Question about proper install procedures.

Hi all.

I have built and installed the past 4 systems i have owned, not that its that hard, but everything always seems to work just fine and dandy and im pretty confident i know what i am doing as far as the hardware and Software install goes.

Yet over the years i have always used guides here and there for tips on which drivers to install first, when to reboot, when not to reboot, when to begin software, when to update ect to get the most effective and stable system possible.

Seeing how im about to be doing a clean reinstall (its just something i like doing after about 2 years) do any of you know of a guide you'd like to recomend for Windows 7 or the like by someone who's extra Pro

Thanks a bunch cheers

I wouldnt worry about it...really. First things I install are chipset drivers, then vga drivers, then NIC drivers. Once all that is in, its update time, and then software. Outside of chipset and GPU drivers should be first, there is no wrong way to eat a reese's..errr install.

Reboot whenever prompted.

I reimage my system at least once a month, more like once a week. Get in a habit of organized drive imaging and you will have a permanently freshly installed system all the time. It takes me under five minutes to nuke and reimage my operating system partition.

Drive imaging is great for when you set things just like you like them and then something comes along and messes with that.

A little something I just learned:

If you have multiple drives installed - remove all of them except for the drive you'll be installing windows on. Either that or disable them in the BIOS before hand. At the very least check to make sure the drive you will be installing windows to is set as 'drive 0' in BIOS.

If you have any encrypted drives - pull them/disable them before hand. I heard a wonderful story about a windows installation that saw the encrypted drives as RAW file-types and formatted them without asking.

Yes, even if taking a complete image to another computer, always physically disconnect all hard drives except for the one Windows is on, boot in once and only then start connecting the other hard drives.

It should ask before formatting, this recovered partitions Windows thought were RAW for me:
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=669986