Upgrade Questions

[opsmonkey]

Im about to embark on updating my PC..

Im looking at buying an internal 1TB drive, my current one is 250GB, and have just upgraded my memory to 4GB.. My current processor is a Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.20Ghz..

I will be upgrading my OS from Win XP 32B to Win XP 64B..

My main question is..

Is there any way i can backup all the programs i have installed to an external harddrive..? It would be a right pain in the ar5e to have to reinstall everything from scratch.. inc serial numbers etc..

Secondly.. Is my processor fast enough..? i dont play games on my PC and tend to use it to surf the net, stream music / movies to my ps3.. The software i tend to use the most is:

Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro etc..
Microsoft Office
Slysoft products

Thanks

[caveman_nige]

you will have to reinstall all/most apps mate as they do not just run out of the install directory, most propogate stacks of dll files into the windows and windows system folders as well as the registry entries they make...

I keep all my stuff on a file store which has 2x1tb drives (can take 2x1.5tb) mirrored... it attaches as a network drive and also an printer server and an ftp server accessible from the net. You have back up software with this as well which allows you to schdedule either full or incremental back ups.
2-Bay Network Storage Enclosure - DNS-323 by D-Link

I knocked mine together for ?220.

Its just an option as a safe raided backup store where you can get at the files from all the puters you have instaed of having just one hdd in a PC which you need to have switched on 24/7 for file access etc (not all that safe).

Your processor is plenty fast enough to do what you do and much more... With so much and ram and 64bit system you will be fine for years...

Hope this helps..

[opsmonkey]

excellent mate.. thanks for that.. one final question though, is there anyway to back up all the saved passwords from Firefox..? I have so many forums and websites which i use, from here at DK to forums such as refereeing and work related.. I know how to export bookmarks but does this feature extend to passwords..?

Cheers

[caveman_nige]

well its supposed to be a secure part of the application but firefox which is has the most holes (although patched more often/sooner) should be doable

you might wanna check this app out, its freeware
MozBackup - Backup tool for Firefox and Thunderbird

Backup by Hand (aka the hard way)
Last but not least, you could backup your Firefox by hand. What you want to do is make a copy of your Firefox profile folder. Depending on your operating system it might be in different locations.
Might want to check this page at MozillaZine for more information about where the profile folder is for your computer.

[opsmonkey]

cheers for all the help KV.. last thing is without opening my tower can you see from the below info what connection my HDD is..?

on System Info its listed as 'Interface IDE SATA'

i thought it was either or..?

heres a screen shot from System Ifo

[caveman_nige]

its a sata drive mate with sata connectors not ide..

[opsmonkey]

thanks mate your a star..

already cocked up this month by buying a new DVD writer.. bought a SATA one when my cable was IDE ATA..