Backups versus Images?

[Teflon]

XP Pro Sp2

I bought a 1TB USB HDD to be nothing more than the media for backing
up 3 external HDDs, (2 - 250GB USB HDDs, plus a 160GB USB HDD), and
the 40GB internal HDD that is C:

The 2 - 250GB HDD's contain media libraries; Music, Video and
pictures, which are fairly static, though I do add to each of them
occasionally. The 160GB HDD contains all application data, some of
which changes daily, depending on which apps I use. Of course the
40GB C: drive changes with updates, etc.

I used Windows Explorer's 'Copy/Paste' function to create a backup
copy of these 3 external drives on the 1TB drive, but it took
forever. There's got to be a better way. Plus, I couldn't copy/paste
the C: drive.

My question is this, do I 'just' backup all of these drives, or do I
image them? Or, do I back up the external HDD's and image the
internal C: drive?

If backup is the answer for the external drives, would the simple
backup utility supplied with XP be sufficient? What would be the
advantage of using a more sophisticated backup program?

Next, after several months, during which I may make some media
additions to the external drives, how would I go about updating the
backups with out re-copying the entire drive? Would a syncronization
program take care of this? Or is this where incremental backups come
to fore?

I realize I don't want to 'clone' the C: drive, but will the XP backup
program do all I need to create a refreshable backup of the C: drive?
Or, do I need to Image C:?

Thank you in advance for your advice and patience. I'm getting there,
but at 75, its taking me longer than it used to and things are not
understood quite as quickly as they once were.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

XP Pro Sp2

I bought a 1TB USB HDD to be nothing more than the media for backing
up 3 external HDDs, (2 - 250GB USB HDDs, plus a 160GB USB HDD), and
the 40GB internal HDD that is C:

The 2 - 250GB HDD's contain media libraries; Music, Video and
pictures, which are fairly static, though I do add to each of them
occasionally. The 160GB HDD contains all application data, some of
which changes daily, depending on which apps I use. Of course the
40GB C: drive changes with updates, etc.

I used Windows Explorer's 'Copy/Paste' function to create a backup
copy of these 3 external drives on the 1TB drive, but it took
forever. There's got to be a better way. Plus, I couldn't
copy/paste the C: drive.

My question is this, do I 'just' backup all of these drives, or do I
image them? Or, do I back up the external HDD's and image the
internal C: drive?

If backup is the answer for the external drives, would the simple
backup utility supplied with XP be sufficient? What would be the
advantage of using a more sophisticated backup program?

Next, after several months, during which I may make some media
additions to the external drives, how would I go about updating the
backups with out re-copying the entire drive? Would a
syncronization program take care of this? Or is this where
incremental backups come to fore?

I realize I don't want to 'clone' the C: drive, but will the XP
backup program do all I need to create a refreshable backup of the
C: drive? Or, do I need to Image C:?

Thank you in advance for your advice and patience. I'm getting
there, but at 75, its taking me longer than it used to and things
are not understood quite as quickly as they once were.

Imaging a drive that is nothing but data seems pretty much a lesson in
futility to me. Anything you could just setup a scheduled task to do (copy
all the files from the hard drive to another drive, even compressed if you
so desired) - I personally wouldn't bother imaging.

Your system drive is another matter - as you cannot copy all the files on it
while it is in use by normal means. A good occassional image would ensure
the fastest path back to full functionality along with system state backups
and other backups for favorites, documents, etc that you might store on the
system drive.

Imaging - useful for a quick return to the eact same state it was when the
image was taken. Think of it like a photograph except that you can actually
return to the state everything was in when the photograph was taken when
applying it to computing terms.

Using some backup utility or even just XCOPY with a few command line
switches as a scheduled task or even some compression utility like 7-ZIP and
command line switches in a scheduled task would be a quick and simple way to
start backing up the *data* that is important to you.

 

[Jim Cladingboel]

XP Pro Sp2

I bought a 1TB USB HDD to be nothing more than the media for backing
up 3 external HDDs, (2 - 250GB USB HDDs, plus a 160GB USB HDD), and
the 40GB internal HDD that is C:

The 2 - 250GB HDD's contain media libraries; Music, Video and
pictures, which are fairly static, though I do add to each of them
occasionally. The 160GB HDD contains all application data, some of
which changes daily, depending on which apps I use. Of course the
40GB C: drive changes with updates, etc.

