Windoze Format – Paradise Lost!

So I love to install programs and then uninstall them and do a lot of masti with my laptop! The end result – some many GBs of space gets cluttered with some shit data (which I can never locate and delete manually) which ends up clogging my disk space… let it also be known that I also love the System Restore feature of Windoze…. Use your imagination!

I decided to take the bold step of formatting my C partition and re-install all the programs in order to free up the space.

It is said, that such an experience leads one towards Windoze Enlightenment.
With such noble intentions, I embarked on this journey – a place I have never explored before!

I decided to bone up on the background research – searched for videos on YouTube, where to my utter dismay I even saw a video where a 14 – 15 year old kid do this.
So I back-up all my data on my trusty external hard disk.

Thinking that I was not to be left behind, I sat down on Saturday to do the deed.

11:00 AM – I begin. Am all clenched up in all kinds of places. Worry can do that to ya!

1.30 PM – The C partition has been formatted, and Windoze XP has been installed. This begins my entry into the world of ‘searching for Drivers’.

6:00 PM – Have downloaded all the Drivers. Thanks to Bit Torrent and all the seeders out there! God Bless You! (If I have paid good money to buy a branded Laptop, why doesn’t the compay also provide a disk with the drivers? Beats Me!)

8:00 PM – Have installed the drivers. My screen resolution has been restored! And I have audio! Have also updated my Windoze software! Yay!

9:00 PM – Discover that when I launch my Outlook Express, it doesn’t behave like a fresh install and begins to look for some data files! In a mad rush, I join my external hard disk to the lappy and then do something which doesn’t work…end result, my outlook has got 2 Personal Folders and all hell has broken loose!

11:00 PM – Having re-installed Office 2007 and still discovered that this is not working, I decide to go to sleep.

Saturday has now transitioned to Sunday…

12:00 AM – Tossing and turning, I suddenly realize that there is a file in my other partitions called MSO Cache where some data has been stored…so again with noble intentions I get up and begin the process again. This time, I am going to format all partitions. I never liked partitions anyways. So I get to it.

3:30 AM – Windoze has been installed. Drivers have been installed. Office has been installed and now behaves like a fresh install. I am thrilled.

4:00 AM – Now is the time to retrieve my backed up files. I begin with Outlook. Some files get imported properly. Inbox doesn’t. All my correspondence data is in that file. To my utter dismay, the files have gotten corrupted in the prior import processes! I am not so thrilled anymore!

5:30 AM – Physically and mentally exhausted, I stumble to my bed and sleep.

9:00 AM – Call from a friend about something. I listen. Fall off to sleep right after.

10:30 AM – Insistent ringing of doorbell – the woman who comes to take the trash. After seeing my haggard state, she apologizes profusely. But it is of no use. I am now awake.

During The Day: I install all the programs and generally relax. Also have a reading to do for a regular client. Day passes without incident. Am also searching for freeware files which can repair the .pst files. There are no freewares. So I download a trial version of something. I don’t mind paying some $$s if it works. The software tells me that only 5 e-mails per folder will be retrieved. For the rest, I will have to buy. OK. But the software doesn’t show me the e-mails that it has supposedly retrieved. How do I trust it? I abandon all hope.
Perhaps, it is a sign. I am supposed to leave it all behind….who knows!

END RESULT AT THE END OF ALL THIS BS:

After installing all my programs etc. I do some quick calculations on the handy Windoze calculator. I have managed to retrieve some 5 GBs of free space on my disk!
At least, I got something right!

Anyone out there who can retrieve .pst files for me, get in touch. I will pay!

Otherwise, I shall carry these relic files with me forever to remind me that sometimes, one needs to take backup of backup as well…