-=PCTechTalk=- Fw: [PCTechTalk] Manually Backing up your important stuff
- From: "Joyce" <jmcclure@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "pctechtalk" <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2005 15:20:18 -0600
Attn: Chris--Here it is--one of the first messages I kept after joining the
group.
Joyce
----- Original Message -----
From: "GuitarMan" <PC_Tech@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "PCTechTalk List" <PCTechTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2001 9:15 PM
Subject: [PCTechTalk] Manually Backing up your important stuff
> Here are a couple of excerpts from tutorials I had sent in a while back.
> My
> apologies to those who have already seen it. Use whatever parts make
> sense
> to you and discard the rest as only YOU can possibly know what's important
> to you (Warning: They ARE kinda wordy). Also keep in mind that parts of
> thses directions are more technically involved that others. The list is
> right here if there's something you don't understand or are not sure if
> you
> can handle.
>
> Remember that this is meant for MANUALLY backing up your important stuff.
> When you've gone through everything, be sure to burn the stuff you decide
> to
> save to a CD or Move it over to some other form of off-disk storage.
>
> *******************************************
> This tutorial is only meant as a general guide for collecting anything
> you might want to save (details about off-disk backup methods are not
> included here. ask the list for these) In this tutorial, Windows refers
> to
> Win95, Win98 and WinME. Many of the ideas presented here are also valid
> for
> other operating systems, although the folder names could be different (In
> WinME, some of them are already different). Also keep in mind that some
> folks prefer to move some of these items to different locations (for
> various
> reasons). If this means you, your locations may vary from the ones below.
> If you're not sure about any part of this tutorial, don't hesitate to ask
> over the list.
>
> It's also important to understand that this is only meant as a
> temporary
> alternative to the proper methods of backing up your data, usually on
> Tape,
> CD-R, CD-RW or Zip disks. (there are other types of backup media, but
> these
> are the most widely used).
>
> Also note that this method should not be used on hard drives that are
> suspected of being near the end of their useful lives. If the hard drive
> should fail, even the stuff you saved (using the method below) will be
> lost
> forever. Once your important stuff is backed up, you should get busy
> properly backing up the stuff you save below (using any of the methods
> mentioned above).
>
> Again, don't hesitate to write to the list if you have any questions
> about anything you read here.
>
>
> 1. SETTING UP A MASTER BACKUP FOLDER:
> Open up either Windows Explorer or My Computer and open up the C:\
> drive. In Windows Explorer, it should already be showing the C:\ drive's
> contents in the right pane. in My Computer, you'll have to double click
> on
> the C:\ drive's icon to open its folder. (If you have more than one hard
> drive or partition, you might wish to do this on a different drive
> altogether. The idea there would be to choose the drive or partition with
> the most available free space). Once it's opened and showing you the
> contents of the C:\ drive, right click on a blank area of the main folder
> and select New/Folder from the context menu that opens. In Windows
> Explorer, do this on the right side (pane) of the open window. After the
> folder is created, type in a name for it using no more than 8 characters
> so
> it'll be easy to recognize from a command prompt (command prompt mode can
> only show up to 8 characters). I call mine "Archives". When you're
> finished typing in the name, press the Enter key on your keyboard to set
> the
> name permanently.
>
> Now, double click on the new folder to get inside it. Repeat the above
> process as many times as you wish to create new subfolders that will allow
> you to keep everything you save well organized. Below is a sample
> grouping
> structure that I offer as a starting point to give you the full idea for
> this. Each indentation indicates a subfolder of the folder above it, just
> like they're shown in Windows Explorer's left pane. You can always leave
> out any of these if they don't apply to you or even add some that I failed
> to list here.
