Reformatting a partition
 

I have Windows XP on one partition of my hard drive, and my games on another. If I reformat my Windows partition and reinstall Windows, will that break my games, requiring that they be reinstalled as well, or will they be ok?

Thanks

I'd assume that unless you delete the partition(s) during the re-install of the os, you'll be ok just formatting the partition. I don't know if your games and such will still work after reinstalling windows - there'd be some registry problems there surely?

I have two hard-drives - C for OS and programs. E for data/files. Makes life easier as you can backup all critical data before the old windows mantra 'format, reinstall' :yawn:

Depends on the game. Most games should be ok - though you may lose stuff like your savegames (often kept under my documents). Others require registry entries to function, and will break. Its really a crapshoot with every game.

Is there a way to copy those parts of the registry and put them back in after I reinstall Windows?

It's touch and go...

In my honest openion you would be better off formatting both drives and starting from scratch, Of course you will have to backup patches and save games first.

Angus - is there a way to do it? Yes.

The problem is there isn't a GOOD way to do it.

Unless you use an application that monitors software installs (and thus can show you what keys were entered) - you would have to manually go through the registry and export all the needed keys. For each game your looking at anywhere from 1-30 registry keys - hidden among a couple of hundred thousand. And if you miss one that is critical - its reinstall time.

Best bet is to just save all your games - and mods (use JSGME!!!) and go clean and then reinstall. If you have a slew of games it may take a while but its better in the long run.

You could try Nortons Ghost. Make an exact image of your windows installation games included then copy that image back onto the clean drive. No point though if your deleting windows for reasons its corrupt or rather.

As for the backup game registry I would try it, works for some games.

You just need to copy from HKEY_CURRENT_USER & HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE - look for the game folders (eg Ubisoft folder) and export the folder to a safe place. After your new install of windows import them back in to the registry by just double clicking on them.