Can I save device drivers from my computer to disk?

[Lumencraft (Matt)]

Hi all,

Well its definitely that time again. Time to reformat the hard drive.

The problem is when I reformat the drive on this computer (HP pavilion 540N) the fresh install of win XP does not give me a driver for sound. Also the driver that is listed on HPs website does NOT work. A friend said other people have had the same issue with this computer and was able to get a driver what works.

What I want to know is if I can save device drivers from my computer to a disk so I can reinstall them later?

 

[bedazzLED]

Hi vestureofblood.

There's two that come to mind.

First there is drivermagician from www.drivermagician.com. This one is a paid product but I'm pretty sure they have a lite version.

It downloads all the drivers into individual directories, which you can burn to a CD later.

The other one I have used before is DriverBackup! from http://sourceforge.net/projects/drvback. This one is an open-source utility so it's free and it works pretty much better than the rest.

Hope this helps.

 

[Lumencraft (Matt)]

Thanks Bedazzled

I clicked the second link you gave and winzip opened the file, but I am bit confused about what I am suppose to do with it from there?

 

[bedazzLED]

Hi vestureofblood.

Download the file, (it's a rar file) then open it with winzip.

Extract the entire [DrvBK2_1] folder to your local disk drive.

Then go into the folder and run the DrvBK.exe program.

When it runs, it comes up with some message saying 'No device drivers found...' but this will disappear after it finishes detecting all your drivers.

Once you get the list of drivers, simply press the 'Start backup' button. You then get to specify the destination directory on your local disk drive, then press 'Start Backup!' button and you're off!.

A minute later you have all your drivers nicely packed away ready to burn onto a CD for emergencies.

Hope this helps.

 

[Lumencraft (Matt)]

Ok, I seem to have hit another bump.

I was able to extract to my C drive and find the folder. When I open the folder a number of things come up but I do not see DrvBK.exe The only exe files I found are DriverBackup!exe.config and exe.manifest

 

[bedazzLED]

That's really strange.

When I click on the second link, I get a page with a green button that has 'Download Now! DrvBK2_1.rar 456.2Kb'. I press this and the file downloads. When I open it, there are the following files contained:


[English]
[Italiano]
Brazilian.xml
DriverBackup! 2.application
DriverBackup! 2.exe.config
DriverBackup! 2.exe.manifest
DriverBackup! 2.pdb
DriverBackup! 2.xml
DrvBK.exe
English.xml
Italiano.xml
LEEME.txt
LEGGIMI.txt
LEIAME.txt
License.html
pci.ids
README.txt
Spanish.xml
Turkish.xml

I simply run DrvBK.exe

There is an alternate download link on the download page, try this:

http://drvback.sourceforge.net

 

[Lite_me]

vestureofblood,

You must have "Hide extensions for known file types" checked under "Folder Options". You should find it in the "Control Panel". That's why you are not seeing the .exe extension after the DrvBK file.

If you don't wish to enable that option, you can just go ahead and dbl click the DrvBK file that you see. It will start the program.

 

[Lumencraft (Matt)]

Ok, I've got it now. The file was there Lite me was correct it just did not say that it was an executable file.

I was able to get the drivers to a CD, hopefully this will give me the missing link that was left out the last time I reformatted.

I appreciate you guys helping me I would not have been able to do this on my own. Thanks.

I'll get the XP disc later this week and let you know how it went.

 

[Lumencraft (Matt)]

Ok, my reistall is complete, and the computer is running much better now.

How do I reinstall the drivers I want from the disc?

 

[Robin24k]

You should be able to install them manually from the Device Manager in Computer Management (right-click on Computer).

Interestingly, I tried this program to grab a printer driver, and it showed every driver in my system except the one I wanted to backup. How nice...

 

[Lumencraft (Matt)]

I realize someone who is reformatting a hard drive should probly know this stuff but I dont understand what to do after I get into device manager. Could you be more specific?

I also have another unrelated question.

Would getting a graphics card help keep videos from stalling out on my computer.

I have what seems to me like sufficient ram and processor, but even when videos are fully buffered I still get some lag.

My computer is an HP 540N
I have 2 G processor
and 1 G ram

Would something like this do any good?

 

[Robin24k]

Right-click on the device without a driver and select Update driver.

 

[leeholaaho]

I realize someone who is reformatting a hard drive should probly know this stuff but I dont understand what to do after I get into device manager. Could you be more specific?

I also have another unrelated question.

Would getting a graphics card help keep videos from stalling out on my computer.

I have what seems to me like sufficient ram and processor, but even when videos are fully buffered I still get some lag.

My computer is an HP 540N
I have 2 G processor
and 1 G ram

Would something like this do any good?

Try this

http://www.deskshare.com/resources/articles/dmc_turnoffhardwareacceleration.aspx