by arizonachris » Sun Jul 06, 2014 2:03 am
Making a backup is easy. RSTools has a built in backup feature, for one thing. I just copy-and-paste my "steamapps" folder, along with my Documents folder, onto a second internal hard drive. I make a new "copy" when I've added more "stuff" that I've downloaded/ installed to TS, or after I've installed a new game. I don't use Windows Backup, nor the Steam Backup; haven't had good success with either. There are other programs that make backups, like Acronis True Image, but so far my simple way works OK for me.
If you're not good with the inner workings of a PC, or have a laptop, just get an external USB drive. 500Gb is $50 or less. Some come with copy software, it's up to you, what works and is easy for you to use. If you are building your route in TS, then all you should need to backup is the Railworks folder, and any other third party assets you are using. I copy the entire "steamapps" folder because I have many other games installed. And my Documents is where I keep a copy of third party "stuff" for TS, so that's why it gets copied.
File recovery is possible IF all that has been lost/ erased is the file's name in the drive's index/ file allocation table (which is basically what Windows Uninstall does). Do a search over at "Majorgeeks.com" for recovery software. But if your reinstall of Steam overwrote any of the files that may have still been there, they are lost for good. And sometimes Windows just doesn't like the backup method you used, but Explorer will "see" the files and let you paste them into your new work.
System Recovery, as conrail1 asked about, is usually done with a recovery disk that is either provided by the maker of the PC/ laptop or made thru Windows by you for your system. (this is different from System Restore) And that is hit-and-miss as far as recovering lost files. I did manage to recover 90% of a friend's hard drive after a nasty virus attack a few years back using an HP Recovery disk.
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