HD Backup Question For The PC Buffs.

[Tricky-Ricky]

I want to change my laptop HD for a bigger capacity one, at present i have Vista on one partition and win7 trial on another, so basically i want to copy the entire operating systems complete with all my add on programs and my files of each partition on an external HD and then restore them to the new HD.

 

So can anybody tell me the easiest way to accomplish this with the minimum hassle?

[Abz]

The easiest way would be to create a ghost image.

 

http://download.cnet.com/Norton-Ghost/3000-2242_4-10798.html

[JustGav]

You can't just drop your programs back on, the way windows works there is a lot of info in the registry, so you would have to re-install all your software anyway.

[Wez]

You can't just drop your programs back on, the way windows works there is a lot of info in the registry, so you would have to re-install all your software anyway.

 

Not if he does a ghost image like suggested above.

[stevie_b]

The easiest way would be to create a ghost image.

 

http://download.cnet.com/Norton-Ghost/3000-2242_4-10798.html

 

+1.

 

I use Ghost from time to time: very good piece of software. I use it occasionally just to back up my system, in case I need to do a bare-metal re-install, i.e. installing to a fresh, blank hard disk.

[wkdtime]

+1 as above, Im assuming your image size will probably be fairly large, maybe 10gb-20gb depending on the amount of data.

 

You can also use an app called Acronis.

[Tricky-Ricky]

More like 60-80Gig:innocent: i presume with the Ghost image you burn a boot disk in order to get everything back onto a basic system without an operating system? as it wont self boot as in loading a windows disc?

 

Thanks for the advice guys:) although i can do a fair bit, there are things i haven't tried so it pays to ask first.

[Abz]

More like 60-80Gig:innocent: i presume with the Ghost image you burn a boot disk in order to get everything back onto a basic system without an operating system? as it wont self boot as in loading a windows disc?

 

Thanks for the advice guys:) although i can do a fair bit, there are things i haven't tried so it pays to ask first.

 

Correct

 

I love this forum, its a wealth of information really...I have found many solutions on this

site & a lot of them have not even been related to my Supra!

[stevie_b]

i presume with the Ghost image you burn a boot disk in order to get everything back onto a basic system without an operating system? as it wont self boot as in loading a windows disc?

 

Basically, yes. You can either install Ghost into windows, and when you choose to take an image of your hard disk, it'll reboot into its own DOS-based operating system called PC-DOS (at least, the version I have does). It's pretty much fire and forget, you don't need to have any DOS knowledge at all, it sorts it all out for you.

 

I think you also have the alternative of booting your computer using the Ghost installation CD, and then choosing to take an image.

 

With either method, Windows isn't running whilst the image is being taken.

 

Again, this is for Ghost 2002 IIRC, but selecting to store the image with "high compression" reduces the total image size by about half, so you'd need around 40GB ish to store the image. Images are split into chunks of 2GB I think. Ghost takes care of splitting them up, and putting them all back together when you come to restore the image. You can span different media, so you could write your image onto a stack of DVDs say. It's faster if you write to another hard disk though.

[JustGav]

Not if he does a ghost image like suggested above.

 

Sorry, you are right, I assumed he wanted to dump the contents back onto an installed OS, serves me right for not properly reading on my haste out the door.

[Scott]

Don't need to bother with ghost. Vista and Windows 7 both have built in backup software. They both backup the entire harddrive so you will have no issues using it.

 

Control Panel, View All Items, Backup and Restore. Can either do it to multiple DVD's or an external HDD.

 

I use it all the time

[Tricky-Ricky]

Don't need to bother with ghost. Vista and Windows 7 both have built in backup software. They both backup the entire harddrive so you will have no issues using it.

 

Control Panel, View All Items, Backup and Restore. Can either do it to multiple DVD's or an external HDD.

 

I use it all the time

 

I knew it was there, but i didn't think you could use it on a blank HD with no operating system installed?

[Gambit]

I use this. http://www.acronis.co.uk/homecomputing/products/trueimage/?source=uk_google&ad=acronis&c=3791902734&k=acronis&gclid=CM_r2ruk250CFVtm4wodhW6Zsg

 

The mutts.

[Scott]

I knew it was there, but i didn't think you could use it on a blank HD with no operating system installed?

