Time to start gathering resources. I hate having to rebuild my environment.
I appreciate the feedback from you and Leslieann. Thank you!
You're welcome.
I never image, actually I do, but only for customer systems and my file server OS. *
I don't use system folders, I used to use a folder on a second drive (now on my file server but you can just as easily use a second partition) and store pretty much all of my personal files outside of the OS. This way, even if my install fails, I could reinstall and lose very little if anything. Not only does this make it easy to reinstall or switch operating systems, it also makes it far easier to backup your data since it's almost all in one spot. Also makes it easy to click on on folder and see all your data folders in one spot, not sure what MS was thinking here.
What is easier, backing up favorites, pictures, documents, music and videos one at a time or simply grabbing an entire folder and dragging it over to your backup? Better still is to have that folder on another drive/partition/computer not touched by the OS in the first place. Then you just need to backup your browser and a few other small things (there are programs to automate this**) and you are ready to get on with it. Added bonus, backing up this way is FAR smaller since you don't have Windows and game install files included. It generally takes me 45 minutes to backup, wipe, install an OS (Windows, Mac or Linux), reinstall all my data (minus games) and be back online like nothing happened. There is always a few things to finish like games or downloading a big update, but for the most part I'm up and running and fully operational. I usually keep a local copy of game installers and programs as well to speed up the process.
*Images are great if you want to make sure you have everything, but on the other hand, images are terrible for restoring an OS. You have tons of old files laying around, possibly corrupted files, old drivers no longer in use, outdated programs, programs no longer being used,
unknown malware... Images have their place, they are great for ensuring you have everything, but I don't recommend them for actually restoring the system unless you must. I've seen them miss files, I've also seen them only get parts of a file that was corrupted, miss partition information and even have troubles with a change in drive size, so while the system ran before, it would now no longer boot. You also should NEVER do this when going from Intel to AMD and vice versa, while newer versions of Windows is better about it, this can lead to a system not booting and again it means a bunch of useless junk laying around clogging up your system.
I don't trust images, they are not good practice as your only backup system, they are slow, big, too easily corrupted and you are restoring problems. They are meant for servers, where the data is stored outside the OS and was brought over to Windows. Servers don't change much, while your desktop constantly does and your data is right inside. Because it's slow (and often needs to be done with an external boot disk), people are also less likely to do them on a regular basis. Whereas backing up folders can be done on the fly while you are working and automated.
** Some backup automation programs I know and use
Windows - Allway Sync
Linux - Kbackup
Mac - Backuplist+
Java based, runs on all the above - Dirsync Pro
Drive image
Active Disk image (favorite), lets you mount and pull from images with an file explorer style interface right from inside Windows.
Acronis True Image
Macreum Reflect (works well and is free, but the disk often needs to be created on the system intended to be backed up for best results)