>
> C:\
> ARCHIVES
> DIGITAL CAMERA PICS
> FAMILY
> FRIENDS
> HOUSES FOR SALE
> SCENERY
> DOWNLOADS
> BUG & SECURITY FIXES
> DRIVERS
> GAMES
> MISCELLANEOUS
> PROGRAMS
> ACCESSORIES
> INTERNET TOOLS
> MISC
> SYSTEM TOOLS
> TEXT EDITING APPS
> UTILITIES
> WEB DESIGN TOOLS
> SCREENSAVERS
> THEMES
> MULTIMEDIA
> ICQ RECEIVED FILES
> IMAGES
> MOVIES
> SOUNDS
> MIDI
> MP3
> WAV
> SYSTEM FILES
> APPLICATION DATA
> DESKTOP
> FAVORITES
> LOCAL SETTINGS
> PROFILES
> SEND TO
> START MENU
>
> 2. WHAT'S ATTACHED TO YOUR SYSTEM?:
> It's extremely important that you have all of the device drivers handy
> (on floppy disks, Zip disks or CDs) so that if Windows asks for them (or
> you
> have to replace a corrupt driver), you're ready for it.
>
> Go to Start/Settings/Control Panel and double click on the System
> applet. Click on the Device Manager tab and you'll be looking at
> everything
> that's connected to your system. Don't worry. We don't need to get new
> drivers for everything in here, just the stuff that gets added to the
> system
> that's not part of the motherboard. You'll need a pad and pen to write
> down
> the exact names and models of some of these things.
>
> One by one, go through each heading (CDROM, Disk Drives, etc.) by
> clicking on the little + sign next to them. This will expose the names &
> model numbers you'll need to write down. Typically, you'll only need to
> get
> new drivers for the following items, but you may also have additional
> devices that most folks don't (such as an electronic tablet for drawing, a
> trackball, a steering wheel/pedal kit for playing games, etc.).
>
> Here's a typical list of the types of hardware for which we're going to
> want
> the latest drivers. By no means is it necessarily complete since I have
> no
> way of knowing what other devices you may have added to your system. If
> you're not sure about something you have, ask about it over the list.
>
> CD-ROM drive
> CD-R/RW drive
> Display Adapters (video card)
> DVD drive
> Modem
> Network Adapter (If using a NIC or other Network card)
> Printer
> SCSI Controller (if used)
> Sound card
> Zip drive
>
> There's no need to bother going through the items below since Windows
> installs them itself (plus, you'd never find most of these drivers
> elsewhere)
>
> DISK DRIVES
> FLOPPY DISK CONTROLLERS
> HARD DISK CONTROLLERS
> KEYBOARD (unless you have a multimedia one)
> MONITORS
> MOUSE
> PORTS
> SCSI CONTROLLERS
> SYSTEM DEVICES
> UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS CONTROLLERS
>
> 3. GATHERING NEW DEVICE DRIVERS:
> Once you've completed writing down the make & model of the above
> devices, it's time to do some net shopping. Start at the top of the list
> and locate the web site for the manufacturer of your CD-ROM drive (or
> whatever device tops your list). You may need to run a search to
> determine
> the proper URL (internet address) for them. Registering at the site below
> will make it much easier for you to locate most of them.
>
> http://www.driverguide.com/guide/intro.htm
>
> Download each needed driver into a subfolder of your new DRIVERS
> folder.
> For example, I would download the latest driver for my own CD-R/RW drive
> into a subfolder called "Ricoh MP7060A (06_17_01)" to reflect the specific
> device to which it belongs as well as the driver's creation date (the
> above
> example uses the US dating format for June 17th, 2001).
>
> As you download & gather the drivers you will need, you'll notice that
> they are all in either zip or exe formats. Unfortunately, Windows Install
> will not be able to use them in those formats. The cure for that is to
> expand these compressed files into a more usable form that Windows CAN
> understand.
>
> For ZIP files, it's easy. If you don't have a compression program that
> understands the zip format, download a copy of the latest version of
> WinZip.
> It's a shareware program that's worth every penny of the $29 (US) they
> charge. Ask on the list how to use it if you're not sure.
>
> Go to the folder that contains the ZIP file and create a new folder. I
> just accept the name "New Folder" since it's a temporary folder just for
> use
> while installing the OS. Use your right mouse button to drag the file
> until
> it's directly over this new folder. When you let go (be sure that the
> ghost
> image of the file you are dragging is directly above the new folder),
> you'll
> be presented with a context menu that includes several choices added by
> the
> installed compression program. With WinZip, you'll want to select the
> second item from the top ("Extract to ..."). This will extract the
> various
> files that make up the driver set into the New Folder you just created.
