Goodbye C Drive

I already wiped it out.

I do have a backup from last year that I will try to restore.

For the Chrome stuff, if you sign in with a Google account you can sync all the bookmarks/history/saved passwords/etc. Not a bad idea to get that going if you are friendly with Google.

You can use OneDrive or Google Drive to keep some of the more important stuff synced to the cloud in case you have any future issues.

I agree re: using third party software to update drivers… Windows Update on Windows 10 seems to grab the drivers for almost any device automatically, and I tend to use that for everything except maybe fancier graphics adapters or highly specialized hardware (things like Panoramic X-ray machines, old dot matrix printers, etc).

If your computer is a Dell/Lenovo/etc you can usually get their software to install and update the drivers. These are trustworthy, but I’ve had mixed results with nag screens and advertising on some of those.

Get your backups running automatically for the important stuff, and check them at least once in a while. For anything critical, I recommend the “3-2-1” strategy: 3 copies of the data, 2 different storage mediums (disk, cloud, DVD, tape, stone tablets, etc), 1 copy off-site.

Since you are on Windows, you can write a batch script to run a robocopy job on specific folders. you could even use the task scheduler to run this automatically. These tools are built into Windows and work well. TONS of info on the internet about how to get them working because they’ve been around for a long time. I could probably mock up a script to help you get started. It is pretty simple once you have a template.

Does not really matter. I have under maintenance a few machines running XP, working as it should.
Mike

Yep, there will most likely be hacks to extend the life of Win7 machines just like those that exist for WinXP machines.

I like to try out the different OS's and see which works best for me.

@raccoon city
What happend exactly when you tried to boot. When did it crash?
If the driver tool intalled inapropiate ahci drivers the system would not boot anymore. But you could have changed the option to use ahci in the bios. If this was the problem your system would have started again. And then you could have installed the correct driver again.
Would be helpfull to know more about the problem to help.

I don't know if the problem was with AHCI drivers.

It's too late to try to fix it as I formatted the C drive.

Next time, though.

NEVER UPDATE DRIVERS!

maybe 20 years ago it was a good idea to update drivers, but nowadays if you update drivers you WILL get more problems.
That is because software development, and especially driver development has reached an all time low. Everyone is now a programmer and incompetence has plagued this industry.
I’m still on Windows 7, and Yosemite on Mac and I will use them as long as I can do my job. Newer versions are terrible

I had a problem a few months ago with Windows 10 on my gaming PC. Intermittent crashes had become frequent and it had started crashing several times a day.

When I went to reinstall Windows, I noticed an option to reinstall without erasing my data. I used this and then reinstalled. The computer now works perfectly with no crashes.

The problem was the razor copperhead gaming mouse I’d been using. The latest available drivers were 10+ years old and were incompatible with Windows 10. Getting a newer gaming mouse with Windows 10 compatible drivers and installing that in conjunction with system reinstall fixed the problem.

I tried to do that, but that option did not work for me.

How much time ya got?

At least I was able to beat xp into submission that it wouldn’t piss me off on an ongoing regular basis. In fact, xp was almost tolerable.

Got forced almost literally at gunpoint at work to switch to 7. Then shortly after to 10.

Now I know what Hell is like.

7 and especially 10 are ugly, slow, cumbersome at best, and if you’re a visually-oriented monkey who uses the mouse for everything including scrolling a page up/down, then you might be able to tolerate it, but if you’re like me and hardly ever touch the mouse/trackpad/whatever and use the keyboard for pretty much everything, it Just Doesn’t Work.

Try the settings pages, where options require scrolling the page up/down. TRY to do it via keyboard (arrows, tab, etc.). No, you need the mouse to find the f’n light-gray on even-lighter-gray scrollbar to drag it up/down.

I think 10 was written by Hitler from beyond the grave just to get his final revenge on the world.

I was just gonna suggest something like that. With Ubuntu you can actually repartition the drive into 2 separate ones, copy raw data from partition 1 to 2, then do the install on partition 1.

I had to try to pull important files from a laptop (not mine) whose drive was getting worse and worse (in hardware), and I did manage to pull files off but onto an external drive instead.

I like Windows 10 with an SSD. My computer boots up in 10 seconds or less.

Way better than my old gaming comp that had Vista64 on it. That dinosaur took 2-3 minutes to boot up.

A fresh install of Windows every once-in-awhile makes everything run much faster.

A lot of people believe that, but for me, the fresh install is just as fast as the old install.

Of course, I'm usually careful about what I install, and my computers almost never gets infected.

@Lightbringer:

I feel lucky that I use a mouse.

My problem is with touchscreens like smart phones and tablets.

I just cannot get much done on them.

Learn powershell! You can do everything with a keyboard from there.

If that’s not your cup of tea, Windows 10 has lots of keyboard shortcuts, and at least for now you can get to the old control panel (just search from the start menu for “control panel”).

I had to change the way I work in the Windows 10 GUI, and I utilize search for most things. Just Winkey & start typing, then arrow key to what you are looking for and press enter.

The above method is less frustrating than navigating the menus manually.

Did you tried a system restore? Guess you don't, had it disabled or whatever. Panic mode is no good.

To install Windows 10 I recommend downloading a Windows 10 ISO (via some ;-) source), burning it to DVD or creating a USB drive bootable, and installing. You do not need a Windows license key right away, you have 6 months to set it (and Windows won't stop working either). Valid license keys are pretty cheap.

Of course, installing Windows 7 and then upgrading to Windows 10 may work. But honestly, that is a lot more work. And all that time spent is worth money. I wouldn't chose that path, listen to a wise advice from an expert in the matter. O:)

In my experience a fresh install from a Windows 10 ISO will upgrade and work seamlessly without excessive effort.

:-)

horror stories like this should spur action
I D/Led Macrium Reflect Free and cloned my C to a bootable partition on an underutilized SSD resting in my ’puter.
Also to a fast USB drive in my safe

(reminds me, gotta get some 4th of July galluses)

I admit, even after several revisions and complete overhauls, the new settings - whatever the hell they call it - is complete bullshit. I fear they’ll kill off control panel entirely one day. Pretty sure it’s coming.

I had system restore enabled, but I could not do a system restore.

I also could not fresh install Win10.

I had to install Win7 first, then upgrade to Win10.