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I want to go a clone/ghost type backup of my pc...

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  • 22-03-2009 1:54pm
    #1
    Zascar
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 12,778 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    I had to reinstall ym XP pc the other day as it was giving me problems. I usally do this every 6 months or so. It takes me many hours to get my pc back to the way I want it with settings etc, and its a pain.

    What I'd like to do is be able to make an exact copy of the hard drive that I can save to anotehr hard drive (I have 2 in the pc, one partitioned in 2) - so that in future I can just restore the image and not have to bother doing the reinstall evey time..

    How is this done?
    Thanks


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    #2
    NullZer0
    Registered Users Posts: 1,629 ✭✭✭NullZer0


    Zascar wrote: »
    I had to reinstall ym XP pc the other day as it was giving me problems. I usally do this every 6 months or so. It takes me many hours to get my pc back to the way I want it with settings etc, and its a pain.

    What I'd like to do is be able to make an exact copy of the hard drive that I can save to anotehr hard drive (I have 2 in the pc, one partitioned in 2) - so that in future I can just restore the image and not have to bother doing the reinstall evey time..

    How is this done?
    Thanks

    Hey,

    Its pretty simple.
    I prefer using Acronis True Image which you can fine here:
    http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/

    But there are other free/open source alternatives that you can use.

    :)


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    #3
    Rowley Birkin QC
    Registered Users Posts: 6,223 ✭✭✭Rowley Birkin QC


    Does this work with Vista too?

    I'm having an extremely irritating power management problem and the goons at Dell insist that a re-install of the OS is the only way to go.


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    #4
    Rebel021
    Registered Users Posts: 943 ✭✭✭Rebel021


    bigkev49 wrote: »
    Does this work with Vista too?

    Yes


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    #5
    toe_knee
    Registered Users Posts: 840 ✭✭✭toe_knee


    You could also setup an unattended windows installation. It would make your installation less of a pain. If you do a google search for it there are very detailed instructions on it but it is very straight forward. Still though ghost/cloning is by far easier and quicker.


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    #6
    NullZer0
    Registered Users Posts: 1,629 ✭✭✭NullZer0


    toe_knee wrote: »
    You could also setup an unattended windows installation. It would make your installation less of a pain. If you do a google search for it there are very detailed instructions on it but it is very straight forward. Still though ghost/cloning is by far easier and quicker.

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/302577


    Still prefer cloning :D


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    #7
    rogue-entity
    Registered Users Posts: 1,647 ✭✭✭rogue-entity


    g4u (Ghost 4 Unix) is my tool of choice, but you'll need a second machine with an FTP server running on it, to use it. I used it to image my desktop to my file-server. It's a boot-disc based on NetBSD that creates an image of the hard drive sector-by-sector. It doesnt matter what operating system you are using, it will create an exact image.

    Acronis TrueImage is also pretty decent, I used to have it as I got a free copy in a PC magazine once, but I lost the disc, and G4U is far more suitable because I save everything on my fileserver to begin with.


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