I am writing for someone else. She is using a DELL DIMENSION 3000. From her description of her issues, it sounds like a number of gremlins have moved in to stay. I offered to reload the OS in order to start with a fresh machine. Then I thought I would use CTM to restore the system to the point of installation. I have the system set to NOT take snaps on purpose. In that way I can revert to a clean system. SYSTEM RESTORE takes snaps so the roll back increments are a few days apart. Her concern is the email attachments sent to her by family in YAHOO. Photos, stories, ect. If I restore back to installation will she lose all that data? Or is the fact that it is stored at YAHOO means it is protected and can be retreived from YAHOO at a later time? How would that be done? I think the existing hdd is OK. I was thinking of installing it in my 4400. Then set that up for the remaining programs and printers she needs. I have done that many times within DELL, different models, different vintages. Would using SR be a viable choice? Maybe go back a month or so? If the first hdd does not play well with the 4400, I can reinstall the original back into the 4400 and st that up. Of course her YAHOO data WILL NOT be accessable since this is a different machine and that data is NOT on the hdd nor in any of her folders. Advice please. reeltoreelguy@gmail.com
Windows system restore works for specific files (drivers, executables, registry…).
CTM restores ALL the data, full, all the files, folders, all the system. If you did not take a snapshot, you can’t get that data.
System Restore and CTM are not compatible. If you’re using CTM, you should turn off System Restore.