reinstalling windows 7

Hi. I have never reinstalled windows 7 but I really want to just to maybe fix some issues and such. It may make you pee your pants but I don't actually have any external storage big enough to back up my computer onto... So, my question is will I be able to recover everything from windows.old folder or just documents? It seems to me like I will just have to go out and buy an external hard drive. Then I was thinking, can I make a seperate partition from the main one and back up like everything on my computer in there and then reinstall OS on main one then take what I need back from the saved files in the other partition?

 

Before I purchased an external HDD, I always used the partition method. I would restore my computer ever 2-4 weeks.

So,

1. Make a back-up partition and copy your files.

2. Reboot into the Windows disk and format your main disk, then install Windows.

3. Install drivers and copy files back from the back partition.

Pretty easy and quick compared to some other methods.

Have fun, LOL

 

so this also may sound like a silly question, but what are all the drivers and things I will need to install? I think I've only ever installed a video card driver.

 

Are you doing this on your Alienware M15X? If so then go into the alienware forum and look for some advice on doing a clean install. I would expect alienware to make thier drivers available for download. I've done a win7 clean install on two thinkpads. In both cases windows7 got the computer up and running fine, but I still had to install a few drivers to get some thinkpad specific features working, like power management drivers, drivers to manage the wireless connections, etc.

I strongly recommend you burn your files to DVD-R so you have some kind of backup should you need it.

 

What sort of 'issues and such' are you having? Win 7 is pretty robust and you might be better off fixing your problem than re-loading Windows.

 

One of the most important things:

Have your network drivers available on cd, usb stick, whatever. Especially if you only have one computer

Everything else you need, you can download from manufacturer but you cannot do it without network card drivers.

Usually wired connection works but do not count on that.

 

^^ Second the network drivers, always have them available, it's not fun re-installing only to find windows hasn't any drivers for your wireless and ethernet!!

 

Wow I'm glad I asked. I now recall I have the alienware driver and stuff resource disk within 3 feet of me right now, I still have to find it. And the network driver is a great Idea I'll put that on a usb first. That way when I boot up even if the alienware resource disk doesnt have everything I will still have the internet, right? If that all sounds good, I think I am ready to do the reinstall.