I used Windows Explorer's 'Copy/Paste' function to create a backup
copy of these 3 external drives on the 1TB drive, but it took
forever. There's got to be a better way. Plus, I couldn't copy/paste
the C: drive.

My question is this, do I 'just' backup all of these drives, or do I
image them? Or, do I back up the external HDD's and image the
internal C: drive?

If backup is the answer for the external drives, would the simple
backup utility supplied with XP be sufficient? What would be the
advantage of using a more sophisticated backup program?

Next, after several months, during which I may make some media
additions to the external drives, how would I go about updating the
backups with out re-copying the entire drive? Would a syncronization
program take care of this? Or is this where incremental backups come
to fore?

I realize I don't want to 'clone' the C: drive, but will the XP backup
program do all I need to create a refreshable backup of the C: drive?
Or, do I need to Image C:?

Thank you in advance for your advice and patience. I'm getting there,
but at 75, its taking me longer than it used to and things are not
understood quite as quickly as they once were.

Being the same age, I quite understand your problem.
Backups are good, but Images are essential for your
Drive C, the most critical item in your PC!
I recommend you look on Google for Macrium Reflect
and DriveImageXML.
Both are freeware and can quickly and easily make
images of your Drive C. Being a little paranoid (after
a big problem!), I image mine weekly on Drive Image,
and at intervals during the week on Macrium Reflect .
You should spread such images between your
external HDDs for added security.
As regards using the 1TB to backup data on your other
external Drives, the backup utility supplied with XP is
not very good. I suggest you try Syncback, also
freeware, which can exactly synchronise the data from
your other three externals on to the 1TB. the program
can make incremental backups, which is what you will
need. Good luck,

Jim.

 

[SC Tom]

Being the same age, I quite understand your problem.
Backups are good, but Images are essential for your
Drive C, the most critical item in your PC!
I recommend you look on Google for Macrium Reflect
and DriveImageXML.
Both are freeware and can quickly and easily make
images of your Drive C. Being a little paranoid (after
a big problem!), I image mine weekly on Drive Image,
and at intervals during the week on Macrium Reflect .
You should spread such images between your
external HDDs for added security.
As regards using the 1TB to backup data on your other
external Drives, the backup utility supplied with XP is
not very good. I suggest you try Syncback, also
freeware, which can exactly synchronise the data from
your other three externals on to the 1TB. the program
can make incremental backups, which is what you will
need. Good luck,

Jim.

Jim,
Have you tried to restore an image with Drive Image? I have a notebook with
a 320GB HDD, and I image it to a 500GB external drive. For grins and
giggles, I tried to restore my image (which is about 60GB) to another 320GB
HDD I had, and kept getting the error message that the "destination drive
must be as large or larger than the image." The drive had been
re-partitioned, so there's nothing on it, so it's not that. According to DI,
it doesn't need to be formatted, but I even tried that after the first
failure. Since it's the free version, there is no support from DI (I tried).
Any ideas on why this happens?

SC Tom (63 YO and counting )

P.S. Before any one else reminds me that this is not an XP question, I
realize that, but there isn't a newsgroup or forum for Drive Image that I
could find.

 

[smlunatick]

Being the same age, I quite understand your problem.
Backups are good, but Images are essential for your
Drive C, the most critical item in your PC!
I recommend you look on Google for Macrium Reflect
and DriveImageXML.
Both are freeware and can quickly and easily make
images of your Drive C.  Being a little paranoid (after
a big problem!), I image mine weekly on Drive Image,
and at intervals during the week on Macrium Reflect .
You should spread such images between your
external HDDs for added security.
As regards using the 1TB to backup data on your other
external Drives, the backup utility supplied with XP is
not very good. I suggest you try Syncback, also
freeware, which can exactly synchronise the data from
your other three externals on to the 1TB. the program
can make incremental backups, which is what you will
need.   Good luck,

Jim.

Image is extremely difficult to restore. Backups can let you restore
files selectively but as for Images, you restore the entire drive or
nothing.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

<snipped>

Image is extremely difficult to restore. Backups can let you
restore files selectively but as for Images, you restore the entire
drive or nothing.

