After constantly being advised to "backup" I eventually backed up both my C drive and the drive FSX was on with all my add ons and settings and tweaks as it was all running perfectly with excellent framerates.However I needed to re-install windows as I was having a few problems only to find that by doing so FSX will not run as so much of the sim and certain addons including things like the cfg and scenery files resided on the C Drive and so by installing Windows fresh meant no more FSX.So what is the point of "backing everything up" when you actually need to completely re-install everything (and all the days that takes) if you reinstall windows?Am I right or is there a work around?

Personally I only use my PC for home. I do not have anything on it that I consider critical. I have also felt that if my system was so pooched that I needed to reinstall I would just clean install. I am a firm believer in clean installs. I have system restore disabled and no backups other than the stuff I burn to disc. Just my opinion.

If you re-installed the same version of Windows:Install FSX to the same diectory as before. This will ensure correct reg entries.Install the backup.I agree, a fresh install of everything is the best way. I use Win764 so I keep a mirrior image of my C: and D:(FSX) drives on my E: drive. A format and restore puts everything back to normal. Saved me once already.Dave

What you do is... do your clean install, then install FSX .. then make an image backup of your hard drive.So if you have a crash or hard drive failure you image you new hard drive with your base image of OS and FSX..You will have to install anything not on your image, but the OS and base FSX install are done in a matter of miutes instead of hours.

My dilema is this.....I have a perfectly functioning copy of FSX on a drive with numerous add-ons and tweaked to perfection.I need to do a fresh install of Windows 7 64 bit onto the C Drive.FSX will not run as the essential registry entries and other folders which FSX and many add-ons install onto the C Drive as default will be missing!As I have a copy of my C Drive will it be possible to just copy over the FSX entries from it onto the new copy of Windows and thereby get FSX to run again or do I have to do a new install of FSX and all the add-ons and tweaks and if so what is the point of backing up?Does this make any sense?

My response was for a fresh install of windows.If you us a backup of windows, the reg entries should already be there so FSX should run as is. No need to re-install FSX.Dave

If your doing a new OS install it is always better to do it all from scratch. After your all done make a fresh image of the PC and you can always go back to day one in just a few minutes.

My dilema is this.....I have a perfectly functioning copy of FSX on a drive with numerous add-ons and tweaked to perfection.I need to do a fresh install of Windows 7 64 bit onto the C Drive.FSX will not run as the essential registry entries and other folders which FSX and many add-ons install onto the C Drive as default will be missing!As I have a copy of my C Drive will it be possible to just copy over the FSX entries from it onto the new copy of Windows and thereby get FSX to run again or do I have to do a new install of FSX and all the add-ons and tweaks and if so what is the point of backing up?Does this make any sense?

There a various levels of "backup" that have different uses.Probably in the wrong place - but I put this here to answer a question, and I amsorry this has ended up a bit long.1) disk image : this will allow you to reinstalled everything to a point in timeexactly as it was when things were "perfect". Win7 has its own imaging system, otherwiseyou can use acronis/ others Note, if something is wrong with you system when you made the image - the same problemwill return with the image. It is therefore best to make several snapshots of yoursystem at various points in time, and on an external disk. It saves all partitions etc. You should usually do this before any major change to your system or at any pointwhere things are stable : I do about 1 month-3 months depending on what the system is for.FSX will appear back exactly as it was - EVERYTHING will appear exactly as it was before.2) System recovery point. Windows allows you to create point in time copies of the registerywhich means you can go back to a point before you broke your system with a bad install. ThisONLY allows system recovery to a state earlier - it has nothing to do with data. It is verygood at fixing proper installations (using an installer) that really made your system behavebadly. BUT : all programs after the date of recovery will NOT WORK. You will have tomanually delete the files associated with these programs as you have just removed any reference by turning back the clock on the system. In general - if you install something -check / double check , restart and restart again. Do things work ? Use with care - but can solve some horrendus problems with installation. I had a download plane that turned out to have nuked my system with an error message on login -> fail.3) Data copy : this is a straight backup of you data to an external disk. You can onlymake backup of FILES and DATA. You cannot backup a program installation ! Ie this ismainly for people who create documents, but for FSX you should make copies of your addondirectory (with aircraft files) every now and then so you can put back files from the copy when things go wrong. Ie - always keep a separate copy of your aircraft. Data copy will not recover FSX - but will allow you to fix problems when you break your aircraft Always make reqular copies of you fsx.cfg file - and keep it safe. 4) Ghosting or version control. This allows you to make versioned copies of files andis only useful for data that is regularly changed. Only for data again and you need tobuy a program - I don't recommend for FSX as you are not making many changes like someoneediting documents.On windows - you "cannot" copy program installations - because of all the dependencies putin the windows registery. If you do try to put back a copy of the FSX installation you canbreak the registry referencing if something changed from the copy. This can be really bad -though can be fixed with ccleaner - but can result in odd problems. It can only work ifyou use the same disk, and have exactly same setup as before. Please don't try to copyback an FSX installation - it might work - it probably will be corrupt.1) imaging : for a system2) windows restore point : for program installation corruption3) data backup : for data files ONLY.You should do ALL 3 things really ! that is life - Murfy's law states that if somethingcan go wrong - it will. 1) image : every now and then when things are perfect 2) windows restore - when you install something and something has gone funny - use with care3) data copies - for you aircraft files and the fsx.cfg.4) Re-install software - I don't do this - I use images. The only time I do this is witha new computer and then I start again and install from my list of favorite things.How often : well depends what the computer is for.I manage work computers - I provide version control for the user, data copy each day (for users)and take my data copy each week. I image each 3 months unless there is a major upgrade in whichcase I image before. I keep offsite images and backup and rotate with the onsite backups/images.Childrens computer : I create an image each 6 months - and when they break it - I restore the image.My FSX computer : I make images before major changes and large product installs. I backup aircraftfiles and fsx.cfg and any other file I might change before I change them. I make system install pointsbefore installation - but actually windows7 is good at doing this anyway. What you do is up toyou - but make sure you know what the difference between an image/data-backup and restore point.