> If
> you don't see this context menu item in your list, WinZip isn't installed
> properly.
>
> If the downloaded file is in exe format, try the same procedure as
> above. Some of them are actually zip files that were converted into self
> extracting archive files. If it doesn't work, you'll have to wait until
> after the installation of the OS before you can update the drivers for
> that
> device.
>
> If there are any device drivers that you're not able to locate during
> this section, you'll need to have the original ones handy in case Windows
> asks for them during the install. In many cases, Windows already has
> drivers that are newer than the originals you received with the device.
> Also, in many cases, Windows will install its own drivers, even though you
> went through the trouble of locating new ones. Not to worry. When you
> come
> back to the list to tell us how exciting and wonderful your experience
> here
> was, we'll show you how to replace the older drivers with the new ones you
> get following these instructs. ;O}
>
> 4. BACKING UP IMPORTANT SYSTEM FILES:
> Be aware of the amount of free space available on your hard drive for
> this section. If you're drive is nearly full, these methods won't work
> for
> you. A better bet would be to buy a larger drive (and we'll show you how
> to
> move the stuff you want to save over to that drive before formatting this
> one). To make sure you have the room for all this stuff, you'll need to
> right click each folder and select Properties from the context menu in
> order
> to determine the size of the contents of these folders. Add them up on
> paper while you're deciding what to save. You'll run into trouble very
> quickly if you try to copy a bunch of folders that are larger than the
> free
> space on your hard drive. Plus, that would leave you no room to save
> anything else. If you think you might run into trouble here, contact me
> on
> the list and I'll walk you through another, more complicated approach to
> this part.
>
> To see how much room is left on the hard drive, right click on the
> drive's icon in either Windows Explorer or My Computer and select
> Properties
> from the context menu. You're interested in the Free Space listing there.
>
> To back up the important personalized operating system (OS) support
> stuff, back up the following folders from within the main Windows
> directory.
> ALWAYS remember that "backing up" these things means that you Copy them,
> rather than Move them to the ARCHIVES folder. Some of these files and
> folders are still in use and moving them could break Windows, preventing
> the
> system from being able to start again without a reinstall.
>
> A) Application Data (here's where all of your OE email and Address
> Book
> is hiding. if you use a program other than Outlook or Outlook Express,
> you
> may not need this folder. in that case, ask the list about where to find
> your email files and address book if you're not sure.)
> B) Desktop (to save all of the shortcuts and such you've created here)
> C) Favorites (for obvious reasons. strict Netscape users may not need
> this since Netscape saves bookmarks in another location.)
> D) Local Settings (If it exists, it's probably important)
> E) Profiles (same as above)
> F) Send To (only if it has been customized to include specialty items
> that were not included with Windows)
> G) Start Menu - not including the Programs subfolder (only if you've
> added to or customized the shortcuts here)
>
> 5. COLLECTING OTHER THINGS YOU WANT TO SAVE:
> Move all of the obvious stuff into the folders you've created. Only
> you
> can know where you save the things you download from the net or where you
> save attachments from email messages. If you haven't been doing it all
> along, here's your chance to finally organize that mess by using the
> folders
> you made in section 1.
>
> I would suggest you peek into the copy of the Desktop folder in your
> Archives and see if you've been saving any large items there such as
> program
> install files or multimedia items like movies or sound files. If you find
> any, Move them into a different Archive subfolder to reflect what they are
> and/or why you saved them. The Desktop should not be used for long time
> storage of these larger files. It's best to give them a permanent home
> (such as in the proper category in the Archive folder) and then create a
> shortcut to them on the Desktop or in your Quick Launch toolbar (Win98 and
> WinME).
>
> 6. COLLECTING ... - PART II
> While I can't tell you every possible place where there might be
> important stuff you'd like to save (since I'm WAY behind on trying out
> every
> program ever made), I can warn you of some of them. Hopefully, that will
> be
> enough to help you see that you could have stuff anywhere and not even
> realize it.
