driver backups

In message , "Ken Blake,
MVP" writes:
On Fri, 18 May 2012 09:37:00 -0500, Char Jackson
wrote:

I see no value in attempting to back up *installed* drivers. I'd much
rather back up the package that the driver came in from the source so
that I can easily reinstall it again if I need to.



Exactly right! It isn't much different from backing up installed
programs--generally useless.

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP

Indeed! I've been assuming these softwares back up stuff in a way that
allows minimal-intervention restoration; if they don't, and only copy
things, then I may as well just do things manually.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"...told me to connect with the electorate, and I did!" John Prescott on
having punched the man who threw an egg at him (Top Gear, 2011-2-28)

In message , glee
writes:
[]
Yes... I'd like to see some detailed info from someone who has
*restored* drivers backed up by one of those driver backup program, as
to what is backed up exactly, how well the restoration works, and
whether it is a one at a time backup and restoration or can be done en
masse.

Having looked at some of the web pages people have posted links to, some
of them talk about "single mouse click" restoration of all drivers.

I'd still like to see the account you describe, i. e. from someone who
has done it!
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"...told me to connect with the electorate, and I did!" John Prescott on
having punched the man who threw an egg at him (Top Gear, 2011-2-28)

"Bill in Co" wrote in message
m...
glee wrote:
"Bill in Co" wrote in message
m...
glee wrote:
snip
Yes... I'd like to see some detailed info from someone who has
*restored* drivers backed up by one of those driver backup program,
as to what is backed up exactly, how well the restoration works,
and
whether it is a one at a time backup and restoration or can be done
en masse.

I looked at my HD and remembered that I had indeed done this at one
time (backed up individual drivers), using Driver Genius and Driver
Magician.

When I look at their subdirectories, I see individual subdirectories
for each driver. IIRC, you can individually select which ones you
would like to restore, but I think they were all created at once by
the driver program. Also, IIRC, you had a choice as to whether or
not
to back up the MS ones (as an option).

And in retrospect, I think you might have been able to select just
which individual ones you wanted to check off to be backed up, and not
necessarily be forced to do them all en masse (although you could
elect to do so).

...but exactly what is in those folders, as far as drivers? Does it
include "driver files" (assorted DLLs and a VXDs in Win9x, DLLs and
SYS
files in XP+) and registry entries? Or does it save the driver files
and the INF files instead of the Registry entries? Or both? How
complete is the restoration and do all devices work with the restored
drivers?

Enquiring minds want to know!

OK, I'll tell you:

various DLL, EXE, INF, SYS, VXD, and NFO files (depending on the
individual drivers and the OS).

OK then, the programs that back up all those files may be useful then,
as an alternative to the installer files. I'd still want the installers
backed up anyway.

Speaking of "enquiring minds", you didn't answer my other post. :-)

Oh man, which one did I miss? I saw one asking what Win7 features I
liked, but I think I touched that in a reply to another of your
comments. Is there another I am missing?
--
Glen Ventura
MS MVP Oct. 2002 - Sept. 2009
CompTIA A+

In ,
J. P. Gilliver (John) typed:
In message , glee
writes:
[]
Yes... I'd like to see some detailed info from someone who has
*restored* drivers backed up by one of those driver backup program,
as to what is backed up exactly, how well the restoration works, and
whether it is a one at a time backup and restoration or can be done
en masse.

Having looked at some of the web pages people have posted links to,
some of them talk about "single mouse click" restoration of all
drivers.
I'd still like to see the account you describe, i. e. from someone who
has done it!

I have and they are pretty slick. Sure you can go the normal route and
install a dozen or so drivers one by one. Or you can install all of them
in one pass.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core2 Duo T5600 1.83GHz - 2GB - Windows XP SP2

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in message
...
In message , "Ken Blake,
MVP" writes:
On Fri, 18 May 2012 09:37:00 -0500, Char Jackson
wrote:

I see no value in attempting to back up *installed* drivers. I'd
much
rather back up the package that the driver came in from the source
so
that I can easily reinstall it again if I need to.



