Installation CD's - Why keep them?
Installation CD's, we all have them usually in a drawer or stuffed in a closet somewhere. But what happens when you need those CD's again? If you're like most people you begin a long and frustrating search through stacks of installation CD's looking for the right one.
Installation CD's are important to keep around for a few reasons. Perhaps your wireless keyboard needs to be reinstalled, or perhaps your network adapter. And then you can't forget the all important restore CD's that came with your computer when you purchased it. Without those you would have to buy another copy of your operating system if you ever needed to reinstall it due to hard drive crash or other issues. There are many reasons to keep them around but the times they are required are rare and the drawer or closet space to keep them in can be an annoyance.
What's the solution?
There are a couple of other ways to ensure you can reinstall your hardware and software when needed without keeping all of those CD's.
- Most installation programs for hardware and software can be found on the manufacturers website. Check their support page for downloadable installation software.
- If you have an external drive with a few gigs to spare, create a folder on it called "Install CDs" or something similar. Make a new directory within Install CD's for each install disk you have. Name the directories something simple like "Lexmark 6100 Printer" or "Linksys WAP32". Then copy the CD's to their directories and you can throw out the CD's . When you need to reinstall something just go to the directory and run the setup.exe or install.exe file and it will run just like it would from the installation CD.
If you do not have an external drive we have them available from $50-$150 depending on the capacity.
