Backing Up Delphi Install

[Al C 0]

I installed the community edition recently and have only installed a couple additional components so far. Before adding more I was curious about your strategies for backing up your installs. I find it useful to wipe my hard drive and reinstall Windows every year or two. I would not look forward to reinstalling not only Delphi but also the added components (and custom settings). 
 

The last time I had Delphi (Delphi 2005) I did everything in a virtual machine, which I backed up as a single file. I’m just curious whether other ways exist now, 15 years later.

[David Heffernan 2353]

4 minutes ago, Al C said:

I was curious about your strategies for backing up your installs.

I don't. I skip that step where you reinstall Windows!

[mvanrijnen 123]

In recent versions there is a "migration tool" which also can be used for backup/restore actions.

It covers not all things needed for a full backup of you delphi installation. 

You still have to backup files installed by installers (delphi, 3thparty components) etc. 

 

[Guest]

The Migration tool covers only the settings, and in many cases, it is chaotic!

 

I will advise you to use a tool that backs up the entire disk or partition you use with your IDE.

 

I remember that this was very common using such backup tools (image) for partitions / disk, so you could archive them on a DVD or another HD, and then just ask to restore it to the original disk, when necessary , overwriting the partition there!

 

It's faster, and everything goes back to the way it was before!

 

So, just prepare your MSWindows as you want it to always be in a next restoration, and save it with the desired tool to create the disk / partition image!

Remembering that MSWindows 10, has the option to restore your entire system without deleting your personal files, however, the Registry will be recreated, and will not help you in the case of installed software, such as RAD Studio, MSOffice...

 

use the Google and search for "professional backup of partitions" or "image disk" etc... 

 

for example: https://www.ubackup.com/company.html   --  https://www.ubackup.com/professional.html

Edited December 17, 2020 by Guest

[Der schöne Günther 316]

I'm happy with different Delphi installations living in their virtual machines (Hyper-V). That also allows me to transfer the exact same Delphi installation to different PCs with no need to activate again.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Der schöne Günther said:

I'm happy with different Delphi installations living in their virtual machines (Hyper-V). That also allows me to transfer the exact same Delphi installation to different PCs with no need to activate again.

if crash disk ... all goes to garbage!

good

[Der schöne Günther 316]

Not a problem, because as I said, I have the VM on several computers. Backups can be made with 2 mouse clicks.

[Rollo62 539]

8 hours ago, emailx45 said:

if crash disk ... all goes to garbage!

Virtual machines are the ultimative weapon against any kinds of crashes, even those from complete hardware.

Get a new hardware and you're back again, even in old WinXP, Win7, whatever you like.

 

[Lars Fosdal 1793]

Since I have a limited set of third party libs and plugins, my backup is to document the installation procedure.

It doesn't take very long, IMO.  The only thing that is somewhat annoying is the settings migration, but I have a registry file I keep handy to restore my preferred IDE settings.

[Guest]

Registry file backup is good for software key-root, like: HCU...\Embarcadero.

unfortunatelly, it's not enought for all "key" sprawled on it, mainly CLSID keys and dependences

.but is better than nothing!