You did not say why you needed to re-install the OS. Assuming you have a fully functioning copy of the OS backed up why not just restore it and FSX if necessary (that will depend on changes you have made to FSX since the last back up). I have restored my OS (Win7 64bit) many times since my initial install of the OS but never had to re-install it. Most imaging software will compress the backup images so you don't need the same space to store images as the original partitions required and disk space is very inexpensive these days. I have found if best to keep more than one backup image so if I happen to take an image and then find that there is an error I can turn to a previous image and restore that. Housekeeping for PCs can be a PITA but it is certainly the lesser of two evils when compared to starting over from scratch. Remember Murphy's law: If it can happen it will and at the most unfortunate time!

Interesting thread. I am about to replace a motherboard with a newer model, which means that I need to reinstall the OS ( Win 7/64), even though I have a Win7 image of the current install in a newly installed state. therefore, even though I have a current image of my FSX, I will need to do a complete reinstall since my new os install will not have registry entries and other files installed to support my current FSX.Bruce.

My dilema is this.....I have a perfectly functioning copy of FSX on a drive with numerous add-ons and tweaked to perfection.I need to do a fresh install of Windows 7 64 bit onto the C Drive.FSX will not run as the essential registry entries and other folders which FSX and many add-ons install onto the C Drive as default will be missing!As I have a copy of my C Drive will it be possible to just copy over the FSX entries from it onto the new copy of Windows and thereby get FSX to run again or do I have to do a new install of FSX and all the add-ons and tweaks and if so what is the point of backing up?Does this make any sense?

I believe OldMailntChief's original reply answered this. After reinstalling Windows on C Drive (not restoring from an image) you will have to do an FSX install to the same original location to restore registry entries. This would be followed by restoring the backup image of FSX. However, it would seem necessary to have saved and restore the AppData information for FSX that probably resides on the C drive. Keeping an image of everything, including Windows is certainly the best way to back up.

Interesting thread. I am about to replace a motherboard with a newer model, which means that I need to reinstall the OS ( Win 7/64), even though I have a Win7 image of the current install in a newly installed state. therefore, even though I have a current image of my FSX, I will need to do a complete reinstall since my new os install will not have registry entries and other files installed to support my current FSX.Bruce.

Why would you need to replace your OS with a new mobo, just install the new mobo drivers from the installation disk and you could be good to go and you would have nothing to loose in trying. I have sucessfully used this method myself when I changed my mobo and CPU in upgrading to an I7.

I built this computer with a I7 920. Later, I built another with a I7 975. I just moved the three hard drives from the 920 to the 975. Re-validated Win7 and everything worked the same. When I bought a new SSD, I made a mirror image, replaced the SSD, and did a restore to the new SSD. Moved the old SSD to the 920, formated, and installed a new Win7 64. I updated my mirror image when I installed Office 2010. Had to use it when I messed up a driver replacement. I could have never done this back in the Win95/98/XP days.Have funDaveIntel Core I7 975 Quadcore OC @ 3.75 Ghz (Air)Asus P6T DLX V2 X58 1366, BD Combo Plextor B310SA6GB (3x2GB) Corsair Dominator DDR3 1866C7GTHIS ATI 4890 1GB, Samsung 24", Saitek X-52 ProLogitech Z680 5.1 Speakers, G15 Keyboard, G5 MouseThermaltake Element S Case, Corsair 850HX PSUC: Intel 80GB SSD w/Windows 7 Home 64D: WD 300GB Velocity Raptor w/FSX+Accel+GEX, F4AFE: WD 1TB Caviar Black w/Data SH4

Addendum ...New computer : reinstall - though overlaying your backed up fsx.cfg might help.New disk : Same size - most imaging software can cope, but if the disk is a differentsize then this can cause problems/corruptionOther new hardware : It comes down to how different is the new hardware. The old disks(or image) will contain drivers for your old hardware - and these may be incompatibile. Youcan reinstall new drivers and remove the old ones - but you can create instability/conflictwith a new computer which will bug you for the next X years. Be very careful here.Mother boards OK usually - but reinstall driversGraphics cards udually OK - but careful to remove old drivers before adding new ones.sound cards etc often caused major kernal interrupt conflicts when changed - careful with this one. etc......memory - no problem - just add new memory.In general (OK - I will get shot at for this), the only thing worth updating on an old computeris the memory - and only once. Everything else will just transfer the bottle neck somewhere else (usually the mother board) and things will not suddenly get much faster. I personally take the opitunity to buy the next computer as balanced as possible and start again applying all the goodthings that worked - leaving out the iffy stuff - from scratch. Just my 2p. and I don't have any spare time - so I take a rather pragmatic approach.

Firstly thanks for all the really interesting replies to my original posting.I have a "fiendish plan" which I am hoping will work. This is........I am going to install my old copy of Windows XP + service pack 3 onto a new SSD drive and then FSX onto another SSD drive (complete install with all addons etc). When I wish to use FSX I shall boot into the Windows XP Harddrive thereby keeping everything else of the drives except FSX.I know of a couple of dual boot programs which could help with this.So no more problems with having to reinstall windows and fsx as there will be no other programs or games to cause any conflicts with FSX.When I wish to play any other games or use different programs I can boot into my Win7 64 bit installation on the main drive.Will this work or will there be a problem as windows has to be on a C: Drive and you cannot have two drives both labelled as C:Does this make any sense?