Best Backup

[Berne]

Hi All,
Im sure you have been down this road, the dreaded pc crash for one reason or another you try all the usuals to find the problem and with no solutiion you decide to carry out a full-reinstall. This takes me around five days. What Id like to ask is...When I have my five days done and my pc is in top shape on the desktop can I take a snapshot of my present system config including all my loaded drivers and programes ( with current updates ) and save it as a file on my external backup drive? So the next time my pc crashes I only need to boot the essential windows XP install and then I could import the backup fiile to restore my pc to full spec again, possibly saving four days work?

If the above is possible...please provide full proceedures to follow or provide a url or link.

Regards,

Berne

 

[berry120]

This isn't really possible with XP's built in software, the closest that really comes to it is system restore but that's not 100% reliable and as far as I know you can't back up the image to elsewhere (if you can do it then it's going to be a nasty hack!)

I'd give DriveImage XML a shot, it's free for non-commercial use and will give you an image you can save wherever you like and restore at a later date.

EDIT: I can recommend Partimage for the linux people, and looking on the site it seems to say most windows file systems are now supported - it's been a while (thankfully) since I've had to use it though so someone else might want to confirm this. Definitely works like a dream for linux stuff though!

 

[Russel1]

You could always use Windows XP Backup .

 

[berry120]

I may be wrong, but don't you need to have access to a working XP partition before you restore any files using that method though? Given that it seems to make more sense to me just to take an image of the disk - mind you that might just be preference since it's been my preferred backup method for years

 

[Russel1]

I may be wrong, but don't you need to have access to a working XP partition before you restore any files using that method though? Given that it seems to make more sense to me just to take an image of the disk - mind you that might just be preference since it's been my preferred backup method for years

If you backup the entire drive you also create a recovery disk to restore WinXP.

 

[Berne]

Hi People,
Im greatful for this advice, I have also been reading the XML option and the XP backup option.
The XP backup looks simple and easy, but a google tells me one needs XP Pro my version is Home and Im not buying PRO or hacking to PRO.
So it looks like the XML programe....now can you let me know if its possible to take an image of my entire disc and save it to my external drive, without using a CD?

Berne

UPDATE...: I have come to the conclusion that using many ( not all ) free programes can be the wrong way to go if expecting your pc to run at its full potential, taking nothing from software engineers in newbiemode, the helpfiles can be very technical and not at all easy on the eye, secondly if you have issues with freebe programes tech assistance can be virtually non existant. Another common occurrance is the conflicts which I have experienced, causing my pc to crash more than once, a major headache! All in all, a lot of your time can be wasted. Therefore....from now on I intend using payware programes, subsequent to evaluation. Google 'Paragon Drive Suite' for all your drive and backup needs ( apart from your online storage needs that is ).