Driver Backup Software Options

[soundmaster80]

hi all, i love the project, however i have a question. i have had many pc's that i have worked on and some of them have had windows so messed up that re-install is the only means i have to get them going again. however, usually they never have their driver disks. i was wondering if there is freeware software to do reliable driver backup and, if so, could it be added or a plugin created. i feel this could be a huge help for everyone who uses this project. currently i use mydrivers 3.11, it works just beautiful. there was windriver expert 1.90, however it is no longer apparantly. any help would very much be appreciated, thank you

[soundmaster80]

i have been looking all night, and i found something called double driver. it seems to be very simple and to the point. i have included a link at the bottom. i have never tried to make a plugin for winpe but i would be more than willing to help in anyway possible. this would allow people to boot the cd and backup hard to find drivers to a usb drive, network drive, etc. again, i think this would really help people out, if it works

Double Driver (driver backup software)
http://boozet.xepher.net/
BooZet's Free Software


thank you for all your help in advance.

[REM]

i have been looking all night, and i found something called double driver. it seems to be very simple and to the point. i have included a link at the bottom. i have never tried to make a plugin for winpe but i would be more than willing to help in anyway possible. this would allow people to boot the cd and backup hard to find drivers to a usb drive, network drive, etc. again, i think this would really help people out, if it works

Double Driver (driver backup software)
http://boozet.xepher.net/
BooZet's Free Software


thank you for all your help in advance.

Here is a similar program: 2.45 mb.

http://freeware4u.com/shots/wdb/main.gif

http://freeware4u.com/modules/mydownloads/...ile.php?lid=172

"WinDriversBackup Personal Edition v1.0.9 (last freeware version)

is a free utility provided by JerMar Software Corp. specifically for backing up your Windows system driver files. Use of this software outside the scope of personal use does require the purchase of a software license. To review the software license Click Here.

WinDriversBackup can identify all of your Windows driver files and save them to a secure location in two simple mouse clicks.

Backing up your Windows driver files means they will be available to you the next time you need to reinstall the driver or the whole operating system. WinDriversBackup places the driver files in one organized location of your choosing.

WinDriversBackup is especially helpful in situations where you have a computer in your possession and it's internal components are unknown. WinDriversBackup can identify the hardware on the system and their associated drivers-then back them up to a specified location."

Simple and intuitive, but a useful Help file is also available."

This program is for personal use though

If you install it on a working client's machine for them to save their drivers, would you just be helping them use the program for their personal use? If so, that would forgo the plugin development.

The program that you located has no stipulations though, is smaller, and might be the best choice. I'm downloading it now to check it out.

[REM]

This program is for personal use though

Well, 86 this one. The license spells it out. Maybe someone might find it useful on your personal machine though...

Evaluation and Registration

This IS free software for personal, home use or by any educational institution. Personal use is defined as using the software on a computer installed in your place of residence or within the confines of an education institution. Under no circumstances may you use this software within an environment outside of your place residence or outside the confines of an education institution without purchasing a software license. It may not be used for any commercial gain. Subject to the terms of the Disclaimer of Warranty below, you are hereby licensed to use this software without charge for an indefinite amount of time. Use of this software within a business environment, outside of an individual's personal home or residence or an educational institution does require the purchase of a software license for continued use past 30 days. Contact JerMar Software Corporation for site licensing information.

[SteelTrepid]

This will be added to my long to-do list. Please continue to evalutate and share any experiences or opinions in the mean time. Any additional information would be greatly appreciated and help me a lot!!

[REM]

This will be added to my long to-do list.  Please continue to evalutate and share any experiences or opinions in the mean time.  Any additional information would be greatly appreciated and help me a lot!!

I just installed it, using Total Uninstall to grab all system changes. Holler if you need a copy. It's 293 lines.

I backed up my non-MS drivers. It had a problem with my SoundMax audio. It said that it could not find two files and then a file had an illegal path (too long?). I really think that SoundMax has some issues. I don't have speakers hooked up and installed just in case I ever decided to move them to this machine.

