SOLVED Copying WindowsOld Folder

[Bif]

Hi all,I understand that after upgrading to 10 Microsoft deletes the Windows.old (7 in my case) after a month to what they say is to save space..now I was wondering can I copy this folder to an external hard-drive, let MS delete it after a month and then use that folder to revert back at a later date if I ever chose to?..or will it simply not be associated with my PC any longer?
I'm currently copying it in it's entirety to my ExtHHD..for what ever reason pending feedback.

Cheers

 

[Trouble]

can I copy this folder to an external hard-drive, let MS delete it after a month and then use that folder to revert back at a later date if I ever chose to?

I'm not sure how or if that would actually work.
I certainly wouldn't count on it.
A complete system image, before the upgrade followed by a complete system image after the upgrade is probably a far better way to go.

 

[Bif]

I'm not sure how or if that would actually work.
I certainly wouldn't count on it.
A complete system image, before the upgrade followed by a complete system image after the upgrade is probably a far better way to go.

I thought as much,I had made 7 restore/backup dvd's from my old OS but unfortunately no system image.Backed up 10 via system image as well as download and saved a few copies of the 10 ISO...as a just in case measure.
Thanks for the reply.

 

[Old Guy Geek]

There's not reason to move it back to where it was if you have space on another drive.

What I do is copy the entire .old to a separate backup drive where I keep backup of all my important files. Even though I go through it and copy stuff back to the current installation, I leave the copy on the other drive until I'm absolutely sure I don't need it and then I blow it away.

You can do this with backup software or just occasionally copy stuff over to the other drive. I copy my Documents, Pictures, Outlook pst, downloaded install media and several other files that would be disastrous if the original HD failed.

What I really like about this is that I don't even have to reinstall custom backup software first to recover the files. I just copy them back to where they were. Since HD prices are so low, you can catch a nice drive for really cheap. I bought a WD 4TB red just for this. Since it is only being used for backup, initial speed and transfer rates aren't that important. You can get a 4TB 5400 RPM for about $150. The 2TB Reds are under $100. Of course, later on if you wanted to use the RED for gaming storage, you would suffer performance problems. Well, the drive would suffer performance problems.