Server Version question

[dday_0612]

Take your time Sorontar, I appreciate your work and efforts and can wait. Thanks for working on it.

[Sp!at]

My hardrive died over the weekend and I'm loading back in programs. Is it worth me hunting around for an older version of MineCraft or is the server likely to be updated in the next day or two. I should be able to get an old 1.5 version later today if server upgrade is delayed.

[Sorontar]

Presume that it will be a few days before we upgrade. We are in the middle of testing the mods, but there is no guarantee that we will be upgrading. I don't expect to be upgrading until at least Thursday or Friday (if all is well), but it could be longer than that.

[Sp!at]

Thanks Sorontar. I've managed to rescue a large portion of my User directory so will be able to get 1.5 out of that. My god it's so much fun re-installing everything again. I wish I got to do this more often - not!

[Sorontar]

I know the feeling. I am waiting until this server update is finished so I can
1) backup my pc
2) reformat the drive
3) reinstall ubuntu with Win7
4) update everything
4) get back to playing Minecraft and hopefully TF2 (so Obsi will have no doubts that she's the gamer in the house)

That should only take about as long as Duke Nukem being released for Linux.

Sorontar

[BlackD]

Originally Posted by Sp!at

Thanks Sorontar. I've managed to rescue a large portion of my User directory so will be able to get 1.5 out of that. My god it's so much fun re-installing everything again. I wish I got to do this more often - not!

I have had a shocker of a month for reinstalls.

1. About halfway through last month I did my "quarterly" reinstall. I like to keep the system fresh so reinstall a few times a year from scratch.

2. A week later, my gmail was hacked. I was 99% certain it was nothing to do with my own PC but rather a case of password re-use (years ago, I used to make the mistake of signing up for sites with the same password as the email account I was signing up with - bad habit), however just to be certain I wasn't keylogged or root-kitted (even after taking the appropriate precautions) I felt the best way to proceed was replace the system drive and reinstall again.

3. A week after that, my new replacement drive that I'd just purchased - a 60 GB Kingston SSD - died completely. (It's so dead it's not funny - I've since even tried plugging it into an external enclosure and connecting it via e-Sata, but nada). So I bought a new Corsair 80 GB SSD and reinstalled again.

4. A week after that (this past weekend), I started having keyboard issues. My keyboard would randomly connect and disconnect (making the windows USB connection/disconnection sounds), and locking up the system for a few seconds each time it did it. Hoping it was a faulty keyboard I replaced the keyboard and it kept happening. At this stage I was faced with either a) faulty drivers, or b) faulty USB connector/chipset/mobo (ie - another hardware fault, and this is a brand new GA-P67-UD7-B3 motherboard). I reinstalled the Logitech drivers but it kept occurring so - REINSTALLED WINDOWS AGAIN. Fixed the problem.

(Although I've since determined the issue in 4 was actually faulty Wacom tablet drivers - 32 bit Vista drivers that don't work too well in 64-bit Windows 7 ).

So.. the moral of the story is.. I've become quite proficient at rapidly reinstalling stuff.

EDIT: I should add, I don't usually have this much bad luck with PCs. Been a techie for nigh on 15 years now. It was just a comedy of unrelated issues in a small space of time. I figure now I must have at least 12 months of smooth sailing ahead of me.

[DaedalusAlpha]

Do you have some sort of installation package you run or do you simply just install everything piece by piece?

I have somewhat bad experiences by reinstalling windows often. In my opinion, as long as it works there is no reason to reinstall it as it might just as well introduce some bug you didn't have before.

[BlackD]

I used to have bad experiences when installing Windows XP or the like - general inconsistencies between installs such as driver detection and automatic installation (or lack thereof), etc. But I haven't had any such issues with Vista or Windows 7.

When I reinstall, I just delete the partitions, run install and let it create them anew as required, then follow a pretty strict order for installing software:
1) Virtual CloneDrive. Whenever I get new drivers on CDs or anything, I rip the CD to an ISO so I can't lose it. VCD is a freaking fantastic virtual disk loader. Surpasses almost everything else out there (Daemon Tools, etc)
2) Drivers (if necessary - usually not, but my current mobo has proprietary network drivers so I need to install).
3) Antivirus. (When I'm cheap, MS Security Essentials - which is pretty much a top-rate anti malware package at present. Although when I remember to renew my license, I run Kaspersky Internet Security - as at present).
4) Windows Updates!! (this is the longest part.. the updating.. and restarting.. and updating.. and restarting.. and.. etc)
5) Nvidia drivers, and misc software (7zip, VLC, etc).

All up, that takes around 45-50 minutes on my current PC, from booting the setup DVD until completion and I'm loading Steam to play my games.

As for why I do it - well, you're right. Usually as long as nothing's wrong I don't reinstall all the time. I just had a bad month of different unrelated issues. However I do do the 3-monthly install and the reason for that is just for cleanliness of the system.

As much as I hate this term, I'm what would be considered a "power user", like many of us here. A few weeks ago, for instance, I needed some new video editing software. I had several options, and I had to install and try 5 different packages before I decided on the one I wanted with the right balance of functionality and usability.

Now - in most cases, those other four (which I'm never going to use again) I have uninstalled but nevertheless they leave remnants on the system. Whether it be registry entries, folders, some third-party required software that was installed along with the package and not uninstalled on removal of the main package (examples, OpenAL gets installed along with many games, video codecs get installed along with video editing software, fonts get installed along with office suites, etc, and in most cases they don't get removed - these are just examples I'm sure you can think of others).

Multiply this out by all the different projects I work on in a week, a month, a quarter, etc. That's why I reinstall. To get rid of all that crap. I'm aware there are programs which help keep track of what's installed along with software, specifically for this one bugbear, but that's not all it's about. It's just one aspect of my reasoning.

[DaedalusAlpha]

What about windows backup points? couldn't you use that? I have never used them and don't really know how they work, do they only consider registry items or do they track files as well?

[Reoh]

I used to find Formatting my HDD and doing a clean reinstall every year(ish) was really great for my PC Health. There's nothing like a clean install to get your PC purring instead of stumbling along with the bloatware that's worked its way onto my system.

Keep in mind you can probably run multipe versions of Minecraft in different folders with their own shortcuts. Also handy for installing modded and unmodded versions of minecraft.