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I have never done a clean install on my Prestige. I'm not having any problems, but it was recommended that it be done periodically for optimum performance. I would like to obtain step by step instructions (key phrase: step by step) on how to perform a clean install.
Thanks, John

John; If you are not having any problems I personally would not do a clean install, not that anything bad will happen, but I'm just a believer in the saying " if its not broke, dont try to fix it" That said, there are many reasons to do a clean install once in awhile.

First Look through your projects especially the one you would normally save as an archive file. You will want to back up and save to tape or disc, (if you have disc transfer), all your video clips that you dont want to lose. Dont forget to also look in your audio screen for audio samples you sill want to save. Once you do the clean install, it will erase your entire hard drive of everything.
Place your software CD that has your Operating system on it into your DVD tray
Go into system settings and click Install Product. After a few minutes a list of all your software will be displayed.
Find the O.S. you will be installing and click Activate.
A dialog box will appear asking you if you want to install and save all your project data. Click NO
Another box will appear and ask you if you want to install the O.S. and you will lose all your data. Click Yes.
Your Prestige will do its thing and then at some point ask you to remove the O.S. CD.. Remove it and click OK.
When your system boots up again you will have done your clean install.

Then you want to put your All Software CD into the dvd drive. NOt the one with the O.S. but the one that has all your optional software. Go into system settings again, click install product, and after a few minutes The list of software will appear. You want to click activate, to activate all the software you purchased that you have a license for. Be sure to activate all of them. What you dont activate wont work later.

Then you should be good to go.

Agreed, while I do a ful install fairly regularly between major projects it's because of past issues that I am trying to avoid.

If you are not having any issues, I would suggest leaving well enough alone.

Thanks Guys,
I'm not a fool. I also adhere to the belief "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." But, if the need should arise, I now know how to do it. Again, thanks for your help.
John

John
A wise decision I think.

I do occasionally have a complete re-install, but usually when I’m having unexplained or none characteristic issues with the Solitaire.

However, I have not done a complete re-install for some time now, there always seems to be at least one project I have live in the system. I have updated from SE V6 through SE V7 and now SE V8, which must mean I have been two years without a clean install and so far, touch wood, it all seems to be working fine.

Now there’s tempting fate, the infamous kiss of death statement.

Ian

Just to add my 2 cents, I like to do a full install whenever I can. I believe that some issues require that treatment to correct (corrupt video/audio frames, corrupt file allocation issues, etc.). However, the likelihood of encountering those issues is greatly diminished if you input pristine a/v (no time code breaks, no loss of signal, etc.). So, I guess if you're not having problems, you must be doing everything right. Still, if you come to a point where you can afford to delete all your projects, I would still recommend the full install. It might not help, but I can't see how it'll hurt and who knows what you may prevent.
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!"

When you work with 5 projects on 5 removable hard disc drives, the Prestige's internal backup system is not really an option. In the end the backup option wasn't used at all.

I have had 3 hard disc failures during the recent years - all Samsung discs btw. The first one was replaced, the other two were connected to a PC and repaired with grc.com's Spinrite. This is a program that boots up from a floppy disc, tries to read defect sectors on the hard disc as hard as it can and re-writes them again. The PC's BIOS complained because one of the two last hdds had a bad S.M.A.R.T health status - which is obviously ignored by the Prestige.

The issue of all 3 hdds was that the Prestige always needed longer and longer to boot up. In certain situations, SE hung or returned to the storyboard. The latter HDD eventually failed booting up completely (Prestige got stuck with a black screen), but could be rescued and saved to DV tape after a Spinrite treatment

Trying to restore the data on disc level is the only chance to get your project back. The other way round would be to restore the video and audio data to your PC (in AVI format for example), but it fails, because the available (Windows) programs do not know the format how SE stores the important videos on the disc. So the chance that they find something is null, nil, nada. Although, some few are able to discover MPEG files and would be able to restore your last Arabesk project.

~~~

A full SE install doesn't harm and is much easier than to re-install Windoze.