Exactly right! It isn't much different from backing up installed
programs--generally useless.

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP

Indeed! I've been assuming these softwares back up stuff in a way that
allows minimal-intervention restoration; if they don't, and only copy
things, then I may as well just do things manually.

....especially since most of these programs are not free.
--
Glen Ventura
MS MVP Oct. 2002 - Sept. 2009
CompTIA A+

In message , BillW50
writes:
In ,
J. P. Gilliver (John) typed:
[]
Having looked at some of the web pages people have posted links to,
some of them talk about "single mouse click" restoration of all
drivers.
I'd still like to see the account you describe, i. e. from someone who
has done it!

I have and they are pretty slick. Sure you can go the normal route and
install a dozen or so drivers one by one. Or you can install all of them
in one pass.

Thanks for that.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"The people here are more educated and intelligent. Even stupid people in
Britain are smarter than Americans." Madonna, in RT 30 June-6July 2001 (page
32)

"Nil" wrote in message
...
On 17 May 2012, "Jo-Anne" wrote in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general:

So...can anyone recommend a free driver backup program that's
reasonably easy to install and use?

No. And every single "drive update" service I've ever seen falsely
advertises as free, then hits you up for money later. They are a rip-
off.

They're an unnecessary crock o' dung anyway. If you have a commercial
computer, it would have come with a set of usable drivers on a disk,
anyway. If not, you can get them from the vendor and burn them to a
disk yourself. That's your backup.

Using the latest drivers is mostly a good idea in general, but usually
not necessary. If they work, there is no compelling need to update
them, and some good reasons NOT to do so unless you really know what
you're doing.


Thank you, Nil. One of my computers came with disks; the other didn't. I
back up both computers with Acronis True Image, which should take care of
reinstalling all the drivers--but what I'd like is a simple backup of
drivers so I can reinstall one if needed, not all at once. I gather that
drivers are not all stored in one place; hence the help provided by a driver
backup program.

Jo-Anne

"Paul" wrote in message
...
Jo-Anne wrote:
"Nil" wrote in message
...
On 17 May 2012, "Jo-Anne" wrote in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general:

So...can anyone recommend a free driver backup program that's
reasonably easy to install and use?
No. And every single "drive update" service I've ever seen falsely
advertises as free, then hits you up for money later. They are a rip-
off.

They're an unnecessary crock o' dung anyway. If you have a commercial
computer, it would have come with a set of usable drivers on a disk,
anyway. If not, you can get them from the vendor and burn them to a
disk yourself. That's your backup.

Using the latest drivers is mostly a good idea in general, but usually
not necessary. If they work, there is no compelling need to update
them, and some good reasons NOT to do so unless you really know what
you're doing.


Hi, Nil,

I shouldn't have mentioned the updating at all. What I'm really after is
a
driver backup utility--just to have something separate from my full
backups.

Jo-Anne

When I got my laptop, in addition to burning three DVDs as a backup image
of the Windows 7 installation, the Acer software also burned a "driver
CD".
Now, I haven't wasted time looking at it, but my guess would be, there
would be drivers for everything from Touchpad to Wifi on there, suitable
for usage with a Microsoft reinstallation DVD.

Drivers should really be acquired "fresh" from the manufacturer site,
or with enough leg-work, you can also trace down drivers from the chip
makers. For example, my motherboard has a Marvell network chip, and
I can find network drivers on the marvell.com site. My Wifi is broadcom,
so I could look at their site and so on.

Anyway, check the set of optical media your laptop had you burn when you
got the machine, and it's possible you already have a full set. Each would
be a proper installer, making an entry in Add/Remove, loading the registry
with settings if needed, and dumping the DLLs into the Windows "store".

Paul


Thank you, Paul! I'm ashamed to say that I never did burn the OS and other
system files to an optical disk on the netbook (the laptop came with media).
I do, however, back up everything with Acronis True Image, so presumably the
drivers are there--just not easily accessible if I ever need to restore a
single driver.

