the image disk and reload and you are right where you were when you made the image. Very handy especially when you have a lot of identical or nearly identical machines. I have about 200 or so PCs to maintain and would not be caught without it.

 

slipstream them mofos!

[Jasper 0]

Lets say the system really gets screwed up. Your image of the drive is no good even. The program I listed above will greatly speed up the reisntall of windows because the drives can be installed that much quicker without having to located or download the drivers.

 

That is where the real benefit of thet program comes in handy.

 

And Ghost sucks. Use True Image and you can mount the backup image as a drive and restore one file if you need to.

[rory 0]

nahh .. just stick in the windows CD and format one time ... most yah gotta load is the video card drivers anyway, keep all your software on a 2nd partition and just install them from there ... and have some fun while doing it ..

[Jasper 0]

The drivers get loaded on the same drive as Windows, so that won't work.

 

You can keep a backup of windows on another partition though so you can speed through the install. And keep your backed up drivers there as well.

 

For a strictly DVR PC you shouldn't have to load many drivers like you said, but for your home PC it might be worth investing in that program or copying all your driver disks to your hard drive so you can find them when you need them.

 

I think we said pretty much the same thing, didn't we?

[rory 0]

what yah mean ..? Windows will install the drivers .... doesnt take long to install the other software ... the email setup, IIS setup, and tweaking XP is what takes all the time ..

 

in fact, backing up and restoring data is the biggest hurdle of all ... and no recovery CD can help yah there .. also i mean setting up the locations, etc, such as in IIS, Outlook, My Documents, etc ... test, run the updates that just came out yesterday ... etc etc ..

[Jasper 0]

Not for me. If I can use an image I am back up and running in 15-20 minutes tops for a DVR.

 

If the system needs to be reloaed then it will go much faster from the hard drive than a CD.

 

And even if I don't have an image I back up all those data files anyway.

 

All documents, .pst email files, etc.

[rory 0]

for a DVR ,, but a home or work PC .. i got Gigs of stuff I didnt know i had, or where most of what i need is even located .. time as i set up IIS, test all the sites, get Outlook, Address book, My docs all pointing to the right location, then an extra couple hours to tweak it (including clean up, scans and defrags) ....... well .. it only took me 45 minutes to install windows and the other software, but now its going on over 4 hours or more ..

 

Also for a DVR, i test it for 48 hours anyway .. though tweaking the DVR and setting it up how i want it, can take long, but is included in that 48 hours .. plus unless you are using the same hardware ... the recovery CD wont work half the time ..

Edited March 13, 2006 by Guest

[Jasper 0]

That is why you need redundant protection. Other hard drives to protect large partitions and a DVD writer to backup large static files that don't change often.

 

Don't use a recovery CD, use an Image backup. Way better. Normall file backups don't work. Image backup's are the best because the restore the system to a known working status.

Edited March 13, 2006 by Guest

[rory 0]

you mussee think i work for microsoft hey $$$

id buy a printer first, havent had one in hmmm, 6-7 years ..

[Jasper 0]

Well I hate paperwork too, just not that bad.

 

But I understand what your saying.

 

Well no paper jams, no running out of ink, no paper costs, no waiting, no noise, more space available for other junk, just look at all that upside.

[Billyk 0]

GHOST may suck but it does the job and I mentioned GHOST 'cause you can pick up a copy for next to nothing. I am building 85 new PCs this week and next; using a bootable USB hard disk makes it quick and easy! The hardest part is taking them out of the box!! Anyway does not matter what image program you use, just use one. I really do think it is worth the extra effort.

Redundancy is also good. A second drive in a duplex arrangement might not be a bad idea for critical systems.

[Jasper 0]

Oh definitely the way to go. Just teasing about Ghost. I like True Image, but whatever does the job.

 

How are you utilizing the USB keys?

 

I know Vista when it is released will allow you to use USB flash memory for speeding up the system by putting pre-fetch data on the USB drive.