What's your pre-format checklist?

[Kalmah]

1)save browser settings and bookmarks
2)check all folders for necessary files needing backed up
3)check as many websites as I can think of to make sure I have the password memorized.(when relying on cookies)(just in case)
4).... what else?

 

[xSauronx]

chrome sync will do most of that for me

*click* on synctoy does the rest

 

[MichaelD]

Related to #1 and #3; simply go to File/Export

And choose Bookmarks and Cookies. Might be two separate operations IIRC, but both are important.

Also, I use Outlook 2003 b/c I own a legal copy of it. I ALWAYS "export to .pst" my entire Inbox/Folder/subfolders" to a physically different HD. I have a NAS at home so it's no big deal. If you use Outlook I'd suggest at least exporting your .pst to an external drive/USB of some kind. Keep it AWAY from your System/C: drive.

 

[Baked]

Wrong forum?

I clone the HD upon fresh installation of OS and core programs. Files go on ext. HD anyway.

 

[Kalmah]

Wrong forum?

I clone the HD upon fresh installation of OS and core programs. Files go on ext. HD anyway.

What do you use to clone the hard drive? I've never done this before and it sounds nice.

As for wrong forum, I wasn't really sure. I don't think this is OS related, and isn't specifically about software... so I put it here. If a mod wants to move it, please go ahead.

 

[Crono]

I screenshot my program files directory, download any setup files and have install media ready for whatever programs I plan on reinstalling.

 

[Kalmah]

Motherboard drivers, does windows 7 handle this now or do you still have to do it manually?

I feel like this is a stupid question. It's not really a concern since a quick check of the device manager should reveal what I need, but after all those years with windows xp I guess I don't know what to expect out of a modern os now.

 

[Brainonska511]

1) Backup bookmarks
2) Make sure latest copies of files are backed-up
3) Have necessary drivers on a USB drive

 

[Brainonska511]

Motherboard drivers, does windows 7 handle this now or do you still have to do it manually?

The last two times I installed W7, I had to install them myself (Intel H67 and AMD A785 series chipsets).

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I just buy a new hard drive, so that when I've inevitably forgotten several things, I can just switch back and forth to remember what it is I need.

 

[Crono]

Motherboard drivers, does windows 7 handle this now or do you still have to do it manually?

I feel like this is a stupid question. It's not really a concern since a quick check of the device manager should reveal what I need, but after all those years with windows xp I guess I don't know what to expect out of a modern os now.

It depends on the motherboard. I haven't had to on most of the Windows 7 PCs I've built. The higher end boards may have drivers you need to install from the motherboard DVD/CD.

 

[Baked]

Windows 7 actually does a fantastic job of cloning HD. I have my RAID 0 SDD cloned to a regular 3.5" HDD. System failed on me one time and I was able to recover from the backup without any issues.

 

[zanejohnson]

nada... everything i need is in the cloud...

 

[TridenT]

Xmarks takes care of the bookmarks. I back up my music to another computer. That's about all I do though. I don't save much of anything else. I used to save school documents and some others for a while. I got rid of them recently. I didn't see a reason to keep them. (I never used them over the years and didn't see that changing)

So, it's only music right now.

 

[cronos]

1)save browser settings and bookmarks
2)check all folders for necessary files needing backed up
3)check as many websites as I can think of to make sure I have the password memorized.(when relying on cookies)(just in case)
4).... what else?

#1 chrome does the syncing for me
#2 all my data files are in a different drive and/or a dropbox/googledrive/skydrive so they will sync-up automatically later
#3 lastpass has all of them

the only thing I can think of right now is to double check my save game files, as most of them saved to your windows profile now.

 

[Leros]

unplug my data drive to make sure I don't accidentally format it

...not that I've made that mistake before

 

[Kalmah]

unplug my data drive to make sure I don't accidentally format it

...not that I've made that mistake before

Oh man, I've done that! I had 2 identical drives with the same name. They where listed in reverse order in the windows partitioner. I lost about 4 years of music composition(recordings, tabs etc) All my own stuff that I have forgotten and never will hear again. It was stuff from about 15 years ago. I like going back through my recordings in chronological order to see how I'm improving/getting stale and ever since that accident I'm now missing my first 4 years of recordings.

I'm migrating my backup to a portable drive for the first time so that I can avoid this mistake. Easy to unplug a usb cable.

 

[n0x1ous]

Windows Home Server nightly backup. So basically I do nothing.

 

[JohnnyChuttz]

#1 chrome does the syncing for me
#2 all my data files are in a different drive and/or a dropbox/googledrive/skydrive so they will sync-up automatically later
#3 lastpass has all of them

the only thing I can think of right now is to double check my save game files, as most of them saved to your windows profile now.

This. Exactly. Chrome saves my bookmarks and I just import them into Firefox.

All of my games are set to save to a My Games folder on my SSD. I just drag the folder to a platter drive and I am ready to re-install.

 

[pauldun170]

Also, I use Outlook 2003 b/c I own a legal copy of it. I ALWAYS "export to .pst" my entire Inbox/Folder/subfolders" to a physically different HD. I have a NAS at home so it's no big deal. If you use Outlook I'd suggest at least exporting your .pst to an external drive/USB of some kind. Keep it AWAY from your System/C: drive.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=9003

It doesn't work with 2010 but I used That tool for years.
What it does is create a backup of all your pst's whenever you exit Outlook.

Synchtoy covers everything else.

 

[corkyg]

It depends on the projected use of the drive. Mostly, it will replace a smaller drive. In that case, I do not format, but use Acronis TI to clone the old drive proportionally to the new one.

For just plain formatting with no real objective in mind, I do nothing. Just format!