Hi,

I installed Windows XP on an old laptop and then installed a whole
bunch of pc games on it for my kids. It took me quite some time to get
it all finished. The kids will not have admin rights but nevertheless
I'm pretty sure that the pc will be all messed up within a few months.
Now I was wondering: is there a way to make an image of the complete
hard drive? I have only one partition on it which is being used up for
about 12 gigabytes. What I want is an image that I can restore the pc
to after they messed it up so that I won't have to do al the work all
over again. The last time, my 4 year old son managed it, I don't know
what he did, but no-one could logon any more. So I will need some kind
of image that I can restore even if the Windows is not accessible any
more. The laptop will not be in a domain or something but I have a
wireless connection on it which could be used to access the laptop
from another pc. The portable also has a cd/dvd writer. Any
suggestions?

Veerle

"Veerle" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:e2cc2fe9-339a-4a42-aaf2-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi,
>
> I installed Windows XP on an old laptop and then installed a whole
> bunch of pc games on it for my kids. It took me quite some time to get
> it all finished. The kids will not have admin rights but nevertheless
> I'm pretty sure that the pc will be all messed up within a few months.
> Now I was wondering: is there a way to make an image of the complete
> hard drive? I have only one partition on it which is being used up for
> about 12 gigabytes. What I want is an image that I can restore the pc
> to after they messed it up so that I won't have to do al the work all
> over again. The last time, my 4 year old son managed it, I don't know
> what he did, but no-one could logon any more. So I will need some kind
> of image that I can restore even if the Windows is not accessible any
> more. The laptop will not be in a domain or something but I have a
> wireless connection on it which could be used to access the laptop
> from another pc. The portable also has a cd/dvd writer. Any
> suggestions?
>
> Veerle

Get a copy of Acronis TrueImage (or some other imaging tool) and park the
image on a 2.5" hard disk in an external USB case. You could use the same
disk for your regular data backups.

"Veerle" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:e2cc2fe9-339a-4a42-aaf2-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi,
>
> I installed Windows XP on an old laptop and then installed a whole
> bunch of pc games on it for my kids. It took me quite some time to get
> it all finished. The kids will not have admin rights but nevertheless
> I'm pretty sure that the pc will be all messed up within a few months.
> Now I was wondering: is there a way to make an image of the complete
> hard drive? I have only one partition on it which is being used up for
> about 12 gigabytes. What I want is an image that I can restore the pc
> to after they messed it up so that I won't have to do al the work all
> over again. The last time, my 4 year old son managed it, I don't know
> what he did, but no-one could logon any more. So I will need some kind
> of image that I can restore even if the Windows is not accessible any
> more. The laptop will not be in a domain or something but I have a
> wireless connection on it which could be used to access the laptop
> from another pc. The portable also has a cd/dvd writer. Any
> suggestions?
>
> Veerle


I am not an expert but here is what I do on one laptop:
I use Acronis TrueImage (still have older version 8).
It enables me to make a regular back up to an external hard drive. Also to
CDs. Not sure if it does DVDs.
The emergency boot CD made with Acronis enabled me to boot the laptop on a
couple of occasions when it would not boot by itself.
The image was restored from the external drive painlessly and fast.
Try doing a search for "drive back up" on Google.
There are several options available out there apart from Acronis.
Some are free too.
HTH.
:-)
Avatar
-------

See this discussion: http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=27570

Veerle wrote:
> I installed Windows XP on an old laptop and then installed a whole
> bunch of pc games on it for my kids. It took me quite some time to get
> it all finished. The kids will not have admin rights but nevertheless
> I'm pretty sure that the pc will be all messed up within a few months.
> Now I was wondering: is there a way to make an image of the complete
> hard drive? I have only one partition on it which is being used up for
> about 12 gigabytes. What I want is an image that I can restore the pc
> to after they messed it up so that I won't have to do al the work all
> over again. The last time, my 4 year old son managed it, I don't know
> what he did, but no-one could logon any more. So I will need some kind
> of image that I can restore even if the Windows is not accessible any
> more. The laptop will not be in a domain or something but I have a
> wireless connection on it which could be used to access the laptop
> from another pc. The portable also has a cd/dvd writer. Any
> suggestions?

On Sat, 29 May 2010 14:22:40 -0700 (PDT), Veerle
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I installed Windows XP on an old laptop and then installed a whole
>bunch of pc games on it for my kids. It took me quite some time to get
>it all finished. The kids will not have admin rights but nevertheless
>I'm pretty sure that the pc will be all messed up within a few months.
>Now I was wondering: is there a way to make an image of the complete
>hard drive? I have only one partition on it which is being used up for
>about 12 gigabytes. What I want is an image that I can restore the pc
>to after they messed it up so that I won't have to do al the work all
>over again. The last time, my 4 year old son managed it, I don't know
>what he did, but no-one could logon any more. So I will need some kind
>of image that I can restore even if the Windows is not accessible any
>more. The laptop will not be in a domain or something but I have a
>wireless connection on it which could be used to access the laptop
>from another pc. The portable also has a cd/dvd writer. Any
>suggestions?
>
>Veerle

External hard drive and backup program . ( I use Acronis ) .