Microsoft Windows is the most widely used operating system in the world. I am sure many people reading this post from their laptops or personal computers are using some version of Windows. Many situations may require the re-installation of Windows on your PC. This may lead to loss of vital personal files unless you backup your files or if these files happen to be saved on some other remote drive.
Because of this, it is important to know exactly what files to to backup just before you reinstall Windows on your desktop or laptop computer. One nice thing is that Windows provides options for both automatic and manual backup of your important files. An important recommendation is that you do not backup your files to the same drive in which the windows OS is installed. The reason is that when you reinstall Windows, these files will be wiped. Instead, save them to an external hard disk, a CD, a DVD, a removable USB drive, or even to the cloud.
So, you are probably wondering what files you really need to backup before reinstalling Windows. Well, let’s take a look.
Important Documents
One of the most important things to backup is your documents, such as Word files, Excel sheets, PowerPoint presentations, etc. These are generally located in the “My Documents” or just “Documents” folder. I would highly suggest just backing up this whole directory to make sure you don’t miss anything important. Do you store documents in another place as well? If so, you should back these files and folders up as well.
User-specific Data
Personal computers or laptops are called “personal” computers because they contain vital information regarding their owners, information that should be secured at all costs. Data such as privileges, passwords, references, security codes, bank information, personal certificates and any other vital information should be noted or saved to a remote location and tucked away in a very secure place. If possible, such information should be stored with encryption as well.
System drivers
Backing up drivers is optional, but many users like to back these up before reinstalling Windows. Most Microsoft Windows versions or computer models lose their system drivers when a new OS is installed. If you had them saved on the hard disk of the computer, then you can back them up to another media where you can access them immediately after completing the re-installation.
A List of Programs
Reinstallation of Windows means that you are putting a new copy of the operating system on your hard drive, which will essentially delete all of the programs you installed. In order to restore your original settings and to know what programs you need to reinstall later, you might want to create a list of all the programs on the computer before reinstalling Windows.
While you can do this manually by typing them up in a text document, there is a very easy way to do this, especially if you have CCleaner installed on your computer. All you need is to open CCleaner, go to the “Tools” button then click “Save to text files” and choose where you want to save it. From here, you can then back up the list of programs with other files.
Video files, Audio/Music files and Photos
Most people don’t want to lose their important photos, videos, or music files when reinstalling Windows. Before reinstalling Windows, make sure you backup all the important video and audio files as well as pictures to right back up media where they cannot be tampered with. By default, Windows will store these in sub-folders under the “My Documents” or “Documents” folder. However, you will want to make sure of this before you perform the reinstall. For example, maybe you created an “iTunes” directory that is located right in the root directory.
Downloads Folder
This is one place that many users forget to check. I would recommend that you check the “downloads” folder to make sure their aren’t any key files that you really want to keep.
Bookmarks, Emails, and Email Address Book
If you store your emails and your email address book on your PC via an email client, then you will want to back these up before reinstalling Windows. This applies to you if you use a program like Outlook, Lotus, or Thunderbird. If you use a web-based email client like GMail or Yahoo Mail, then you won’t have to worry about this. Also, if you would like to keep your web bookmarks, then you should back these up as well.
The above list is just about what you need to backup before installing windows. However, you also need to add any other vital file that you think might be lost if you install a new copy of Windows on your computer.