Best way to backup important files, how make list of all the files and folder names to a file, reinstalling of windows 10

[Doge99]

Best way to backup files:-

I want to backup files safely away from pc

My first thought that to backup to DVD but DVD are getting rare. 

I went to 2 stores to check they have DVD or not, the first store does not sell DVD so i visited another store and got only Sony dvd-r 4.7 gb. This store also carry 8.5 DL DVD but they don't keep amy more. They were  charging 25 INR before it used to cost only 15 INR. Then I went online to see, then the price were not good delivery is not fast due to becoming rare and rating is not good. M disc they were not available and cost a lot on online 

What about cloud storage but I am not able to pay monthly to have storage on cloud

So what is the best way to back up important files 

 

How to get list of name of all files and folder;-

I want to get a list of all the files and folder that I have to get a list so I can reference then and download them

 

Reinstalling of windows 10;-

The pc that I use have slow boot times the chrome scrolling is laggy and tab switch is slow

I have not reinstalled windows 10 since August 2016

Does it worth reinstalling of windows 10

 

Licensing of windows :-

I found windows 10 professional keys for 5.82US$ that is MSDN retail key

I did research but there weren't lot of information available 

I need for my 5 years old pc and upgrading to new pc build in November for that I use volume license key for my new pc for now I can use this key for my old pc

 

 

[emosun]

18 minutes ago, Power Hole Stick said:

So what is the best way to back up important files 

any system that is off site is best.

buy some cheapo hard drives , load them up , and store them off site at a friends/families house or safebox at a bank. even if it's just a shed outside it's an improvement

 

you can also trade quality for quantity with backups. if you can't afford a high quality drive , then several cheap drives will also work and add redundancy

[mariushm]

In Windows Explorer, go inside your folder.

Hold SHIFT key down and Right click with your mouse in an empty area, some white space around your folders and files.

Click on "open command window here"

 

This works in Windows 7, in Windows 10 you may have to hold Ctrl and Shift or maybe the context menu entry is written a bit differently.

 

Anyway, in command prompt that opens up, you can type :

 

DIR /B /S >output.txt

 

/B means display the information in bare format (just the file name and the path to it)

/S means go through sub folders in the folder you are

>  is a special thing that tells DIR to dump text to that file name instead of showing it on screen. So in the example above a file called output.txt will be created, and all files and folders in your folder will be there.

 

You can also limit to show only some files, for example show only files with the MKV extension

 

DIR /B /S *.mkv >output.txt

 

You can also make it display hidden files, or not print folders:

 

DIR /B /S /A:-D >output_nofolders.txt

 

/A: means use file attributes to show or hide some, -D means don't show folders.

 

  /A          Displays files with specified attributes.
  attributes   D  Directories                R  Read-only files
               H  Hidden files               A  Files ready for archiving
               S  System files               I  Not content indexed files
               L  Reparse Points             -  Prefix meaning not
  /B          Uses bare format (no heading information or summary).
  /C          Display the thousand separator in file sizes.  This is the
              default.  Use /-C to disable display of separator.
  /D          Same as wide but files are list sorted by column.
  /L          Uses lowercase.
  /N          New long list format where filenames are on the far right.
  /O          List by files in sorted order.
  sortorder    N  By name (alphabetic)       S  By size (smallest first)
               E  By extension (alphabetic)  D  By date/time (oldest first)
               G  Group directories first    -  Prefix to reverse order
  /P          Pauses after each screenful of information.
  /Q          Display the owner of the file.
  /R          Display alternate data streams of the file.
  /S          Displays files in specified directory and all subdirectories.
  /T          Controls which time field displayed or used for sorting
  timefield   C  Creation
              A  Last Access
              W  Last Written
  /W          Uses wide list format.
  /X          This displays the short names generated for non-8dot3 file
              names.  The format is that of /N with the short name inserted
              before the long name. If no short name is present, blanks are
              displayed in its place.
  /4          Displays four-digit years

 

[Doge99]

8 hours ago, emosun said:

any system that is off site is best.

buy some cheapo hard drives , load them up , and store them off site at a friends/families house or safebox at a bank. even if it's just a shed outside it's an improvement

 

you can also trade quality for quantity with backups. if you can't afford a high quality drive , then several cheap drives will also work and add redundancy

But harddrive tends to failure as if they are not powered

And what about reinstalling and Licensing

Thanks for suggesting

[Doge99]

8 hours ago, mariushm said:

In Windows Explorer, go inside your folder.

Hold SHIFT key down and Right click with your mouse in an empty area, some white space around your folders and files.

