Formatting, partitions, Add/Remove.....

[doglet]

I have two hard drives and have partitioned one into two and the other into three. My operating system (Win 98) is on one partition all by itself.

Now if I have a prob with Win 98 and need to format and reinstall how will this impact the programs etc on the other partions?

I am basically concerned with stuff in Add/Remove programs as some programs don't have an uninstall shortcut where they are installed Does that make sense http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif ). Also what about the Start bar under Programs......will these shortcuts be lost or can I save something so they appear like they were before reinstalling?

This has been in my head for a little while as I hate reinstalling everything.

Thanks for any help.

Doglet

[bobcat]

Sorry, your going to have to reinstall just about everything if not everything. I got tired of this problem too. What I did was build a small w98 boot partition (500M). All other applications installed in other partitions. Then I image the w98 partition using Drive Image. So, if I have a problem, I can also restore the image. Yes, I do have to reinstall software that was added to the system after the image.

[doglet]

Thanks bobcat.

Anyone else have any ideas?

Doglet

[obenton]

What Bobcat says is the surest and safest way. Backing up a drive with Drive Image, Ghost, etc. does take some time, and we tend to not do it as often as safety calls for. Another way is to back up the system files periodically and hope you have a set that antedates the problem. Scanreg backs up the system files once a day, but keeping only the last five copies. If you run scanreg /restore, you can choose to restore one of the backups. This has done the job for me on occasion, saving a lot of work. Also, you can modify scanreg.ini to instruct it to keep 10 or 20 days worth of backups, or as many as you want. If a backup gets rid of the win98 problem, then you only have to reinstall programs that were installed after the backup was made.

[doglet]

Thanks for your help.

I think I'll look into Ghost or Drive Image.

Doglet