AlexF

IS there a way I can back up ALL of my C: so that in the event of a Hard Drive failure I can just re-install everything back the way it was??!

Thanks!

Alex

Thrush

iTrader: (1)

Sure - get another HDD, the same size or bigger than the drive you have (or if you don't use all your drive, get one thats bigger than the total ammount of data on your C: drive) and then just copy the entire contents of the C: to the new drive (make sure you have SHOW HIDDEN FILES AND FOLDERS ticked mind)

Or to make it easier; use this;

http://www.ice-graphics.com/ICEMirror/IndexE.html

I use that to back up my Slave drive (all my music and video) onto another disc. Fully automated, I just set it to back up and leave it to it - it creates a perfect mirror image of all the data on the master drive....

AlexF

Can it be done to DVDs or CDs?

Alex

Thrush

iTrader: (1)

ONly if the data going onto the discs is less than the disc holds.... So in theory, a working fresh install of XP could fit on a DVD as it is less than 4.7gb (IIRC) but if you have any other programmes/data on your C: Drive then no it won't fit. And I would be pretty sure that you could restore a fooked HDD with files from multiple DVD-R's - to be completely honest, without actually trying it to see, I wouldn't be completely 100% sure that you could restore a working OS from a cloned HDD, but in theory it should work......

Billabong

You could either 'clone' the HDD to a spare, or you could make a drive image - Norton Ghost can do the job. Think the later versions of Ghost can split an image over several discs.

collierm

Good software, been looking for something like that.

Cheers

Matt

Thrush

iTrader: (1)

Bong - would my method work then? Just interested to know if I was actually or partially right If I making a mirror image of the master drive with IceMirror onto a second drive, could I then put this second drive in the PC in place of the (master primary drive) and it would boot up and work as normal?

saphycozzie-adz

iTrader: (10)

a good program for doing an exact booting copy of your hard disk including all data and programs etc is CASPER XP. work a treat and we use it a lot for failing hard disks. you will need another hard disk to make the copy though not dvds.

arkley

Good program

ballin

iTrader: (1)

Thrush that wont work, okay for files but programs etc wont work as you are'nt backing up the registry.

Just take a Ghost image, and span it across however many DVDs

BigMouthBillyBass

Another vote for ghost

AlexF

Norton Ghost looks perfect!!!

I've always backed up my critical files but recently a mates HD failed on him and just sticking all the software back on to a new drive takes AGES and you don't reliase half of the stuff you use on a regular basis!

My PC is getting on for 3 years old now and although the spec is fine I'm a bit worried about the HDs as I've lost a PSU recently and generaly the HDs seem to go after that.

I also want to use my PC as a recoding studio so I need to upgade one of the HDs anyway - just seems a good idea to back everything up in one go

Alex

DanRSturbo

I always advise to have a second hard drive mainly for important stuff, that way the windows drive is expenadable so to speak.

I went to a mate's brother's, who bought Norton Anti Virus, and got given Go Back free, which, completely fucked his hard drive to the point where there was no point but to format it and reinstall windows.

All the scanned deeds to his house were unrecoverable from the My Documents folder

My C: drive has windows xp and all programs installed. J has all my important documents, OS and Games Images, and is backed up onto the 250 gig SATA drive