Backup Vista Instalation

[lopdog]

Hi!

Quite often I do a complete reinstall of Vista Ultimate x64, but I´m getting tired of reinstalling all my drivers and programs. How can I easily create a backup of my hard drive (on DVD) just after installing everything? Could I use the backup program that comes with Vista? I don´t care about documents, they can easily be moved to another drive, but as I sad I´d like not to have to reinstall all my programs and drivers.

 

[kimsland]

I believe you are wanting to image your drive (well that's what I do)

You can use many tools online for "HardDrive Imaging" (searching Google)
But I use Ghost (it may not be the best one, but it works, and that's all I care about)

 

[lopdog]

Ghost seems to be a great program, I think I´ll give it a try. Just in case, do you know if the Vista Ultimate built-in backup (the "Complete" option) would do the same job? Thank you

 

[kimsland]

I'm not aware of that.

But I'd say it's highly likely not the same as imaging your entire drive to a bootable DVD disc (or even another harddrive)

Imaging is the way to go, for speedier recovery. Most full recoveries are done in approx. 30 mins (including everything!!)

 

[lopdog]

I just backed up my entire HD to DVD with Vista Backup. I haven´t tried to restore yet, but as you say it´s propably not possible to boot from this disc. But from within Vista (as far as I can see) I can restore the HD exactly as it was at the moment I made the backup. That´s enough for me. But thanks for your help.

 

[DelJo63]

please keep us posted. I don't believe you can boot from the HD and restore over
top the running system.

 

[lopdog]

I tried to restore the HD, and it didn´t work
According to the help file I read before trying to restore, all I had to do was restart my system with the original Vista DVD, and choose Repair - Complete PC Restore (or something like that). But all I got was a message saying that this version of Vista does not support repair function.
It´s obviosly better to get Norton Ghost or something similar. To bad, I had to do a clean instalation with all drivers and programs, again.

 

[kimsland]

Thanks for the update

Try Ghost, or Acronis or Drive Image. I prefer Ghost, but many report Acronis as the best.