Reinstalling OS, reg question.

[Eaglestrike]

I'm still using Win7 RC and I'm switching to the full Win7 install real soon, whenever I can confirm I'm not going to fuck things up and waste a lot of time.

I'm currently using an internal and external HD, I keep most standalone things on the external, basically everything I ever download. I have WoW installed on the internal, but copied it over to the external. How should I be going about making it so I have as little WoW "downtime" as possible?

1) Copy WoW and a copy of my current registry section on WoW back to my internal after install.
2) Install basic WoW back on my internal for the registry and then copy/paste my full WoW folder onto it and hope that works as neatly as I want it to.
3) Keep WoW on the external and edit registry to be aware of it.

Are there any registry issues I should be aware of? Currently the only thing I can find in the registry acts as if WoW is installed in my program files/WoW folder, but it is technically in Program Files (x86), does registry not distinguish between that difference? Also checking to confirm, there are two versions of WoW in registry, one in each, but the one in x86 seems to be an old WoW PTR install...

Also, registry has be a bit confused, as all my software seems to be installed in a "Wow6432Node" folder in it. What does Wow stand for in that?

Tl:dr? - I want to "clear" my registry to not have inconsistencies or anything that could be a problem after a while, but want to minimize the amount of patches/downloads I need to do for WoW, what's my best option?

[Isiolia]

I don't have any real experience with WoW...but you're seeing the two folders and the Wow6432Node because you're running 64-bit. The Program Files (x86) folder is where 32-bit apps are put, and the Wow6432Node folder is where 32-bit app registry entries go.

[Eaglestrike]

So that's the bit of registry I'd want to copy if I'm going to just copy/paste WoW back into my system.

[Isiolia]

I assume so, but again I have no experience with WoW. I know any of the things you mentioned will work with FFXI - when I swapped to 64-bit Windows 7, I did the "basic install then copy updated folder over top" method to migrate FFXI to it. I've done the copy registry entries method as well, but only in XP.

[viperlasson]

You know, the good thing about WoW is that it does not use the registry at all . So you can literally drag your World of Warcraft folder to an external, formal internal, drag it anywhere on your internal and it will run. All that it needs to run is what ever is inside the folder. Registry is so oldschool, microsoft should have gotten rid of it with 7 :\

[Sonomaa]

aion is friendly like this too and steam has this manual backup you can do to save all the game data then resync it with a new account

[Eaglestrike]

You know, the good thing about WoW is that it does not use the registry at all . So you can literally drag your World of Warcraft folder to an external, formal internal, drag it anywhere on your internal and it will run. All that it needs to run is what ever is inside the folder. Registry is so oldschool, microsoft should have gotten rid of it with 7 :\

Well, I already went and re-installed. I chose my option #3. Just imported the little registry bit I had from my previous one and then changed the path to where WoW is on my external. As far as I can tell...everything is working nicely.