Back up your harddrive including the OS

[rajiv.b]

I want to back up my hard drive(including the xp installation) on a cd/cds such that i could reload it whenever i like to install the os from scratch. I have heard about norton ghost. has anyone done it .?

It would be like someone installs the os and then the drivers and the required softwares and defragment the drive and make a backup .now whenever he need to install a fresh ,what he has to do is just copy the material from the cd to the harddrive and restart the machine.

 

[yrana2002]

Yes, well, Norton Ghost is indeed said to be good.

But i guess for your case, Acronis True Image will be the best choice. It can, as you said, create a backup of the whole system or of individual partitions on external media or even online storage facility.

Both of these softwares are paid softwares & available only for a few days trial period.

I would not recommend copying your system onto CDs. It would take 10-15 of them & other problems like handling may arise.


Savvy

 

[rajiv.b]

someone pls explain how to use norton ghost. are the back up cds made by ghost bootable. is it easy to use ...... a whole question galore

 

[dIgItaL_BrAt]

Acronis True Image is indeed a better choice,but i tend to disagree with yrana2002,it won't require 10-15 CD's just to backup his XP installation.
My 10 GB XP partition with all the drivers and software,amount to just 953 MB using the default compression mode in TI.

 

[go4saket]

I have my own small way of backing up my HDD along with the OS without any of the above softwares.

I have multiple partitions in my HDD. What I have done is installed Win XP in C: and Win 2K in D:. Now if I want to take the backup of Win XP along with all data and installed softwares, I just start my computer in Win 2K and with the help of WinRAR, take a complete backup of C: and the same goes with Win 2K.

Later whenever I feel there is a any kind of a problem with the OS or my system is getting slow, I again start my other OS and quick format the drive in which I have the faulty OS. Then all I have to do is unzip the file that I created with WinRAR and I am done.

Do remember to take the backup of all system and hidden files also or else all your efforts will be a waste. You can ofcourse drop the page files created by the OS while backingup your OS as your OS will create it again. It would be a good idea have atleast three partitions in your HDD, two for two OS and the third for all your data. There is no hard and fast rule as to which OS you need to install. You can install any OS and even the same OS twice. Whenever you want to try any new software, first try it with your secondary OS and if satisfied, go for the main one. This will help you in keeping your main OS clean and will avoid regular restoring process.

The most important advantage that you can reep out of this is that you can keep using any Trail or Demo version softwares for ever and ever, without paying a single paise for it. Now, if you want to know how, PM me as I cant discuss that here...

I hope this will solve your purpose.

 

[ashfame]

Pl tell me full details how u backup ur OS partition in just 935MB.
I regular face the problem of reinstalling OS b'coz my comp. slow down after some time.
Pl help

Acronis True Image is indeed a better choice,but i tend to disagree with yrana2002,it won't require 10-15 CD's just to backup his XP installation.
My 10 GB XP partition with all the drivers and software,amount to just 953 MB using the default compression mode in TI.

 

[dIgItaL_BrAt]

This guide will help you out.

 

[ashfame]

thanks pal

This guide will help you out.

i am downloading it.
Will try.
Thanks once again if it works for me. 8)

 

[go4saket]

Acronis True Image is indeed a better choice,but i tend to disagree with yrana2002,it won't require 10-15 CD's just to backup his XP installation.
My 10 GB XP partition with all the drivers and software,amount to just 953 MB using the default compression mode in TI.

Its not about 10 GB partition... How much is the used space in that...

 

[dIgItaL_BrAt]

on the higher side of 3 GB.

 

[kalpik]

+1 for acronis true image..

 

[go4saket]

I have about 4.5 GB data which I compressed to about 1.1 GB with my formula...

 

[digiFriend]

both norton GHOST and TRUEIMAGE are paid version. i have been using DriveImage XML (which is freeware ) without any problem. i have restore my root partition more than 20 times by DriveImage XML.