How to make a drive image?

Hi,

After a big crash and at the end a tedious and long reinstallation , I heard that the rigth answer was a drive image backup.

Being an absolute beginner, here are my questions:
- Does a drive image backup all hard drive's data or just the operating system files? (partitions, etc.)
- Is it possible to choose?

Tia for your help,
Cheers


P.S : I currently have two HDD (250 Go each)... both almost crowded! (70% and 90% for my secondary HDD).

 

Olio1,

Being a beginner, you need simplicity. See....

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=208250

An imaging program is mainly used to backup partitions. Some do this with individual partitions. Others can also do it with all partitions at once. I prefer the single partition approach.

If your HD fails, you restore your backup image to a new HD and you can be back to normal in 10 minutes. The new HD is seen to be exactly the same as the old.

 

buy Paragon Drive Backup, burn the 2 cds you get.

create a backup capsule (hidden partition) that paragon will easily setup for you.

create your backup to this partition, set it to high compression of course

enjoy.

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/db-personal/

$30

add the discount code HotPrices for a further discount.

 

i would also surgest buying paragon. it would be best to invest in a usb external drive and store some backups on that as well. in case both drives go.

 

Thank you all for your valuable help!

Yet, there is one thing I just can't understand : my principal HHD is almost full (175 Gb on 250 Gb). I mean: I don't have space enough to make a complete drive image or a backup! (OS + personal data, apps, etc.)
And don't even talk about my secondary HDD (250 Gb), it is overcrowded (90%...)

Do I have to buy a third HDD?

Tia for your clarification
Cheers

 

yes you will need to buy a third drive which should have room for at least two backups for all your drives.
so that means a drive minimum of 500gb
probaly something like 750gb would be better or even a single 1TB drive. TB=1000gb

 

The way you have your computer setup, you will spend hours backing up and restoring after a hard drive failure. That 175gb data on your boot drive will take about 3 hours to backup using normal compression, and usually take about the sametime to restore and thats without validating the image..

My advice is to get your c: drive as small as possible, no bigger than 20gb(xp) or 30gb(vista). Just keep your important programs installed on the c: drive (antivirus/firewall/utilitys other small programs that you don't want to reinstall).

My 20gb c: partition is never more than 6gb full, takes 5 minutes to back up and 10 minutes to restore. Hard drive image backup software I use only for backing up my c: drive. All data/pictures/music etc I just move over to an external drive or dvd's, with no compression.

During a hard drive failure, you want to be back in business right away. 3 hours is too long and what if the image doesn't restore properly or gets corrupted, then you have 175gbs of compress data that you need to try and recover. It's always best to save important data uncompress.

The easiest least expensive program to use for backing up hard drives is easy image. They have a full feature demo you can try out. It's very basic but gets the job done, some of the other programs out there can be very confusing and hard to use.
http://www.eazsolution.com/en/easyimage.php

 

FWIW, Microsoft tech support told me a few weeks ago that they do not recommend nor support image backups of the OS. They also said that doing so could, in rare cases, cause damage to hardware.

Image backup of data, data partitions, or OS files during the initial install of a system (before activation, etc.) is supported.

According to Microsoft, the only reliable method to re-install the operating system is to install Windows from scratch (using the original disk).

 

then why do gold certified microsoft partners make disk imaging software?
its much quicker to restore images than reinstalling windows.
5 minutes to restore windows versis 25mins to install vista with no software or xp 1hour without software.

 

"Image backup of data, data partitions, or OS files during the initial install of a system (before activation, etc.) is supported."

I agree.

 

I also vouch for Paragon Drive Backup Personal 8.51 (for the love of God; dump Acronis, unless you love frustration!)

But I would also make the basics cheaper and simpler:
Download the FREE TRIAL and totally wring it out for the full 30 days. It is exactly the same program as the full version, but you will need to get the license to work after the 30 days.

Don't even bother with the backup capsule. Just save the image to DVDs or on another hard drive.

I first came here in the same stuation as you. Since you have a fresh install, NOW is the time to thoroughly experiment and verify that you backup solution will work reliably. Paragon has already saved me numerous times. I now regard it as so reliable that I just routinely image my C: partion before installing any new program. If the program doesn't work or is flaky, I don't even uninstall it, I just restore the pre-installation image.

 

Thank you all, I will give Paragon a try

Cheers

 

Do you know what they were smoking and where I can buy some ? image backups can damage hardware ? truly amazing

 

Olio,

You definitely need another drive-an easy solution is an external for backup purposes.

There are apps which can be used for data backup only or those which backup the data at the same time as the whole system on the C drive.

Suggest for a start-start off with Karens Replicator for saving your irreplaceable data,while you make up your mind about the others.

The choice is mainly between Acronis True Image,Shadow Protect, Paragon, Drive Snapshot,Image for Windows.

You definitely need one of these long term.

I use SP and KR,100% reliable.

 

Hi,

I am going to try Paragon and Image For Windows out and considering my motherboard integrates two SATA I ports (both already used, I've got 2 HDDs in my machine!), I intend to buy an USB external HDD (500 Gb at least) to make my backups.

Which one would you recommend?

Tia for your advice
Cheers

P.S: My motherboard is the Asus K8N http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=1&model=233&l1=3&l2=14&l3=66

 

Olio,
Try your Image Backup software as long as possible, don't buy too quickly and test backup and RESTORE thoroughly.
Having a larger external HDD than you really need is also a smart decision, having more different images is sometimes handy to rollback to a clean state or a previous state. So having more elbow room is an advantage.
Having an image of a pure and activated Windows is also very good, if you ever decide to start from scratch.

 

Don't dismiss DriveSnapshot by any means. You're reading from a very long satisfied customer and user of PARAGON PRODUCTS that never let me down, but DriveSnapshot has enticed me to put Paragon in mothballs.

DS is a masterful little Image BackUp App for it's size and i say in all honesty it has not failed YET one single time to restore completely and with little effort.

Very worth looking at if ShadowProtect is not encouraging enough for you.

EASTER

 

Thank you all for the tips

By the way, I would like to know whether an internal SATA HDD could coexist with an internal IDE HDD?

I mean, is there a "risk" regarding the overall performances?

Tia
Cheers

P.S: My motherboard is the Asus K8N (specs here : http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=1&model=233&l1=3&l2=14&l3=66)

 

Your BIOS will be set at IDE in any case,so as your mobo supports SATA,should be no problems.

Take off the HDD jumper to enable SATA2 for future potentiality.