Except that most imaging utilities come with applications that allow you to
copy files from within inside the image individually. ;-)

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

XP Pro Sp2

I bought a 1TB USB HDD to be nothing more than the media for backing
up 3 external HDDs, (2 - 250GB USB HDDs, plus a 160GB USB HDD), and
the 40GB internal HDD that is C:

The 2 - 250GB HDD's contain media libraries; Music, Video and
pictures, which are fairly static, though I do add to each of them
occasionally. The 160GB HDD contains all application data, some of
which changes daily, depending on which apps I use. Of course the
40GB C: drive changes with updates, etc.

I used Windows Explorer's 'Copy/Paste' function to create a backup
copy of these 3 external drives on the 1TB drive, but it took
forever. There's got to be a better way. Plus, I couldn't copy/paste
the C: drive.

My question is this, do I 'just' backup all of these drives, or do I
image them? Or, do I back up the external HDD's and image the
internal C: drive?

If backup is the answer for the external drives, would the simple
backup utility supplied with XP be sufficient? What would be the
advantage of using a more sophisticated backup program?

To backup just data drives, almost any way of doing it is sufficient.
There's no advantage to imaging and you don't even need the XP backup
program. You can simply copy the files almost any way--copy and paste,
drag and drop, copy command, etc.

However, that is not true of the C: drive, where the operating system
is. If you want to backup that, you need a more sophisticate method,
and imaging is a very good way to do it.

Next, after several months, during which I may make some media
additions to the external drives, how would I go about updating the
backups with out re-copying the entire drive? Would a syncronization
program take care of this? Or is this where incremental backups come
to fore?

There are numbers of ways to do this, and one of them, as you suggest,
is simply recopying everything. Yes it will take a little longer, but
so what? Do it at night and it will be done when you wake up in the
morning.

I realize I don't want to 'clone' the C: drive, but will the XP backup
program do all I need to create a refreshable backup of the C: drive?
Or, do I need to Image C:?

Thank you in advance for your advice and patience. I'm getting there,
but at 75, its taking me longer than it used to and things are not
understood quite as quickly as they once were.

You're just a little over three years older than I am. Don't belittle
yourself because of your age.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Being the same age, I quite understand your problem.
Backups are good, but Images are essential for your
Drive C, the most critical item in your PC!
I recommend you look on Google for Macrium Reflect
and DriveImageXML.
Both are freeware and can quickly and easily make
images of your Drive C. Being a little paranoid (after
a big problem!), I image mine weekly on Drive Image,
and at intervals during the week on Macrium Reflect .
You should spread such images between your
external HDDs for added security.
As regards using the 1TB to backup data on your other
external Drives, the backup utility supplied with XP is
not very good. I suggest you try Syncback, also
freeware, which can exactly synchronise the data from
your other three externals on to the 1TB. the program
can make incremental backups, which is what you will
need. Good luck,

Jim.

Image is extremely difficult to restore. Backups can let you restore
files selectively but as for Images, you restore the entire drive or
nothing.

============

This is definitely not true for the images created with current software
such as TrueImage. Simply mount the image, and copy the files you need.
It's extremely easy to do.

-pk

 

[Teflon]

On Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:10:36 -0700 (PDT), Teflon

You're just a little over three years older than I am. Don't belittle
yourself because of your age.

Ken, you write like a much younger man, I enjoy reading your posts,
always learn something new. And I'm not belittling, just accepting
things the way they are becoming. Still believe in the old saying, "I
may not be as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was."

Too bad there aren't some industry standards in defining terms. All
of this 'clone', 'image', 'backup', etc. confusion reminds me of the
ever changing nomenclature (with suitable Acronyms) IBM used to use in
reference to 'new' functionality. Actually, the underlying basics
were always the same, I contend they just changed the words describing
them to confuse the customers and make their sales folks sound like
experts. When the customers got educated, the glib IBM salesman was
lost. Long live the SE.

Anyway, thanks to all for responding. I will look at the utilities
suggested. May be back if something doesn't work.

(BTW - I was one of those glib IBM salesmen, the SE's saved my bacon.)

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Ken, you write like a much younger man, I enjoy reading your posts,
always learn something new. And I'm not belittling, just accepting
things the way they are becoming. Still believe in the old saying,
"I may not be as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever
was."

"You won't learn any younger than you are right now."
"When you stop learning, you're dead."

;-)

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Ken, you write like a much younger man,

If that's a compliment, thanks very much. ;-)

I enjoy reading your posts,
always learn something new.