>
> For instance, when someone sends you a file through ICQ and you choose
> Save from the given choices (as opposed to Save As, which allows you to
> decide where to save the file), the file is stored in a folder
> automatically
> created by the ICQ program. This folder is named after the person who
> sent
> it to you (my folder would be called GuitarMan since that's my ICQ name).
> That's all fine, well and good until you realize that these folders are
> being created inside the ICQ program's folder inside another folder called
> Received Files. If you delete the entire Program Files folder, you'll
> lose
> everything saved to those folders. I don't use any other IM programs, but
> I
> suspect that they might do something similar. In this case, the cure is
> to
> remember to back up the Received Files folder before destroying it. If
> you
> created the ICQ RECEIVED FILES folder in the sample ARCHIVES layout above,
> you can Move the named subfolders (like the GuitarMan one I mentioned) to
> this newer ICQ RECEIVED FILES folder. ICQ will recreate the folder if
> that
> person sends you something else. Just remember that this newest file
> won't
> be safe from deletion unless it's also Copied or Moved over to the new ICQ
> RECEIVED FILES folder.
>
> Another good example might be any one of the Napster type programs that
> allow you to download files from others. Most of these apps will save the
> stuff you download (MP3s, Wav & Midi files, etc,) into a folder inside the
> main program's folder. It just wouldn't feel very good to spend months
> building up a collection, only to toss it all away because you didn't
> realize where those files were saved.
>
> You can use the Search or Find utility to seek out all of the files of
> a
> certain filetype on the hard drive (i.e. MP3, zip, wav, etc.), but I feel
> that the BEST way to see what's important to you is to manually do a
> folder
> by folder search using Windows Explorer and your own recognition of the
> ways
> in which you use your computer and the internet.
>
> This would also be a good time to grab a piece of paper and write down
> all of the sites and such that need a password from you. Write down the
> site name, link and password for each one because your new system won't
> know
> these at first and you'll need to retype them in to gain access to those
> sites.
>
> To save all of your email account info and message rules from Outlook
> Express (I don't know how to do this in other programs), see my "How to
> back
> up Outlook Express" tutorial. It contains everything you'll want to know
> about capturing this stuff to carry over to a new system.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> BACKING UP OE INFO:
> The first thing you'll want to do is to make a backup of the registry,
> just in case something should go wrong (which is extremely unlikely since
> all we're doing is exporting some keys). To do that, go to Start/Run and
> type in REGEDIT and press Enter. Go to Registry/Export Registry File.
> When
> the window opens, direct it to the Desktop (just click on the small View
> Desktop icon at the top to do this). Give this file you're about to make
> a
> name like RegBakUp. The window will automatically give it a .reg
> extension.
> Click on the Save button at the bottom to create the backup file. Note
> that
> this file will be rather large, depending on the size of your registry.
> After a couple of days without any problems (or however long it takes you
> to
> try out all of the functions in OE), you can to delete it to free up that
> hard drive space if you wish.
>
> Once the backup has been made, you're ready to go digging into this
> warehouse of data. You'll find that if you're comfortable working inside
> Windows Explorer, you'll feel almost right at home in here. The various
> keys and string values are laid out just like the folders and files in
> Windows Explorer.
>
> By clicking on the + signs next to them, make your way through the
> following keys. They are separated by a backslash (\) just like any other
> path statement.
>
> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{there's a string of characters here and
> there
> should only be one set of them}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook
> Express\5.0\Rules\Mail
>
> Once you have reached the end of the key path above, go to
> Registry/Export Registry File again and follow the same directions above.
> The only two differences are that you only want the Selected Branch at the
> bottom and you'll want to give it a different name. I prefer OE Rules.reg
> for this one. The proper key path should already be selected. You might
> also want to choose a better storage area for this one than simply using
> the
> Desktop. When you click on the Save button, you'll have your email rules
> saved onto your hard drive somewhere. You'll most likely want to copy
> this
> file to a floppy or back it up with other important stuff you don't want
> to
> lose.
