The Full Wipe

[Casuth]

Well I'm about to embark on my first full wipe since i have had this PC (2005) and I'm really looking forward to starting new... Other than backing up any needed files and drivers, is there anything I should know? I have done this before on other peoples computers, but the only thing I'm not looking forward to is re-downloading all of my steam games... Is there anyway I could keep them? Thanks....

-Casuth

 

[Shuppa]

There is an option in the steam client that allows you to backup all your games.

Sometimes it works and most times it doesn't.

So I would suggest you re-download all steam games after you've re-installed everything.

 

[NCA]

You don't need to re-download all your games. Here's how:

1. Before you wipe your computer, copy the C:\Program Files\STEAM\ directory to an external drive (or somewhere safe).
2. After loading the clean OS, copy the STEAM directory back to C:\Program Files\.
3. Delete clientregistry.blob
4. Install STEAM. Once you login to STEAM, your games should show up under Games.

 

[ShadowBlade72]

Depends on which OS you are reinstalling. If you're reinstalling XP, then you'll want to download AT LEAST your Ethernet driver before you start. If you're reinstalling Vista or Windows 7, 99% of the time what they come with is sufficient and you can be up and running no problems.

 

[JunK]

write out a list of all the programs you want on your reinstalled OS so that you don't forget to get any

 

[dbee]

I just that recently, you will need only the steam apps folder, and steam.exe copied over to program files , run steam.exe, login, it will do a few updates , and done.

Myself, i still just copy the entire steam folder to my external disk just in case for whatever.

Now if u have bought any games such as fallout and RE5 from steam, you would need to go those game directories and manually move over the saved game files.

 

[Shuppa]

What you all wrote there should work, but that's not always the case.

I usually do a fresh OS install twice a year. I always choose C:/ to install the OS, and the games on D:/ which is a separate HDD.

Even doing that, once the OS is re-installed, 75% of my games just won't work ( tried all the metods you described above ) so I have to re-install them.

I think the reason for this is because even if you install the games on a separate hard drive, some info gets stored in the OS's registry and once you format that particular partition you loose everything that was stored/saved in the registry so you're forced to re-install most programs/games.

I may be wrong as I'm not really a tech geek, i'm just writing this out of my personal experience.

 

[izPhil]

You can copy your \steam\steamapps folder somewhere safe. But I have 3 games installed and its almost 20GB so unless you have like an external hard drive or something this option is probably impractical.