Need to format C:, keep programs working on D:

[Wetsoul]

Just a quick question

As of late I've started using partitions more and more to separate the OS and program files/media on my pc.

After windows registry corrupting quite often, and completely having to reformat sometimes, I'm wondering if it's possible to make backups of the files needed for my programs on drive d: to communicate with the windows os and restore the files on reinstallation. (files needed for backup would be the registry, and dll's to be reregistered?)

Excuse me if this sounds a bit dumb, as I don't know what I'm dealing with here


Cliffs:

1. Have separate OS/Program files partition
2. Need to format often, keep programs on Drive d working:
3. Can this be done?

[Statica]

If you are formatting and restarting a fresh installation then no your programs would not work. It isnt an issue of programs residing on a separate partition, it wouldnt work under any partitioning system. This is cos you are starting afresh with a fresh registry.
Having said that, why do you find that your registry is becoming corrupt that often. It isnt supposed to happen on a healthy system.
You have a couple of options though, one would be to do an in-place installation - an installation on top of your old XP install; the other would be to ghost your program and OS partitions, and restore them everytime you want to format.

[doctorgonzo]

One way to do it is to format and reinstall, get everything working right, then use a product like Norton Ghost to image the partitions. That way, if you screw things up and need to go back, you can simply restore the images, and everything will work exactly as it did when you made the images. Of course, you should back up your data regularly, so when you restore the images you can also restore the data that has changed since you made the image. Quick and fairly easy.

[Wetsoul]

@Statica

It's apparently a corrupt registry hive

http://support.microsoft.com/default...#91;LN];307545

Often I've been able to recover using repair, sometimes not though.

And I'll look into using ghost...I'm guessing I'll need a new hd for the image? :\

[Statica]

It's apparently a corrupt registry hive

How often do you get this registry corruption? As I said, XP has demonstrated itself to be extremely stable. If you get it often enough, I would suggest a comprehensive test of your hardware and drivers, starting with the RAM.

And I'll look into using ghost...I'm guessing I'll need a new hd for the image? :\

No you can create the images directly to CD/DVD.

[Wetsoul]

Originally Posted by Statica How often do you get this registry corruption? As I said, XP has demonstrated itself to be extremely stable. If you get it often enough, I would suggest a comprehensive test of your hardware and drivers, starting with the RAM.

Well it's happened atleast 5times over a 2 year span, I'd count this as happening more often than it should. But yes, I'll be sure to check test hardware components

Originally Posted by Statica No you can create the images directly to CD/DVD.

I kind of cringed when I thought about backing up a 10gig windows partition to cd's..oh well, a new reason to buy a dvd burner

[i486]

You could also freeze your drive with deep freeze pro. Anything(spyware/viruses/trojans/your data) saved on that partition will be lost on reboot and will be restored to the original configuration when you froze it.

[Harry]

Consider backing up the Registry with a program like Regrun3 or perhaps with Spybot's registry backup. Keep every single file and program on another partition.

If you do an image backup like with DriveImage, it's not absolutely necessary to backup everything on to CDs. It's better to get a second hard drive, run both drives in your computer at the same time and back everything up on the second drive. Hard drive's are pretty cheap nowadays and for $40 or $60, it would be worth the money for the extra security.

Regarding backing up a 10 gig partition. A program like DriveImage gives you a compression option. I don't remember for sure but I think you can compress backups to about 50 or 60 percent of original size.