Today my laptop ( second PC) blue screened and died. It's probably a hardware issue as it won't reboot, fans are spinning but screen is blank and it just hangs there.

 

It's not a major problem, I used it mostly for just surfing the 'net.

 

But it got me thinking, if this happens to my primary PC with hundreds of Euros of FSX add-ons, tweaks, profiles, serial numbers, scenery priorities, patches, drivers, configurations, axis curves, button assignments etc etc. etc. then I'm well and truly up the creek. I don't think I'd have to stomach to start all over again.

 

Oh! and YES! Everything is backed up.

I hear ya Anthony...sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it :Worried:

 

lee

Restoring my FSX machine takes about a week for me.

Anthony there is a virus going around now that is exactly what it does. Problem is you need to get into safe mode to run a anti virus that will remove the trojan. Run the free AVG latest anti virus to remove it.

Happened several times to me and it really is not so bad once you've done it once. Performance has improved every time.

 

Make sure your original download files and licence codes on the PC are backed up on another disk though. Unless the disk fails its prob recoverable, but if you can be bothered, or its really important to you, maybe clone the disk so it can be restored as is onto a new disk. I take mine into a local repair shop and they usually bring it back from the dead.

 

I blew an EPROM in the mobo once and had to start all over again aaargh! Hazard of the job though

 

Good luck!

 

 

 

Ray

Restoring my FSX machine takes about a week for me.

 

I have just recently re-installed FSX; not because I was particularly interested in playing it, but because I was curious about my memories of the behavior of a pristine installation, untarnished with loads of addons. Having satisfied myself with that, I started reinstalling my Orbx sceneries, and nearly gave up the project right then and there.

 

OMG, what a tedious process.

 

As I painstakingly installed everything (in the correct order) I felt like I had cloistered myself in a secluded room to more fully devote my efforts to the task of constructing a twelve story house of cards. Did I have the latest updates? Were they cumulative updates or did I still have to install the previous ones? Had I switched FTX central to the correct setting when installing? Then the back and forth to the site to make sure I had the latest stuff.........

 

Hours and hours (and hours) later, I was finished....... And dreaming of a modern sim that updated it own self.

 

That's what makes the thoughts of an FSX reinstall such a nightmare scenario. Those cool replacement trees you downloaded three years ago, are they still out there on the web somewhere? Do you even remember where you found them? Do you still remember the passwords to that obscure site where you purchased the Blah Blah Blah? Will they let you re-download? OMG those files are 12gigs apiece, this is gonna take forever!!

 

I have a separate HD called "FSX backup" and most of that drive is cross-backed up in other places so I think I am safe. All I needed was the fortitude to get started, and that took me weeks to feel even remotely in the mood.

 

It was one of the greatest pluses of a Sim I will not name since its like a red flag in front of a bull for some people (takes a deep breath) but its hard to go back to the old ways, and I am not sure flight sims in general can ever break out of the current cul-de-sac, when even things that should be so simple have over the course of the years become labors of ridiculously time consuming love.

Restoring my FSX machine takes me about 40 minutes. I have cloned my SSD into a file, i just need to buy a new SSD and restore the image.

 

Over the years this is the most efficient way i've found to backup something so when the backup is restored i get the last working state of the machine.

Restoring my FSX machine takes me about 40 minutes. I have cloned my SSD into a file, i just need to buy a new SSD and restore the image.

 

Over the years this is the most efficient way i've found to backup something so when the backup is restored i get the last working state of the machine.

 

Exactly what I do. I also keep EZDok, FSUIPC, etc backed up.

Whenever those things happened (I once had a nice SSD for my OS which went silent without a warning), the backup was fine. Just the protection thingies were the ones nagging me that I'm wearing another shirt than at the day I've bought the soft, so I was their worst enemy until finally entering the code or linking up with that protection whatever server.

 

But a fresh reinstall of FSX (means the whole thing) would be my death sentence for sure. I would have to cut all social contacts, buy food for a year and would need coffee intravenously.

Where do you guys keep your backup?? Anybody try a cloud backup?

 

I was happy backing everything to my two drive NAS until good old UNiX killed my file structure and took me days to manually recover the data.

I have two older HDDs, one isn't connected to the PC all the time. That's the fallback if the main backup fails. But that stuff is way too big to send it via my limited upload to any cloud service. Even the local backup takes quite long-ish.

Whenever those things happened (I once had a nice SSD for my OS which went silent without a warning), the backup was fine. Just the protection thingies were the ones nagging me that I'm wearing another shirt than at the day I've bought the soft, so I was their worst enemy until finally entering the code or linking up with that protection whatever server.

 

But a fresh reinstall of FSX (means the whole thing) would be my death sentence for sure. I would have to cut all social contacts, buy food for a year and would need coffee intravenously.

 

Yup. One of the most likely causes of a reinstall is a new computer, or replacement of a major part (like a hard drive) and after that your programs are as likely as not to complain, especially if they have protection; backup image or not.

 

Another issue is that you might not necessarily want to restart at the previous state of the sim. I've installed plenty of well regarded add-ons that were not up to snuff (in my opinion) and are not likely to be going back on my machine unless the developer returns from sabbatical and decides to complete the product. Many products in that class and (even outside of it) are not very friendly about the removal process and what's left behind in your registry.

 

Safer, many times to start from scratch. Just set aside a weekend or so.

Since you've mentioned the uninstall process. Anyone with those 'no, not that one!' experiences when clicking a name in the list? Yikes, I had fun with those at times.

I make sure I regularly backup my FSX,EZDOK,NGX,FSUIPC config files along with installation and purchase order details onto a USB drive.

 

I have a ghost image of Windows 7 before FSX is installed, a ghost image of Windows 7 after FSX is installed and configured and an image of my FSX install drive. My default ghost image of FSX has GEX, UTX, NGX, ORBX installed and configured. They are the basics of my installation.

 

Reinstallation is simple from there. I can reghost the Windows 7 image and manually reinstall FSX or reghost the FSX drive as well and then add a few bits to it without having to worry about spending days reinstalling.

 

The biggest pain is the FSUIPC/EZDOK files. After spending loads of time setting up controls/cameras for different aircraft etc they would be the worst files I could possibly lose.

I have Acronis to back up my C drive including the Partition and boot section and registry. This has saved me so many times.. After I learned the hard way once where I lost too many things I don't want to even think about. Primarily my notes on how to build custom airport sceneries... I has just built one airport scenery so those "How to do" things were not yet yetched in my memory..I was relying on those notes and I lost it all. And I have not recovered from it yet.

 

Manny