The driver collection (listing), both 3rd party and MS was almost instantaneous!

It looks really good and the author seems very receptive to suggestions and bug reports.

I'd like to learn about building a plugin that the Plugin Builder will not do. Can anyone point me to the best place to read up on what is, and is not necessary to build a plugin?

[soundmaster80]

thanks to you all for your replies. i have tried the windrivers backup with success. however, the double driver software i tried seems to be much more open to free use.

If you install it on a working client's machine for them to save their drivers, would you just be helping them use the program for their personal use? If so, that would forgo the plugin development.

no, the process i would like is this
1. person brings foobared computer to me
2. boot into ubcd4win
3. use [insert various driver backup software here ]
4. re-install and use previous drivers
5. person once again restored to happiness and peace returned to the land.

i just want a plugin for the ubcd4win so i can pull drivers from the system without having to boot the hard drive. again, any help i can provide with this, i'll be more than happy to give.

[Fargo]

Hello All!

This is my first post in this forum, so thank you for making this excellent "live CD"

Any news about the driver backup utility? Has it been added to UBCD4Win 3.0?

--------------
PS: Sorry for poping up this old topic, but I STF

[Fargo]

Ok, I found another driver backup freeware. It is called WinDriver Expert and can be downloaded from http://www.zhangduo.com/WinDriverExpert.zip. More about this program in the bottum of page http://www.zhangduo.com/driverbackup.html

Another interesting freeware is Unknown Device Identifier (http://www.zhangduo.com/udi.html)

[SteelTrepid]

I've found several issues with these types of software. While the idea of booting UBCD4Win and pulling drivers from a messed up system would be awesome, these titles do not have this type of "remote" capability. I tried a few of these programs over the summer and I really didn't get very good results.

The biggest issue though, is the fact that most of these suggestions are not freeware and have strange licenses. If we could find one that works ok on UBCD4Win and has a good license, maybe I could contact the author? It's worked for several tools on the project in the past. I contact them and ask for more features, most people take the time to implement the changes because they want the publicity the project can give their software.

[hilander999]

@Fargo

Unknown Devices has been in the project for a long time.



As for the "Driver Backup" software issue..... Just WAIT.

[Fargo]

I've found several issues with these types of software. While the idea of booting UBCD4Win and pulling drivers from a messed up system would be awesome, these titles do not have this type of "remote" capability. I tried a few of these programs over the summer and I really didn't get very good results.

I found this simple batch:

CODE

echo off
echo This driver backup batch file will back up the folders containing your
echo hardware drivers to a folder called driverback inside My Documents.
pause
%homedrive%
cd "%homepath%\my documents"
md driverback
cd driverback
xcopy %windir%\help /y
xcopy %windir%\inf /r /y
xcopy %windir%\system /r /y
xcopy %windir%\system32 /r /y
xcopy %windir%\system32\drivers /r /y
cd ..
attrib -h driverback
echo The folders are backed up. You should now copy the contents of the
echo driverback folder to a CD.
pause
cls

It can easily be modified to copy the files to a USB disk or network share. It needs to prompt the user for source and destination drives. The user then use the copied files to install device drivers after reinstalling Windows.

I can do the necessary modifications if you find this useful for UBCD4Win

This post has been edited by Fargo: Apr 27 2006, 12:33 PM

[hilander999]

@Fargo



Double Driver will be in 3.0 RC6. I would post the plugin now, but don't know if it will work with 2.6.
I can't spend time testing an outdated build, but we should have the next RC up in a day or two.


It's not the best piece of software, as there are a few bugs & it does not backup the .cat files,
but it seems to work OK within the project, so it will be included for the purpose of recovering drivers
from a non-bootable system.

PS:
The batch file isn't a bad idea but you also get a ton of stuff you don't need.
Thanks for posting it, I'm sure someone will find it usefull.

[Fargo]

Good news

Can Double Driver backup device drivers from "remote" Windows?

[SteelTrepid]

If it couldn't.....then hilander wouldn't have created a plugin for it. You'll see RC6 for 3.0 very soon so you'll have the chance to check it out and test it soon.