Backing up my laptop

[rl168]

Guys,

Is there a software or utility that will allow me to back up my HD, including the operating system onto a CD or DVD? So that if my HD crashed again, I will be able to boot from the CD and install everything into the new HD?

Thanks!

 

[MMDominator88]

Norton Ghost is a really good program, but it's not free

Windows does have a backup utility, under the control panel, have U thought of using that

 

[Ididmyc600]

Windows does have a backup utility, under the control panel,

Really where, I cant find it under XP control panel

Norton ghost, arcronis true Image and Powerquest image centre are the only programs I would recommend for what you want, all will write to a DVD or span the image across several CDRW's but ideally you would be better off partitioning your drive so that you have somewhere to store it on the HD, this is easier in the long run as restore times from the same HD are quicker than from a CD or DVD.

Regards

 

[MMDominator88]

go to the control panel, then "performance and Maintenance" and under the "pick a task..." heading, it should say "Back up your data"

if it is not there, or your running XP home edition, you will have to download the backup utility from Microsoft or other websites, it is usually called "ntbackup.exe"

 

[Ididmyc600]

Nope its not there, and its XP Pro with all updates.

Apart from which I believe most backup software just backs up specified files, it doesnt make an image of the drive.

Regards

 

[raybay]

Take a look at www.acronis.com. Very good software for this task, and they have special prices for the downloaded versions. Look at Migrate Easy, True Image, and some of the power utilities. They offer trial downloads for many of their products... and seem to be a step up from Symantec Norton Ghost, System Commander, and Powerquest. But your mileage may differ.

 

[mikescorpio81]

I love Acronis, expecially the Enterprise Edition with universal restore

$$$ - $$$ - $$$ - $$$ - $$$ - $$$ - $$$ - $$$ - $$$ - $$$ - $$$ - $$$

 

[Tedster]

there are dozens of backup programs out there. XP PRO has backup built in.
Norton Ghost and Acronis are too good backup programs also.
The best backup is to a second hard drive.

 

[DelJo63]

...you would be better off partitioning your drive so that you have somewhere to store it on the HD, ...

While this is very convenient, it is also (imo) risky.
There are two times a recovery using a backup is helpful;
1) software/data errors which can be so severe that even booting is difficult
2) real hardware malfunctions inside the HD; mechanical, electrical, or just real
lousy sectors

Having your backup on the same physical device in case (1) is just fine and
you run the restore and your ready to go.

For case (2), you're just S.O.L and up a creek with no alternatives and no
way to access your backup image(s).

I recommend that backups should always be written to some other device than
that from which the data is being copied.

 

[DelJo63]

>go to the control panel, then "performance and Maintenance" and
under the "pick a task..." heading, it should say "Back up your data"

it's under start->Help & Support->Performance & Maint

>...I believe most backup software just backs up specified files, it doesnt make an image of the drive.

Any backup program that's worthy of the name will copy allocated data within
the partition, not take an image of the physical hd. A good backup will offer
to capture the MBR, which is optionally restored when performing the corresponding restore --
consider a restore onto your friends extra partition --
not nice to overwrite his mbr!

the mbr is outside all partitions and is usually recovered or rewritten as a separate task
due to all the variations that might exist.

GHOST is not a backup program, but rather a means to clone one HD onto another --
typically used in corporations for creating a common system image that can
be replicated to ALL pcs.

 

[Ididmyc600]

>go to the control panel

it's under start->Help & Support->Performance & Maint

.

Slippery little sucker you can also go

To start Backup, click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup.
I found it in there, never noticed it before, shows how much time I spend browsing around XP.

I agree with your point about using a partition on the drive, if it does suffer a mechanical failure then yes your S O L as you say, however I neglected to mention that the backup image I take are usually of just a basic image it saves me having to do a full reload of XP should I screw something up.

Regards