Alright,
I want to reformat my Sony Vaio Laptop (model number vpcf122fx) to get rid of all the crap that comes on it (sony media gallery, players, useless apps, etc.) because currently i'm running around 120 processes which is needlessly high. I should have just done this when I got the laptop but sadly I didn't so now I have to sort through all the stuff I need on it and save it to a backup drive. I'm not a techie by any means but I can normally work my way through stuff. However, I do have a couple questions regarding some of the steps everyone normally goes through when reformatting.
First off is there anything that needs to be backed up that I probably didn't think of? I've made a backup folder and put all my important documents, media, and a few program installers in it. In your experience is there anything that is frequently overlooked when scavenging for important data to save. I don't know what to do as far as saving settings or drivers (which brings me to question number two)
As far as all my hardware will I need to do anything as far as drivers or whatever is concerned. The only piece of hardware I have that didn't come with the laptop is a printer that I have the installation CD for. Otherwise I have the built in mouse, GPU, webcam, etc. that came with the laptop. I know Windows is pretty good at recognizing plug-and-play hardware but I know that is also a risky proposition. I have the restore CD that came with my Vaio which i'm pretty sure includes all the drivers for all the hardware so i'm assuming I can just run this and be good to go. One thing i'm worried about that most people wouldn't know and that I can't find is if the Vaio restore CD includes all the stupid Sony crap that i'm trying to get rid of. It would really suck to reformat and then run the restore CD only to find twenty different Sony application shortcuts on my desktop. I normally have no problems with this step on the PC that I've built because I have all the driver CD's and just pop them in. I'm just asking to double check that it's no different with a laptop.
My last question is will a simple reformat really clean out the hard drive. I'm not sure about any of the technical aspects of this but if I reformat the drive and reinstall windows 7 will it get rid of EVERYTHING on the drive. I know that a hard drive can have left over junk on it which is what disc defrag is for but will a reformat totally wipe it.
So that's all the questions I could think of for now. Someone correct me if i'm wrong but the whole reformatting procedure will be
- Backup important data and save to an external drive
- Shutdown and boot from Windows 7 installation CD
- Go through Win 7 install
- Install latest Service Pack (Win 7 still on SP1, do I even need that?)
- Run Vaio restore CD and Printer CD
- Go to device manager and make sure everything is up and running
- Move backup file back onto new OS
- Enjoy fresh new computer
Does that pretty much cover it? And thanks in advance for any corrections or recommendations!
I want to reformat my Sony Vaio Laptop (model number vpcf122fx) to get rid of all the crap that comes on it (sony media gallery, players, useless apps, etc.) because currently i'm running around 120 processes which is needlessly high. I should have just done this when I got the laptop but sadly I didn't so now I have to sort through all the stuff I need on it and save it to a backup drive. I'm not a techie by any means but I can normally work my way through stuff. However, I do have a couple questions regarding some of the steps everyone normally goes through when reformatting.
First off is there anything that needs to be backed up that I probably didn't think of? I've made a backup folder and put all my important documents, media, and a few program installers in it. In your experience is there anything that is frequently overlooked when scavenging for important data to save. I don't know what to do as far as saving settings or drivers (which brings me to question number two)
As far as all my hardware will I need to do anything as far as drivers or whatever is concerned. The only piece of hardware I have that didn't come with the laptop is a printer that I have the installation CD for. Otherwise I have the built in mouse, GPU, webcam, etc. that came with the laptop. I know Windows is pretty good at recognizing plug-and-play hardware but I know that is also a risky proposition. I have the restore CD that came with my Vaio which i'm pretty sure includes all the drivers for all the hardware so i'm assuming I can just run this and be good to go. One thing i'm worried about that most people wouldn't know and that I can't find is if the Vaio restore CD includes all the stupid Sony crap that i'm trying to get rid of. It would really suck to reformat and then run the restore CD only to find twenty different Sony application shortcuts on my desktop. I normally have no problems with this step on the PC that I've built because I have all the driver CD's and just pop them in. I'm just asking to double check that it's no different with a laptop.
My last question is will a simple reformat really clean out the hard drive. I'm not sure about any of the technical aspects of this but if I reformat the drive and reinstall windows 7 will it get rid of EVERYTHING on the drive. I know that a hard drive can have left over junk on it which is what disc defrag is for but will a reformat totally wipe it.
So that's all the questions I could think of for now. Someone correct me if i'm wrong but the whole reformatting procedure will be
- Backup important data and save to an external drive
- Shutdown and boot from Windows 7 installation CD
- Go through Win 7 install
- Install latest Service Pack (Win 7 still on SP1, do I even need that?)
- Run Vaio restore CD and Printer CD
- Go to device manager and make sure everything is up and running
- Move backup file back onto new OS
- Enjoy fresh new computer
Does that pretty much cover it? And thanks in advance for any corrections or recommendations!
