Installation on second Hard Drive...

So I installed all of my games, The Sims 3 and expansions 1-6, on a second hard drive. It is internal. Recently I had to wipe my first hard drive. All of the files for all of my sims files were untouched. (well not my save games but whatever I am passed getting over that.) So all of my sims programs files were untouched. I tried to start up the game and it said please reinstall the base game. I did, and now it just isn't working. I tried your ultimate fix and i can get into the game, but it only thinks the base game is installed. I am really lazy and don't feel like reinstalling all of the games. Is reinstalling everything going to be the only way, or am I missing something. I would rather find out how to fix this so the next time I have to reformat my first drive, I will not have to reinstall all the sims games. I hope this made sense. Also... :newfag:

Hello,

Yes, I'm afraid you'll have to reinstall everything, since your PC doesn't "recognize" the game any more. You just have the (previously) installed files sitting there, but they're just some files.
In order to prevent this issue next time, yes, you can try to make a Registry backup, but I doubt it would make your game run without any problems next time.

Thanks guys (: Only 4 more expansions to install, haha!
If I backed up my entire PC after installing these again, I could just use that backup, right? Next time I have to wipe?

Hello,

No, each time you reinstall Windows, your PC will "forget" it has The Sims 3 installed. Because in fact it isn't installed on your new Windows, they are just a bunch of leftover files.
You can try to get the game running, by making a copy of the The Sims 3 Registry values, but like I said: I doubt that would make your game run 100% smoothly.

Why would you need to format your PC that often anyway?
Good luck!

Hi,

I mean when I reinstall, could I do it from the backup I made after installing the games. That wouldn't keep everything running smoothly? The registry files would be in the backup wouldn't they?

And I *shouldn't* have to, but I tend to mess windows up a lot.

Thanks!

Hello,

What exactly do you do, that you need to reinstall your Windows for it to become normal again?
What kind of backup did you create? Normal backups don't include the Registry, I think.

Hi,

Well this past time, I installed MS-DOS 6.2 over it... And I am installing the last expansions, is there a type of backup that does involve the registry? or Restore Point?

Thanks!

Hello,

Restore Points are only for your currently installed Windows and used when a specific program or file messed up your PC. That was you can go back to a moment that your PC was still working correctly.
You can easily backup the Registry manually.