Oh. Yes! That is a good idea :-) If all you have is BIAB a few other simple programs to install and one machine it should not be that hard. However my main desktop machine has a lot more than that and I have three machines (one runs 64 bit MS-Access which has to run on a different desktop than the regular 32 bit office stuff). Having to reinstall my main desktop without notes is a frightening prospect since part of the problem is getting the machines to talk to each other. I have three sets of notes (before format, during format and after format) since being able to flip back and forth quickly helps.

Before I had the notes the worst reinstall took me 4 days. After the notes and when I was not using image backups I got it down to 1 day since I typically had to do it once a year. Viruses are the biggest threat. I had one virus lock up everything (the virus checker, the control panel, the control alt delete to get to the task manager, all ways to run a dos batch program). So much for virus checkers...lol. Believe it or not I got this virus from a notebook battery website when I was researching nickle cadmium batteries for how to best charge them.

If you have a teen age daughter with a computer studying for exams this is as good a motivator as any to learn this stuff. It is hard to see your daughter cry when her machine stops working and she has no idea what to do. Teaching them to back up is the first defense and that virus is a good way to scare them into listening. Buying them an external USB drive to back up to is wise since they probably won't get around to it.

Last edited by bowlesj; 02/21/18 01:06 PM.
John Bowles
My playing in my 20s:
https://www.reverbnation.com/johnbowles