Formatting + Reinstalling As Quickly as Possible!

[groovydaz]

Hello,

I'm interested in writing a program which aims to allow you to format your computer and restore settings/programs as quickly as possible. This is for a university project and so it is important that it addresses issues with existing software and provides new features.

I am wondering how people go about formatting their machines and which parts of the process they would like to see automated. Also if you use backup software to migrate your settings between installations what do you use, why is it useful and how could it be improved?

I appreciate any comments you may have, I need to decide whether this project would be useful or just a waste of time.

thanks,

Darren Bowen.

[oneless]

something like that do Symantec Norton Ghost .

this is very usefull , but is limited to the date of backup.

all updates/installed_programs after this date are wasted .

so an uA_windows with a WPI_DVD_up_to_date can be more appropriate for you .

about ALL settings .. here you are hard work to do...

[pear]

something like that do Symantec Norton Ghost .

this is very usefull , but is limited to the date of backup.

all updates/installed_programs after this date are wasted .

so an uA_windows with a WPI_DVD_up_to_date can be more appropriate for you .

about ALL settings .. here you are hard work to do...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Can you boot from your backup DVD, or do you have to boot from floppy first?

Symantec Norton Ghost seems like something I will have to put on my shopping list

[groovydaz]

The idea is to make it flexible so that you can create profiles for different programs, windows settings etc. etc. and then share them with others on a website.

I agree that Ghosting is one possibility, but if you change your hardware or take it to a different computer you can have problems. Im looking to provide a way to backup specific things and then use some form of 'smart restore' later. Ie. if you dont have firefox on the machine then firefox settings wont be restored. Similarly you would have a choice about what gets restored.

Or how about the ability to take your XP user account to another machine on a small flash device, im sure that this could be useful for people setting up several home computers.

Darren.

[Marthax]

I think that Xplode could solve your problem when it comes to making a flexible installation where you can select what you want to install.

When talking about profiles from various programs, using silent switches and AutoIT would be the most effective way.

[Martin Zugec]

About migrating setttings, have a look at free tool from Microsoft - USMT (User State Migration Tool), it is really great and powerfull... Maybe creating GUI for common users would be good idea (so it will create inf files automatically)

[hazard_abio]

About migrating setttings, have a look at free tool from Microsoft - USMT (User State Migration Tool), it is really great and powerfull... Maybe creating GUI for common users would be good idea (so it will create inf files automatically)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sweet deal

Something I will be looking more into definatlly now.

Thanks for the tool tip soulin.