Rebuild needed

[TDyl]

Hi guys,
I will very shortly need to do a rebuild on my WinXP PC (I try to do 1 every 8 months or so) to clear out all the crap this "lovely" OS creates on my system.
Is there a safe way to back up my BOINC-based BBC climate prediction work-unit and then restore it on a fresh install without any loss of the calculations my system has done to date?
TIA
TDyl

[NeoGen]

Welcome to the forums TDyL :)

I didn't try on BBC, but for about all projects backing up boinc and workunits is rather easy. You just save a backup copy of the boinc folder you have. Then after reinstalling windows and tuning up the PC you install boinc again. After installing boinc, close it (but really exiting, not just closing and leaving on the system tray) and copy back the backup folder you kept on top of the newly installed boinc. When asked to overwrite files, answer yes.
This way you should get Boinc exactly as you had it before.

Just out of curiosity, what are the specs of your machine?

[TDyl]

Thanks for the welcome, NeoGen and for the back-up advice.

I'm running a 64-bit 3000+ on an ASRock K8Upgrade-1689 mobo with 1gig of off-the-shelf RAM (3200 I think), an ATI 9800 Pro (128 meg) and the usual mix of optical and hard drives. As far as OS goes, I'm running XP Pro SP1 (I won't go to SP2 because I run lots of legacy apps that would die under SP2) fully updated with Windows Media Player, IE and Outlook all disabled (my own hacks). I run Musicmatch for audio, Firefox and Thunderbird for comms and OpenOffice for peace-of-mind.

It's a system I've kept upgrading for almost 8 years - just adding bits when I can afford it (because the UK disability payments are VERY low).

HTH.

What spec are you running?
TDyl

[NeoGen]

I'm running an oldie, but great machine. :)

An AthlonXP 2000+ with 512Mb of DDR333, with an ATI 9200 for some simple games and a Creative Audigy for the sound. Plus a 60Gb hard drive, a cd recorder and a dvd reader.

All in all, it's a totally outdated machine but check out who's got the top rank of the Team on Pirates@Home? :lol:
It's like the saying goes, It's not the size that matters but how you use it :lol: ;)

There was a thread around here with everyone's machines... now if only I could find it... :roll:

[TDyl]

Good grief!

What a spec Adam is using :)

I've used AMD processors for over 15 years now and I cannot ever see myself going back to Intel (although I am intrigued by the Cell CPU - a multiple cell based machine running linux would be a dream of mine).

If I ever won the lottery I'd buy Elaine and I a nice house in the middle of nowhere (preferably somewhere with mountains around), put in a T1 with my own datacentre and fill it full of Sun Blade-servers and there would not be a trace of M$ on the machines :)

Take care.
TDyl

[Frederic Brillouet]

sorry to disappoint you, but the cell processor was no intel project (IBM, Toshiba, Sony created it). Conroe is the intel beast waiting to be released (but until then, amd rules, maybe even after the release)

[TDyl]

Thanks for the correction. Wherever the cell comes from, I'm intrigued by its' supposed capabilities and its' possible uses in DC.
TDyl