 

Yup, you can take a completely new HDD as i have done in the past

 

Its basically an image of the drive. Handy stuff

 

Do one for each partition though.

[Digsy]

Just my 2 penn'th. I use Ghost from time to time (still an XP user) and its never let me down yet. Its so easy to use that I sometimes make a backup before a major software install of hardware upgrade. I have loads of free disc space so I've actually got most of the images I've taken over the years still hanging around!

 

One thing I've noticed though. If I set Ghost to compress the image it always crashes. Does anyone else get this?

[imi]

Yet, Ghost works like a charm. to DVD as an image, to another HDD, to another machine via the network....what more could you ask for.

 

Never trust windows backup....sorry

[Scott]

Yet, Ghost works like a charm. to DVD as an image, to another HDD, to another machine via the network....what more could you ask for.

 

Never trust windows backup....sorry

 

Am I right in saying you have never tried it?

 

Works perfect, in fact they probably ripped it from Norton it works that well.

[stevie_b]

One thing I've noticed though. If I set Ghost to compress the image it always crashes. Does anyone else get this?

 

I always compress my images using High Compression, due to being too tight to buy more blank DVDs! I've never had problems with it.

[Tricky-Ricky]

Unfortunately the Ghost does not enable disc cloning on the trail version, so i am not inclined to trust what i have backed up, so i have used the Acronis true image instead which seems to have backed up the whole HD including the partition with Win 7 on it, so i'm off to get a bigger HD and see what happens, wish me luck that it doesn't go tits up:innocent:

[imi]

Am I right in saying you have never tried it?

 

Works perfect, in fact they probably ripped it from Norton it works that well.

 

correct

 

windows + backup = send shivers up my spine....

 

i'll take your word for it, but wont be trying it anytime soon

[stevie_b]

Am I right in saying you have never tried it?

 

Works perfect, in fact they probably ripped it from Norton it works that well.

 

correct

 

windows + backup = send shivers up my spine....

 

i'll take your word for it, but wont be trying it anytime soon

 

As long as it doesn't try taking a backup whilst Windows is actually running, I imagine it works fine. I would think the actual image-taking algorithm is similar for all of these products. It's the user interface and support (or lack of) for storage hardware that makes the difference between a good bit of software and a bad one.

 

I've never trusted Windows Restore Points, but they're a different kettle 'o fish. I don't think they've once saved my arse.

[Scott]

As long as it doesn't try taking a backup whilst Windows is actually running, I imagine it works fine. I would think the actual image-taking algorithm is similar for all of these products. It's the user interface and support (or lack of) for storage hardware that makes the difference between a good bit of software and a bad one.

 

I've never trusted Windows Restore Points, but they're a different kettle 'o fish. I don't think they've once saved my arse.

 

It does it while windows is running. You can't really use anything while its doing it though or it fails. Takes about 5-10 mins depending on HDD size & Speed. I use it for re-formats now as I have multiple Hard drives in both my PC and my Laptop.

 

When windows 7 OEM was released I did a complete format, installed the OS, installed all the programs that I use & all the drivers etc, setup everything the way I like it and then I used the Backup program to create an image of the primary HDD onto my secondary HDD.

 

Since then I have only done 1 reformat. The OS disc is used, just choose the "Repair" option once the options have loaded. Choose restore from a backup, or something of that nature, and select the location (whether it be DVD or HDD). Job done, takes about 10-15 mins again dependant on size etc, the computer is rebooted and your OS is exactly how you had it originally including all installed software, drivers etc etc etc. Its an exact image of the whole HDD as you had it.

 

As I said I have only done this once with Windows 7. I have done it many many times with Vista and not once had an issue. I have also used Dos to FDisk and properly format the HDD before using the backup program with the OS and it still worked flawlessly.

 

Its a good bit of kit, noone should knock it before they try it. It has been a long time coming though as Ghost has been available for years. Microsoft should have copied it ages ago.

 

FWIW I think system restore is one of the worst things microsoft has ever came up with. I thought it was a great idea but when I tried to put it into practice it gave nothing but grief. I have had people with small problems call me up and tell me that they tried the system restore, ended up making the issue 100000 times worse and a re-format has been necessary. I always disable system restore now, I rely on the backup's if anything goes wrong.