RyanH
K so my computer has been very weird lately it won't let me run any exercise files and some other stuff like background keeps changing to black from what I previously had it. So I want to reformat my computer and reinstall windows 7. Problem is I don't have a disk computer did not come with it. So how could I go about putting windows 7 on my external hd and installing it from there?
Answer
This question makes no sense at all. If you don't have a Windows disc, how would you install it on an external drive?? None of this means anything anyway because an external disc drive isn't anywhere near fast enough to run an OS.
This question makes no sense at all. If you don't have a Windows disc, how would you install it on an external drive?? None of this means anything anyway because an external disc drive isn't anywhere near fast enough to run an OS.
Restoring Windows 7 from an external hard drive?
Robert
I have two questions-
1. My computer hasn't been working for a while now (don't ask), and after searching long and hard for the answer, I've decided the best thing to do is to do a clean reinstall of Windows 7. But before I do that, I want to know if I can backup certain partitions from my hard drive (not the whole thing) onto an external one. I have an Ubuntu LiveCD to boot up from where I can do all the operations. Is it possible?
2. If I manage to back up the partitions, after reinstalling Windows, how do I get my files and stuff back from the backups on the external hard drive?
Answer
Your question kind of confused me. You said you have other partitions, right? In other Words, you have like a Drive D... Drive E... right? Why would you want or need to back them up? If you do the reinstall on your Drive C.. your other partitions will still be there and untouched so there would be no need to back them up...
After you do your reinstall, your other partitions should be automatically seen by your new Windows install.
I will explain to you how I have my multi-partition... multi drive computer set up. I think that will give you a clearer and better understanding.
I have 3 drives on my computer. The O/S is on Drive C. On the second drive, Drive D, I have my Program Files. Instead of installing all my programs onto Drive C, I install all my Games and programs that don't require being loaded up on boot onto the second drive. The reason I do this is because if I ever need to reinstall the O/S, I won't have to go through all the trouble of also reinstalling every single program and game I have.. they are already installed on a separate partition or drive. In addition to that, having a smaller sized C Drive allows my image backups to be so much smaller. It only takes me about 5 min. to create a new backup of my C Drive. The last drive, Drive E, I relocated from my Documents the folders: My Pictures, My Videos, and My music. Doing this prevents me from losing any of my media files should I my O/S become corrupt.. and also helps to keep the size of my C drive quite small since all media files are offloaded from it.
After you perform a new install, you will have to remember to perform a couple of things to get things running. First, if you have a card reader installed on your computer, each card slot will be labeled with a Drive Letter. It's possible that Windows might give your partitions letters that come AFTER your card reader slots. That's a simple fix... you just go into Disk Management and rename your drive letters... that only takes a few seconds.
The second thing you have resolve is this. If you decide to install programs onto a different drive or partition... 95% of the time they should still work. However, there are a couple of things you need to be aware of. First and formost, you have to go into the install folder for each program and create new shortcuts to the programs. That's simple. Most of my games will still work. However, there you have to be aware that some program will install/store data in hidden folders. There are usually two locations.. the first is C\ProgramData and the second is C\Users\<name>\AppData. Sometimes, these locations contain saved games, profile information, license info, or just data needed to start up the program. What I usually do is create a quick copy of these two folders right before I do another install... and copy over only the files of programs I'll need. It sounds like a lot of work, but it's not.. in fact, it's just routine work... and not that many files actually.
Well, I hope that kind of answered your question.
Your question kind of confused me. You said you have other partitions, right? In other Words, you have like a Drive D... Drive E... right? Why would you want or need to back them up? If you do the reinstall on your Drive C.. your other partitions will still be there and untouched so there would be no need to back them up...
After you do your reinstall, your other partitions should be automatically seen by your new Windows install.
I will explain to you how I have my multi-partition... multi drive computer set up. I think that will give you a clearer and better understanding.
I have 3 drives on my computer. The O/S is on Drive C. On the second drive, Drive D, I have my Program Files. Instead of installing all my programs onto Drive C, I install all my Games and programs that don't require being loaded up on boot onto the second drive. The reason I do this is because if I ever need to reinstall the O/S, I won't have to go through all the trouble of also reinstalling every single program and game I have.. they are already installed on a separate partition or drive. In addition to that, having a smaller sized C Drive allows my image backups to be so much smaller. It only takes me about 5 min. to create a new backup of my C Drive. The last drive, Drive E, I relocated from my Documents the folders: My Pictures, My Videos, and My music. Doing this prevents me from losing any of my media files should I my O/S become corrupt.. and also helps to keep the size of my C drive quite small since all media files are offloaded from it.
After you perform a new install, you will have to remember to perform a couple of things to get things running. First, if you have a card reader installed on your computer, each card slot will be labeled with a Drive Letter. It's possible that Windows might give your partitions letters that come AFTER your card reader slots. That's a simple fix... you just go into Disk Management and rename your drive letters... that only takes a few seconds.
The second thing you have resolve is this. If you decide to install programs onto a different drive or partition... 95% of the time they should still work. However, there are a couple of things you need to be aware of. First and formost, you have to go into the install folder for each program and create new shortcuts to the programs. That's simple. Most of my games will still work. However, there you have to be aware that some program will install/store data in hidden folders. There are usually two locations.. the first is C\ProgramData and the second is C\Users\<name>\AppData. Sometimes, these locations contain saved games, profile information, license info, or just data needed to start up the program. What I usually do is create a quick copy of these two folders right before I do another install... and copy over only the files of programs I'll need. It sounds like a lot of work, but it's not.. in fact, it's just routine work... and not that many files actually.
Well, I hope that kind of answered your question.
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