Restoring files from Livedrive

[stefan-west1]

Hi all, I have my PC backed up to livedrive, purely because I feel it is safer than an external hard drive as that can still fail. The problem is however I can't backup a system image, instead I just get it to back up all 3 of my hard drives fully.

If one was to fail in the future and I replaced it and then downloaded and restored that hard rive from the backup would it still work as it does now, as in I wouldn't have to re install all the programs etc. Basically I know that all the program folders etc. will be there but obviously that doesn't mean I can use the programs unless they have been actually installed?

Sorry if i'm being vague here but hopefully you can kind of grasp what I'm asking, will the computer work exactly the same as it does now if i was to simply restore the entire hard drive from a backup?

 

[dale]

Assuming that you use Windows, you won't be able to run any of the software without installation.

So you are better off backing up documents (including images, music files, etc.) and software keys. You could also consider backing up software installation files as is (as opposed to the installed files).