Jo-Anne

"Ken Blake, MVP" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 17 May 2012 14:50:52 -0500, "Jo-Anne"
wrote:

I've read about several free programs that offer driver backups and
updates.
I'm leary about updates, but I suspect it would be a good idea to back up
my
drivers now and then. I tried downloading two of the programs but without
success so far. One of them wanted information before allowing the
download
but wouldn't accept it when I provided it. The other came in a zipped
file
that unzipped to created a folder with more files and then wanted me to
unzip these files even though they were already unzipped. I gave up.

So...can anyone recommend a free driver backup program that's reasonably
easy to install and use?



Several points:

1. There's no need to backup drivers. If you ever need any of them
again, just get them again from the web site where you got them the
first time.

2. Despite what I say in number 1, if you do want to back up your
drivers, you don't need any special program to do it. Simply copy them
all to a thumb drive, CD, or whatever.

3. Any of the programs or web sites that do unneeded things like this
are not to be trusted. I would avoid them all like the plague.

4. You should also avoid updating a driver simply because a newer one
is available. The only reason to update a driver is that you know that
the new one fixes a problem you are experiencing in the old one or has
some new feature that you desire. To install an unneeded update is
just looking for trouble.

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP


How would you copy all your drivers to external media? Are they all in the
same place? I was assuming they weren't and that's why it would be useful to
use a driver backup program.

Jo-Anne

"dadiOH" wrote in message
...
Jo-Anne wrote:
I've read about several free programs that offer driver backups and
updates. I'm leary about updates, but I suspect it would be a good
idea to back up my drivers now and then. I tried downloading two of
the programs but without success so far. One of them wanted
information before allowing the download but wouldn't accept it when
I provided it. The other came in a zipped file that unzipped to
created a folder with more files and then wanted me to unzip these
files even though they were already unzipped. I gave up.
So...can anyone recommend a free driver backup program that's
reasonably easy to install and use?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

Haven't used it for a while but I found My Drivers workable...
http://www.zhangduo.com/driverbackup.html

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico



Thank you! Anyone else tried this program?

Jo-Anne

On 5/18/2012 5:05 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
... I gather that
drivers are not all stored in one place; hence the help provided by a driver
backup program.

I've done manual backup of drivers before and it is a royal PIA. Parts
of each driver are in the INF, SYSTEM32, DRIVERS, and gosh who knows
what other folders. It is a real mess. It can be done by the best, but
even then it just doesn't seem worth doing it that way.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v12
Centrino Core Duo T5600 1.83GHz - 2GB - Windows XP SP2

On 5/18/2012 5:14 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
How would you copy all your drivers to external media? Are they all in the
same place? I was assuming they weren't and that's why it would be useful to
use a driver backup program.

I believe Ken was talking about the install driver files. The ones that
you get from your OEM or chip manufacture. Although this method you need
to install one by one. Some of them like the video and chipset ones will
most likely tell you to reboot after you install them one at a time.

The slick thing about those driver backup programs is that it is like
installing only one driver and you are done. But it actually installed
all of them in one shot.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v12
Centrino Core Duo T5600 1.83GHz - 2GB - Windows XP SP2

Jo-Anne wrote:
"Nil" wrote in message
...
On 17 May 2012, "Jo-Anne" wrote in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general:

So...can anyone recommend a free driver backup program that's
reasonably easy to install and use?

No. And every single "drive update" service I've ever seen falsely
advertises as free, then hits you up for money later. They are a rip-
off.

They're an unnecessary crock o' dung anyway. If you have a commercial
computer, it would have come with a set of usable drivers on a disk,
anyway. If not, you can get them from the vendor and burn them to a
disk yourself. That's your backup.

Using the latest drivers is mostly a good idea in general, but usually
not necessary. If they work, there is no compelling need to update
them, and some good reasons NOT to do so unless you really know what
you're doing.


