Imaging so I never have to reinstall an OS

I used to use image programs like Ghost to copy data from one HD to another, but with this new system build, I had heard that I easy and good way to ensure that I can always easily redo things quickly and accurately was by doing a particular image. What I am referring to is, after I installed my OS (XP Pro) with all the updates except for SP2 and of course all the basic 3rd party driver that I need like for my printer, mouse, etc..., I made an image. Now I will continue to install things on ths drive such as spyware apps, winzip, etc... The way my system is setup is this, (1) 74gig WD Raptor 10,000rpm HDD with 2 partitions, a 30 and a 40 gig. The OS and all will go on the 30gig partition. On the other partition I will install apps like Photoshop CS, AutoCAD, fast games, etc... to take advantage of the 10,000rpm's. Then I also have a 120gig IDE ATA drive of which I use for a lot of my main data and then a whole bunch of other installed applications. Then I have a 40gig IDE ATA drive that is used for as a backup for a variety of things, and then finally, another SATA HDD that is 250gig's. This is where the image is stored. So now to get to the point, what I am after with this software is to be able to in lets say 3 months or so (if needed/wanted) to be able to just restore that image and be back to brand new and still have all my other applications on other drives work like they should. Is this the right route to go or are there other things to take into consideration and all? Do you all understand the point of what I am trying to do? I do not want to image data or regular apps, but just as I had mentioned previously. Will this software do it this way as well? I may in the near future do some incremental image backups, but not sure how I am going to go about that quite yet. Sorry for the long post and thanks much for any help and/or input you can provide.

 

Anyone have a take on this? Has anyone here used this program primarily for this purpose? Would really appreciate any input that can be given.

 

Well I think that if you image lets say your OS drive with only the OS and drivers when you restore in 3 months your programs on other drives most will not work. When you install programs sometimes data goes into the windows directory which means when you restor this data will not be there because you installed those programs after you imaged the drive. Someone please correct me if I am wrong and I hope this helps.

Thanks,

Chris

 

TI will work with the raptor and other SATA. To be more accurate it did for me. There are people here who've had TI fail with SATA drives. Acronis kept diagnosing till TI worked. With all the space you've got you ought to image at methodically placed steps. Especially after a milestone of some sort or brfore adding potentially risky software. You can always delete images if they're redundant.

 

You must image the entire WD Raptor drive, both the boot partition and the partition with all your other programs, at the same time. When you want to restore your system, restore the full image - both partitions, and you will have just what you want.

Frankly, you would be just as well off if the Raptor had only one partition and Windows and all installed programs were there. When you try to install a program to another partition, part of the program is installed in the Windows partition and part on the second partition. As a result, you will always have to restore both partitions to have a fully functional system, so it would have been easier to have just one partition for the system and all programs.

Putting data files (documents, photos, video, music, etc.) on a different partition is fine. Then you can separate backing up your system from backing up most of your data. However, unless you are very thorough, your e-mail will still be saved on the system partition instead of the data partition as will your Internet Explorer Favorites and Cookies as well as data from programs like Quicken that put the data in with the program files.

When you restore the system partition (or both the system and program partitions in your case), you will wipe out your e-mail, Favorites, Cookies and possibly other data since the last backup unless you are very careful to first copy these to a different drive and restore them manually.

It's this complicated because that's how Windows and many applications are designed. All we can do is live with it for now, but True Image makes life easier.

 

Hello John,

I've made life a little easier for myself by backing up and restoring my important data files via a couple of bat files. The first one backs up the data and then launches TI. The second copies the data back again after completing a system restore. Both are started manually via Desktop shortcuts.

If anyone is interested in the details, I posted the contents of the two bat files in this <previous post> which could be easily tailored to suit individual requirements.

Regards