>
> While this will allow you to save the rules you've created, it's not
> all
> that simple to get them into a new system (such as if you ever have the
> need
> to format/reinstall Windows). The reason is that each time you install
> Windows, even from the same install CD, the long string of characters
> above
> will be different. That means you'll have to find out what the new string
> is and change every old reference inside the reg file you created to
> reflect
> the new characters. The remaining instructions are devoted to doing just
> that.
>
> ****************
> RESTORING YOUR OE INFO:
> The first step would be to reformat the drive and reinstall the
> operating system, of course. After doing that and getting your internet
> connection working, I recommend that you use Windows Update to download
> and
> install the Internet Explorer that corresponds to the OE you want to use.
> In my case, I would use Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 and Internet Tools
> Service Pack 1. This should update the OE that comes with Windows to OE
> 5.5. I choose to not install OE 6 since they don't have enough of the
> bugs
> worked out of it just yet, at least for me. ;O)
>
> Now, comes the fun part. Open up Windows Explorer and go to
> C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Identities. Under the Identities folder,
> you'll
> see the new set of characters we need to make the saved rules file work.
> Click directly on the folder, wait a couple of seconds and then click on
> it
> again. Right click on the blinking name and select Copy from the context
> menu.
>
> Once that's done, locate the OE Rules.reg file (either on floppy or
> wherever you saved it away from the hard drive) and click on it. Hold
> down
> the Shift key, right click on it and select Open With from the context
> menu.
> From the window that pops up, scroll down and select WordPad from the
> list.
> Make sure that the little box at the bottom labeled "Always use this
> program
> to open ..." is NOT checked. Click on the OK button at the bottom.
>
> Once the file has opened inside WordPad, go to Edit/Replace. Right
> click inside the second field (called Replace With) and select Paste from
> the context menu. Next, hold down your left mouse button while you drag
> the
> cursor across the old set of characters that you'll find near the top of
> the
> file that's open. You must use the top character set in this file for
> this
> (you'll find a ton of references to the old character set). You need to
> highlight at least from the { to the } brackets. It may try to take more
> than what you'll need. That's not a problem. Once you have at least that
> much, right click directly on the highlighted text and choose Copy from
> the
> context menu. Move the mouse cursor over to the Replace window and right
> click (you may have to left click first to change the focus to this
> window)
> inside the top field (called Find What). From the context menu, select
> Paste. This will place the older string in the top box. If there is
> anything outside of the {} symbols, you MUST erase those extra characters
> before proceeding. Be sure to move the cursor (using the arrow or the
> Home
> & End keys) to both ends to be sure that there is nothing outside of the
> brackets. This is VERY important! When both top and bottom strings are
> how
> they should be, click on the "Replace" button. You should see the first
> one
> has changed to the new string. If it has, you can click on the button
> again
> to change the next one. A better strategy would be to simply hold down
> the
> underlined key 'R'. It will scroll through the entire file very quickly,
> replacing any and all of the old string it finds with the new one.
>
> When it gets to the bottom, scroll back up and make sure that there are
> no remaining references to the old string. If there are, you'll have to
> change them as well. There shouldn't be if you were careful to copy the
> very top one. ;O)
>
> The next step is to save the fixed file. Go to File/Save As and send
> the fixed version to the hard drive where you can get to it easily. As
> long
> as you've already saved it somewhere other than over the original, close
> WordPad and choose No when it asks whether you'd like to save your
> changes.
> You already have.
>
> The final step to getting your rules back is to locate the saved file
> from the last steps we took and double click on it. It will ask you if
> you're sure that you want this info added to the registry. Select Yes.
> When you open up OE, you'll find that your rules are back where they
> belong.
> 8^)
>
>
> As an added bonus, you can use this same method to save other parts of
> your OE info from install to install, even across different versions of
> the
> operating system. I started using this method to save my email
> rules/filters as well as my signatures and even my email accounts back
> when
> I was running Win95. Every time I get ready to wipe the hard drive and
> set
> up a newer version (Win95, Win95b, Win98, Win98 SE and even WinME), I
> back
> up my most recent settings as above and reinstall them after the OS and OE
> are in place.
>
> If you have any questions about the stuff above, you know where to find
> me. LOL
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> Peace,
> G Man
>
> PCTechTalk List Owner
>
>
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