I have recently had a few people ask me how I do certain tasks. In this article I’ll show you . I am not saying this is the way you must do it, or even that is this the best way. Its just my way.
First of all, I generally try to avoid “nuke and paves” since software issues can be repaired most of the time. However, that doesn’t mean that you should always go down the repair route. You have to ask yourself “What are the chances of succeeding in a repair?” You can spend 5 hours trying to fix a certain problem and still have to format. Also, “How damaged is the operating system?”. I usually remove viruses manually but if a virus has critically damaged the operating system or just spread everywhere, its sometimes worth just formatting to get the best result for your client.
Once you have determined that a format and reload is going to be the best course of action, you need to tell your client about it. I usually say something like this:
“A format and reload is going to be the best solution. A “format” is the process of backing up your data such as your documents, pictures, emails and favorites. Then wiping the hard drive clean, reinstalling Windows and placing your data back on the hard drive. You wont lose any data, but we will need to reinstall applications like Microsoft Word from their original CDs. Do you still have those CDs?”
Its important to manage their expectations. Many clients believe that backing up and replacing their files means everything will be exactly as it was. It is also important to ask whether they have all of the CDs for their software because you may find that they are running some very specific software that cannot be replaced.
I then fill out a Backup Checklist and have the client sign it. The backup checklist contains a list of software and that they will probably want backed up (emails, favorites etc.). It also has an area for me to fill out license numbers but most importantly, it says down the bottom that if they dont tell me about any other information not mentioned on the list and it is lost, I cannot be held liable.
Once the clients machine is in my workshop, I clone their hard drive using Clonezillas Live CD (free). I prefer to clone the hard drive as a whole rather than creating a single image file of the hard drive. I do this so I can easily pick out any individual files that weren’t transfered if I need to and it keeps all of the hard drives information such as the partitions, bootloader etc. I know there is imaging software available that allows you to pick out individual files out of an image but this is the way I like to do it.
I will usually take their hard drive out of their machine and into one of my test bench machines to clone the hard drive since SATA to SATA it is faster than SATA to USB.
Cloning a hard drive can take a bit of time but I can almost guarantee that there will be a day when you will be very glad that you did.
Once I finish cloning their hard drive, I use Fabs Autobackup 3 (4,90€ or $6.80 USD per tech at time of writing) to backup the individual files that the client wanted such as My Documents, emails and favorites. It is one of the easiest ways to transfer a users data from one machine to another and at under $10, its a real bargain.
If the computer is old or using lesser known hardware or brands I will use Double Driver to backup their drivers since it may be difficult to obtain them again. I also use MailPassView to get the email usernames and passwords since Fabs Autobackup will only transfer the emails and settings, but not the password itself. I usually backup this information to my Lacie portable hard drive.
While I am essentially doing a double backup, making use of Clonezilla and Fabs Autobackup is a fairly simple process (just a few clicks) and well worth doing to avoid losing a clients data and possibly getting sued. While I do have a disclaimer form signed, it is far cheaper to avoid a lawsuit entirely.
I then install the operating system using one of my slipstreamed OS CDs. I know some computer technicians will partition the drive so that there is one partition for the operating system and one partition for applications and other files. I personally do this on my own machines but most clients either dont know how to or dont remember to install everything else on the other drive and end up filling up their smaller “operating system only” drive. Its a good idea in theory but not in practice when dealing with clients. I just leave their hard drive as one big partition.
Once the operating system is installed I then install the drivers. If the hardware is modern I will use the CD it came with excluding the video card drivers which I will always get the most recent version of. If the hardware is old I will usually goto the manufacturers site and get the most recent drivers. If they are no longer available, I use the drivers I backed up with Double Driver.
Once the system drivers have been installed, I do the Windows updates using my Offline Update CD which automates the process and prevents me from downloading a few hundred megabytes for every machine I need to update. Once that completes, I will goto the Windows Update site to install the few updates that have been released since I created my Offline Update CD.
I then install the clients software such as Microsoft Office and a few other things they need such as a Antivirus product and a PDF reader. I wrote a script using AutoIT to automate this process.
Once all of the software has been installed, I load up Fabs Autobackup again and use it to restore all of the information it backed up earlier. I then setup the odds and ends such as entering the email password and making sure that everything copied over correctly.
Once I have finished, I let the client know it is complete, invoice the client and take the PC off my bench ready for pickup.
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