How do you make image of OS for restoring?

[iseethemtoo]

Hiya, Im wondering how to make an image of windows for restoring purposes.

Am I making an image of the entire c: drive, or just the windows folder?

What program to use?

Im on a new system but failed to make an image at first and have installed a few things...

Properties on c: drive say 9.6 gig used. (although folders within c drive only ad up to 6 - 6.5)

Can I still make an image?

Before I install all my apps Id like to know what the deal is in case the reccomendation is to reformat and make a fresh image after stuff is updated...

Course I could be making a big deal out of nothing, and not having an image is not that big of a deal... (in which case let me know )

Any help or links appreciated.

Thanks

 

[usernamemax20charact]

Originally posted by: iseethemtoo
Hiya, Im wondering how to make an image of windows for restoring purposes.

Am I making an image of the entire c: drive, or just the windows folder?

You'll be making an image of the entire C: drive.

What program to use?

Norton Ghost

Im on a new system but failed to make an image at first and have installed a few things...

Properties on c: drive say 9.6 gig used. (although folders within c drive only ad up to 6 - 6.5)

Can I still make an image?

Before I install all my apps Id like to know what the deal is in case the reccomendation is to reformat and make a fresh image after stuff is updated...

Course I could be making a big deal out of nothing, and not having an image is not that big of a deal... (in which case let me know )

Any help or links appreciated.

Thanks

Yes. I prefer ghosting the entire C: drive with all necessary programs installed than only ghosting the C: drive with Windows.

 

[mechBgon]

If it's WindowsXP Professional, then you can throw in a blank hard drive and do an Automated System Recovery backup to it. You will also need an arcane piece of equipment called a "floppy drive." Ever notice the prompt during WindowsXP Setup saying Press F2 for Automated System Recovery...? Yeah.

BTW, try to remember we have an Operating Systems forum here This here is General Hardware.

 

[iseethemtoo]

So, Everything on my hard drive is needed or apps except for Doom3.

Would you suggest uninstalling Doom3 Prior to making the image?

Also, my c drive reads 9.6 gig used. Taking Doom off will bring it to 8 gig.
However the folders within my c drive only add up to 6 - 6.5 gig (including Doom, whats up wth that?)

This is too big for a DVD so what do I do?

Thanks!!

 

[iseethemtoo]

Bump for questions in above post.

 

[RVN]

Acronis True Image compresses about 6 gigs of my 10 GB C drive down to a 2.25 GB image. It gives you control of the amount of compression or you can let it decide automatically. It also lets you span the image onto several disks if you need to.

I make several images upon a fresh install of the OS. One with just the OS, updates and drivers, one with programs, and one with all of the aforementioned and all my personalizations ie. favorites, mail accounts, addresses, autocompletes and passwords. I keep my images on a separate partition on a second hard disk.

 

[ShellGuy]

Acronis True Works great... I use it for all my backups.. I would suggest that you use it with an external drive that way if need be you can take it with you... I myself live in what was the worst state 2 live in this year... GO FLORIDA... So we know about backing up and all.. with Acronis all you need is a new HDD and ur boot cd and your backup drive and your good 2 go...


Will G.

 

[Navid]

In order to see all the files on the drive, you may need to change the folder options to show the hidden files. For example, the pagefile is hidden by default and it can be quite large.

 

[Kazrath]

Best way to do it is:

Format drive:

Install Windows:
Install service packs:
Install remaining Windows updates (DirectX etc)
Install Driver updates:

Create your Ghost image.

Now you have a clean baseline that can remove the need of doing all of the above. The above even on a cable connection is about 2-3hrs of work. Restoring the image will take ruffly 5 minutes. All you will have to do is install the Apps you want. When yer system gets cluttered with junk/spyware/viruses. Just restore and install the apps you are going to use today. Don't bother with the Hardly used ones until you need them.

 

[iseethemtoo]

So can I make an image without a DVD.

As in...make an image straight onto my second hard drive?

If so, Will Norton Ghost allow this?

And does Ghost compress stuff for image? (I assume it does)