Click on "open command window here"

 

This works in Windows 7, in Windows 10 you may have to hold Ctrl and Shift or maybe the context menu entry is written a bit differently.

 

Anyway, in command prompt that opens up, you can type :

 

DIR /B /S >output.txt

 

/B means display the information in bare format (just the file name and the path to it)

/S means go through sub folders in the folder you are

>  is a special thing that tells DIR to dump text to that file name instead of showing it on screen. So in the example above a file called output.txt will be created, and all files and folders in your folder will be there.

 

You can also limit to show only some files, for example show only files with the MKV extension

 

DIR /B /S *.mkv >output.txt

 

You can also make it display hidden files, or not print folders:

 

DIR /B /S /A:-D >output_nofolders.txt

 

/A: means use file attributes to show or hide some, -D means don't show folders.

 

  /A          Displays files with specified attributes.
  attributes   D  Directories                R  Read-only files
               H  Hidden files               A  Files ready for archiving
               S  System files               I  Not content indexed files
               L  Reparse Points             -  Prefix meaning not
  /B          Uses bare format (no heading information or summary).
  /C          Display the thousand separator in file sizes.  This is the
              default.  Use /-C to disable display of separator.
  /D          Same as wide but files are list sorted by column.
  /L          Uses lowercase.
  /N          New long list format where filenames are on the far right.
  /O          List by files in sorted order.
  sortorder    N  By name (alphabetic)       S  By size (smallest first)
               E  By extension (alphabetic)  D  By date/time (oldest first)
               G  Group directories first    -  Prefix to reverse order
  /P          Pauses after each screenful of information.
  /Q          Display the owner of the file.
  /R          Display alternate data streams of the file.
  /S          Displays files in specified directory and all subdirectories.
  /T          Controls which time field displayed or used for sorting
  timefield   C  Creation
              A  Last Access
              W  Last Written
  /W          Uses wide list format.
  /X          This displays the short names generated for non-8dot3 file
              names.  The format is that of /N with the short name inserted
              before the long name. If no short name is present, blanks are
              displayed in its place.
  /4          Displays four-digit years

 

Thanks for the help and what about licensing and reinstalling

[emosun]

3 hours ago, Power Hole Stick said:

And what about reinstalling and Licensing

what do you mean 

[dgsddfgdfhgs]

12 hours ago, Power Hole Stick said:

Reinstalling of windows 10;-

The pc that I use have slow boot times the chrome scrolling is laggy and tab switch is slow

I have not reinstalled windows 10 since August 2016

Does it worth reinstalling of windows 10

 

reinstall windows could solve some strange issue/ config.

but more importantly SSD is a must for windows 10 & chrome

 

and if you have other windows 7/8 keys, you could try reuse them in 10 first

[homeap5]

12 hours ago, Power Hole Stick said:

Reinstalling of windows 10;-

The pc that I use have slow boot times the chrome scrolling is laggy and tab switch is slow

I have not reinstalled windows 10 since August 2016

Does it worth reinstalling of windows 10

My Windows 10 is from 2016 too, upgraded few times (now I have 1903) with lot of software installed and still works like new. Take note that upgrade is basically kind of reinstall.

 

If you have problem with slow boot time it's not because Windows 10 is old. It's not that his beard grow and Windows becomes old and slow. It's the same system, so you should look what causes that problem. Slow boot time is for sure drive issue, other problems may be because installed programs that run in background. Use Autoruns to check it.

 

Of course if you have time and want to made fresh install, it's your choice. Someone loves that type of activity. But it's always good to know what is going on.

[Doge99]

10 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

My Windows 10 is from 2016 too, upgraded few times (now I have 1903) with lot of software installed and still works like new. Take note that upgrade is basically kind of reinstall.

 

If you have problem with slow boot time it's not because Windows 10 is old. It's not that his beard grow and Windows becomes old and slow. It's the same system, so you should look what causes that problem. Slow boot time is for sure drive issue, other problems may be because installed programs that run in background. Use Autoruns to check it.

 

Of course if you have time and want to made fresh install, it's your choice. Someone loves that type of activity. But it's always good to know what is going on.

Should I replace my hard drive

Or upgrade to ssd 

[Doge99]

37 minutes ago, emosun said:

what do you mean 

Please read OP

[homeap5]

10 minutes ago, xD Power Hole Stick said:

Should I replace my hard drive

Or upgrade to ssd 

SSD is what you need. That is for sure.

[Doge99]

4 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

SSD is what you need. That is for sure.

Ok thanks