There must be an Open Source or permanently free alternative, but I've never come across one. Probably worth a look, although I haven't tried it personally!
Driver Magician 3.4 offers a professional solution for device drivers backup, restoration and update in Windows operating system. It identifies all the hardware in the system, extracts their associated drivers from the hard disk and backs them up to a location of your choice. Then when you format and reinstall/upgrade your operating system, you can restore all the “saved” drivers
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/driver-magician-34

Nice idea in principle but it would be better to make a note of the hardware in your system, get the latest drivers from the manufacturer and put those on rather than the old ones.

this is a decent program, one of the only 'driver finding' programs thats actually worked for me, it also has the ability to back all of you installed drivers up into one exe, which is very handy if you tend to format a lot like i do, saves a lot of messing about. if you havnt already got it nows your chance :thumbsup:

Alternatives: http://www.sallonoroff.co.uk/blog/2009/02/device-drivers/


BTW, i'm still not convinced (http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=176694) about GiveAwayOfTheDay...

BTW, i'm still not convinced (http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=176694) about GiveAwayOfTheDay...

It's perfectly fine (http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=176694#19):thumbsup:

Alternatives: http://www.sallonoroff.co.uk/blog/2009/02/device-drivers/

BTW, i'm still not convinced (http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=176694) about GiveAwayOfTheDay...

I started looking at giveawayoftheday again after scsux gave it the thumbsup after 'extensive testing' :D (I tend to trust sccsux's judgment) - thanks for posting the 'alternatives' -I'd always rather use or recommend 'permanent' freebies or open source. :thumbsup:

It's perfectly fine (http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=176694#19):thumbsup:

Fair enough! :)

thanks for posting the 'alternatives' -I'd always rather use or recommend 'permanent' freebies or open source. :thumbsup:

no probs...