What do you install first?

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I visit this site on a daily basis, I enjoy reading what you write and it is also quite informative.
I am a PC consultant by profession, and I had the exact HD issue like yours. But, I do it differently and I think a lot easier and faster than your restore method. I agree to test the new HD to make sure it is healthy before the restoration work. The first replacement HD that Dell sent me was defective too. I like Dell too, been using them exclusively for 10 years. But, Dell should and must stop replacing their HDs with refurbished ones. My 2 replacements were refurbished, and I hate that. Dell cost me a lot of wasted time and effort.
After making sure the new HD is healthy, SpinRite is a very good method, I use and recommend a fantastic backup/imaging software, Acronis.
I have made a boot CD with Acronis, so I can restore my backed up image from an external USB drive (which I backup at least weekly) on a virgin HD (without OS) in less than half hour.
Acronis is great in recognizing connected USB drives. My method is a lot faster and more efficient than yours. I also do backups on a daily basis the important files that I create/update to a USB flash drive. These also get restored after the Acronis image restoration.
So in about 30 minutes I am up and running like nothing has happened.
Try it, and you'll like it.

This is much like what I do, but it omits an essential step - what things do you change in the control panel to make your machine fit you. I doubt they'd be the same as mine, but I think it would be valuable to see you

Leo,
if your backups were image files, you would only have to restore the image backup and you would get everything back in one go very quickly exactly as per the last good backup. This is far better than having to format and reinstall. The same thing happened to me and after fitting my new hard drive, I was up and running withing the hour. I use Acronis True Image which backups my machine daily incrementally. It takes a half hour despite having 2x large hard drives. You could fo course even make an image file of just your basic system with drivers installed put it on a DVD and use that to get back quickly to that point.

Comments on MY "safety net"
- Check drive: absolutely! SpinRite is great, so are manufacturer-specific utilities. BUT: with drives as large as 2TB that takes a long time. So plan to walk away and do something else for a day or so.
- Partition the drive: I always use a "program" drive and a "data" drive. If I only have one physical drive, I partition it. That way, if your program drive gets "hosed", your data are still safe.
- Intermediate images: I take one "starter image" after installing and updating the Os as well as the drivers. A second "Full" image gets created after the essentials are installed. (in my case, AV software, Backup software, Office.) Also, associated data files get re-located. For example Outlook will get pointed to a mail file located on my "Data" drive. Additional "full" images are created periodically.
- Store the source: Every piece of downloaded software is stored in a "Source" directory on my "Data" drive. That way, I don't have to download things like Acrobat Reader etc if a re-install is required. Even drivers and purchased software are copied to my source directory: that saves me from having to hunt for the original CDs.
- Keep notes: I have an Excel Spreadsheet where I note down every change I make as well as the points where I take full backups. I embed links to the source where applicable. Thus I can just click on the link in the Excel file to re-install a dozen or so utilities in succession without having to hunt for the location of the source. (Yes, that does require more discipline than most people can muster).
- Consider using removable drives: My program drive is mounted in a caddy that can be removed in a second. Once I have installed everything, I make a "final" full image and then restore that image onto an identical drive mounted in the caddy of a removable drive. I then stash the caddy with the original drive in a safe place and start running my day-to-day work from the restored copy of my program drive. Now, if a disaster happens, I can just shut the computer down, replace the corrupted drive with the backup drive (actually the "original") and I'm back up and running within minutes.
The Ancient
...When it comes to computers, I believe in using belt AND suspenders...

I use Carbonite that way I don't have to remember to do anything.

Hi Leo, I use John Haller's Portable versions of Firefox and Thunderbird. I install on my HDD which involves running the installer initially and pointing to a folder on my HDD instead of a thumb drive. Nothing is written to the registry. After installing I customize etc. and save copies of the folders FF and T-Bird are installed to.
I then only have to copy the folders to the new drive and create shortcuts to the executables.

If your drive is so corrupted that you have to start from scratch (see Leo's premise of a "catastrophic hard drive failure"), Carbonite won't save you. At a minimum, you will have to install the operating system and Carbonite itself. That is, if, at some point, you have taken a FULL backup rather than running with the default. ("By default, Carbonite backs up everything in your Documents and Settings folder"). Also: Ever tried backing up a multi-terabyte volume online?

I use Microsoft's Home Server to back up my three clients. I pick and choose what I want to back up and each night it backs them all up. I can restore any of the three with the restore function.

Thunderbird has a portable version for use on a thumbdrive.

Leo,

I recently had a HD failure. When I would sometimes get “bootable disk not found” on starting the PC, I should have known the HD was going.

1. I format the HD with FDISK formatting the C drive to be in FAT32. The C drive uses the entire master HD. I have an old PC that accepts the 98SE ESD floppy. I format the HD in the old PC and then install it on my primary PC when formatted.
2. Then I install XP Home and have XP convert the C drive to NTFS.
3. I then update Internet Explorer to the version I want.
4. I then install Norton firewall and anti-virus and download the updates.
5. I then run the Norton maintenance routines (registry repair and defragging the drives).
6. I then go to Microsoft Update and download only the “express” high priority updates.
7. I then hook up the slave drive that has all my data on it. All my data partitions are FAT32.
8. Next I run a full system anti-virus scan.
9. Microsoft Office XP Pro 2002 is then installed. (Word, Outlook, Excel).
10. I then install third party programs as needed.

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