Thank you, Nil. One of my computers came with disks; the other didn't. I
back up both computers with Acronis True Image, which should take care of
reinstalling all the drivers--

Exactly. And more. :-)

but what I'd like is a simple backup of
drivers so I can reinstall one if needed, not all at once.

I'm still not sure what the point is, if you can simply restore the whole
system drive with an image backup, and thus have nothing to worry about
(unlike with trying to restore drivers one by one).

I gather that
drivers are not all stored in one place; hence the help provided by a
driver
backup program.

Or if they are, who knows where.
Well, ok, I think some are in the windows\system32\drivers, and windows\inf,
directories.

But they are stored in one master directory (with a bunch of subdirectories)
if you use one of those driver backup programs.

But I still think restoring the image or clone backup is a lot simpler, and
there is less that can be problematic that way (assuming you keep updated
system images).

On 5/18/2012 2:57 PM, Bill in Co wrote:
J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
Depends whether the restoration process from such a backup is easier
than reinstalling all the drivers (including customising the settings
back to how one likes them). Not having tried any driver backup, I don't
know (and, for example, whether such backups allow restoration of
several drivers at once).

I haven't found the need to do either of these, or at least not in recent
memory. Isn't it just simpler to restore an image or clone backup of your
system drive, and take care of everything in one fell swoop, rather than go
chasing down individual drivers? Of course, that assumes you've been
keeping up-to-date system backups.

I've done both. And yes, cloning or backing up the whole system is
usually the preferred method. But there are times when it is best just
to reinstall everything from scratch once again. And now these driver
backup programs really speed things up. No need to hunt for these TV
tuner, printers, and special devices install discs anymore. Just get yer
all done in one single pass. ;-)

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v12
Centrino Core Duo T5600 1.83GHz - 2GB - Windows XP SP2

glee wrote:
"Bill in Co" wrote in message
m...
glee wrote:
"Bill in Co" wrote in message
m...
glee wrote:
snip
Yes... I'd like to see some detailed info from someone who has
*restored* drivers backed up by one of those driver backup program,
as to what is backed up exactly, how well the restoration works,
and
whether it is a one at a time backup and restoration or can be done
en masse.

I looked at my HD and remembered that I had indeed done this at one
time (backed up individual drivers), using Driver Genius and Driver
Magician.

When I look at their subdirectories, I see individual subdirectories
for each driver. IIRC, you can individually select which ones you
would like to restore, but I think they were all created at once by
the driver program. Also, IIRC, you had a choice as to whether or
not
to back up the MS ones (as an option).

And in retrospect, I think you might have been able to select just
which individual ones you wanted to check off to be backed up, and not
necessarily be forced to do them all en masse (although you could
elect to do so).

...but exactly what is in those folders, as far as drivers? Does it
include "driver files" (assorted DLLs and a VXDs in Win9x, DLLs and
SYS
files in XP+) and registry entries? Or does it save the driver files
and the INF files instead of the Registry entries? Or both? How
complete is the restoration and do all devices work with the restored
drivers?

Enquiring minds want to know!

OK, I'll tell you:

various DLL, EXE, INF, SYS, VXD, and NFO files (depending on the
individual drivers and the OS).

OK then, the programs that back up all those files may be useful then,
as an alternative to the installer files. I'd still want the installers
backed up anyway.

Speaking of "enquiring minds", you didn't answer my other post. :-)

Oh man, which one did I miss? I saw one asking what Win7 features I
liked, but I think I touched that in a reply to another of your
comments. Is there another I am missing?

Well, I've asked about whether or not Win7 was "lighter" than Vista, but
someone has already answered that one.

I've also asked about why your file operations take so much longer in these
newer OSs or if you've read anything about the possible causes.

And (if you happen to know, or have a hunch), why MS has been progressively
removing more user control over the OS each time, with each succeeding
version, making it harder for us tweakers to do anything (like at the file
and directory level, or with adding or tweaking some audio and/or video
codecs, or what have you). :-)