Hi all, I am running Windows7 Pro and rF2 on an intel i5 PC with a 500GB Samsung SSD. I know nothing about computers and have a general question about installing Windows7 and rF2. No problems here with rF2, but more a general question about computers and SSDs. I reinstalled Windows7 and downloaded and installed rFactor2 build 982 last night. I started up rFactor2 and noticed all of my previous wheel settings, player.json, controller.json settings were saved from the previous build. I am wondering how rF2 managed to keep my old settings? I guess the windows7 reinstall does not wipe out the old rf2 information and data? The samsung SSD came with the "magician" software to help monitor the SSD and it has an option called "Secure erase." Should I have a go at using secure erase in the future if I want to do a clean install of windows7 and rf2 to remove my old settings? Thanks in advance!
It sounds like you just did a reinstall of Windows instead of a format and clean install. No need for a secure erase, just a simple format during the Win7 install.
cool! I found this at Tom's Hardware site: you should not full format a SSD, just Quick Format. Secure Erasing a SSD does not format it. It wipes it clean and restores it to fresh-out-of-the-box condition. Secure Erase your drive and then let Windows format it automatically during the installation process.
ATA Secure erase is a good thing to do for a fresh OS on a used drive. In other words it will return your drive to Factory performance .......a format won't. I use Parted Magic, great tool for this as it works on all drives. I can zero write my SSD, restore a trueimage of W7 , zero-write the drive again and restore my W8.1 image.... in 8 minutes. If you wanted to clean out rF2 you should do it proper. 1. rename rFactor2 to rFactor2OLD or something. 2. Install a fresh LITE build back to your original rFactor2 directory name. 3. Now do a full fresh player all settings 4. install all packages you want 5. Install any mods you want 6. Now you can add back your controller.ini files, setups realroad, skins Once you satisfied you have everything delete the old copy and dont forget to backup your credentials and If you make your own mods ........pkginfo.dat and pkginfo_bak.dat off C drive.