Backing Up Entire System

imageing a whole HD

[Visit Thailand]

Having recently had to reinstall Windows XP from a SP1a disk, I have vowed to create image backups of all my harddrives.

Just installing all the windows updates, SP2 etc took me hours. Then came, drivers, progs, settings, more updates etc.

Previously I only backed up files, folders, .pst and a few programmes etc. But after this experience I have learnt that I must backup the whole HD.

What products do you use for this?

I have researched Norton Ghost, and also their rather confusingly similar Norton Save and Restore. But, as with most things on the net, there are a lot of negative reviews and only a handful of positives.

I backup onto external HD's. Prviously only one, but now that duty is being shared in case one of the backups fails.

Thanks.

[ukwebmaster]

Acronis True Image - $49.99. Lots of comments in other threads.

[Philosopher]

Yep...I use acronis. Works perfectly.

I'm not a huge fan of norton products.

[bill]

I'm a user of Ghost on a number of systems. I am only a Symantec customer because they purchased my preferred image backup software DriveImage from PowerQuest. I am becoming less enamored of this product and am considering a move to Acronis.

I run Acronis on a Windows 2003 server and it's performed flawlessly. I hope their desktop product works as well.

[vincevincevince]

Or, don't pay anything and use g4u or g4l.

[Visit Thailand]

Thanks everyone. Following above advice decided to go for Acronis True Image and am very impressed at how easy it seems to be to use.

I used to be a great fan of syamntec's products but rarely use them anymore, and something was putting me off installing Ghost.

Of course the real test comes when a HD fails but hopefully that won't be any time soon.

[Marcia]

There's an INCREDIBLY good, long thread on this very topic in the Supporters Forum; if you're a subscriber you might want to take a look at it.