Having just had one CRASH and BURN, I am very particular as far as keeping notes on the Fresh Install of HDDs, OS, and Sonar with all its components.

We tend to forget how much time we spent trying to get the systems operating flawlessly and all the tweaks it took to get there.

For those that havent done it is a good idea to make a Word Doc of everything from Step 1 of installing the OS to operating without faults.

It just hit me a that a good thing to do once it is up and running is to take Screen Shots of all your settings for Snoar, your interfaces, and anything else you can think of and post them to an account like PhotoBucket in an Organized folder.

The next time you have to rebuild it will make things so much easier if and when it does happen.

+1
Also xtra copies of doc / txt  files for registration-serial numbers, website user/ passwords & info. 

And clone your hard drives.

Yes, image your hard drives and you can pretty much instantly go back to the original configuration if things go bad. I use Acronis True Image for this task.

Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com - SONAR X2 Power! - http://garrigus.com/?SonarX2Power
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar ProAudioTutor video tutorial series: http://garrigus.com/?ProAudioTutor
* Publisher of the DigiFreq free music technology newsletter: http://digifreq.com/?DigiFreq
* Publisher of the NewTechReview free consumer technology newsletter: http://newtechreview.com/?NewTechReview

I do it all.

I have been doing this for years. I take it further and take snapshots as well of things like the drives and folder hierarchy, VST plugins folder directories etc. That way if and when you do have to do a complete rebuild you will have some sot of reference as to how things were laid out.

It can be very difficult to remember how you had laid things out and also what tweaking steps you made to get everything working smoothly.

I also print a lot of stuff out and put it all in a manila folder titled Computer Rebuild Info. I print out all plugin passwords or unlock codes etc. This is in case you cannot even get into your computer at all and don't have access to that very important info.

Another thing I do is I have created a Computer Rebuild folder on my C drive. Whenever I install a new plugin or program or anything I make a copy of it inside this folder. I back this folder up periodically from time to time. I may install the plug in or  software from the file on my desktop but I know there is a copy of it now inside that rebuild folder. That way if you also have to rebuild you have got all this software in one place and it makes it easier. I put any updates into this folder as well. And remove previous or earlier versions so only the correct up to date versions are backed up in there.

Cloning your C drive is a great thing to do. Buy a spare drive and Acronis True Image. There is an option in there where you can connect the new drive to a spare connection and make a complete clone of your existing drive in real time. Pull it out and put it away. As you update your setup re clone this from time to time. I have restored a complete system because at one time my C drive started to make a bad sound and it was on the way out. It worked perfectly and saved a huge amount of time. I only had to reauthorise two plugins out of everything on that drive.

Fortunately I have not had to do a rebuild in a very long time. 

Windows 8 introduces far better backup software away from msbackup.Not sure third party is needed any more.

I do it all, too. I use Excel, Screen Hunter and Acronis True Image Home.

I use per project audio folders.






Just saying. :-)

Quick Question: When I went hunting for Acronis True Image, some reviewers said that like many things, the newer versions were not as good, and some said not even worth buying. I held off on it. So...what version do most of you have and/or approve or disapprove of?