And thanks for that too.

 

[Unknown]

Didn't the CE's ever save your 'bacon'?

On Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:10:36 -0700 (PDT), Teflon

You're just a little over three years older than I am. Don't belittle
yourself because of your age.

Ken, you write like a much younger man, I enjoy reading your posts,
always learn something new. And I'm not belittling, just accepting
things the way they are becoming. Still believe in the old saying, "I
may not be as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was."

Too bad there aren't some industry standards in defining terms. All
of this 'clone', 'image', 'backup', etc. confusion reminds me of the
ever changing nomenclature (with suitable Acronyms) IBM used to use in
reference to 'new' functionality. Actually, the underlying basics
were always the same, I contend they just changed the words describing
them to confuse the customers and make their sales folks sound like
experts. When the customers got educated, the glib IBM salesman was
lost. Long live the SE.

Anyway, thanks to all for responding. I will look at the utilities
suggested. May be back if something doesn't work.

(BTW - I was one of those glib IBM salesmen, the SE's saved my bacon.)

 

[SC Tom]

XP Pro Sp2

I bought a 1TB USB HDD to be nothing more than the media for backing
up 3 external HDDs, (2 - 250GB USB HDDs, plus a 160GB USB HDD), and
the 40GB internal HDD that is C:

The 2 - 250GB HDD's contain media libraries; Music, Video and
pictures, which are fairly static, though I do add to each of them
occasionally. The 160GB HDD contains all application data, some of
which changes daily, depending on which apps I use. Of course the
40GB C: drive changes with updates, etc.

I used Windows Explorer's 'Copy/Paste' function to create a backup
copy of these 3 external drives on the 1TB drive, but it took
forever. There's got to be a better way. Plus, I couldn't copy/paste
the C: drive.

My question is this, do I 'just' backup all of these drives, or do I
image them? Or, do I back up the external HDD's and image the
internal C: drive?

If backup is the answer for the external drives, would the simple
backup utility supplied with XP be sufficient? What would be the
advantage of using a more sophisticated backup program?

Next, after several months, during which I may make some media
additions to the external drives, how would I go about updating the
backups with out re-copying the entire drive? Would a syncronization
program take care of this? Or is this where incremental backups come
to fore?

I realize I don't want to 'clone' the C: drive, but will the XP backup
program do all I need to create a refreshable backup of the C: drive?
Or, do I need to Image C:?

Thank you in advance for your advice and patience. I'm getting there,
but at 75, its taking me longer than it used to and things are not
understood quite as quickly as they once were.

If your external drive or one of your internals is a Western-Digital (or
Seagate, from what I hear now), you can download Acronis True Image for
WD/Seagate. I have an external WD I use for backups, and had a real problem
doing a restore from Drive Image XML (the freebie). I downloaded True Image
today, created the boot CD, backed up my C: drive, replaced the C: with
another hard drive, and restored it, all in about 2-1/2 hours. The
replacement drive booted up with absolutely no problems, even though the new
drive is half the size of the original. Amazing! True Image is my new best
friend, and it's free!! I highly recommend it.

SC Tom

 

[Jim Cladingboel]

Snip

Jim,
Have you tried to restore an image with Drive Image? I have a notebook
with a 320GB HDD, and I image it to a 500GB external drive. For grins and
giggles, I tried to restore my image (which is about 60GB) to another
320GB HDD I had, and kept getting the error message that the "destination
drive must be as large or larger than the image." The drive had been
re-partitioned, so there's nothing on it, so it's not that. According to
DI, it doesn't need to be formatted, but I even tried that after the first
failure. Since it's the free version, there is no support from DI (I
tried). Any ideas on why this happens?

SC Tom (63 YO and counting )

P.S. Before any one else reminds me that this is not an XP question, I
realize that, but there isn't a newsgroup or forum for Drive Image that I
could find.

Good point, Tom, but why is your Drive C around 60GB? Mine is
a 15GB partition on a 250 GB HDD and WinXPHome/SP3 occupies
just 5.7GB of that. I can't say why your experiment failed and it's
just possible there could be a problem with DriveImageXML. But
that's why I also use Macrium Reflect - belt & braces (or should that
be belt & suspenders?).
However, both programs clone as XMLs meaning that their images
can be opened to give access to the individual files cloned within
them.

Jim.
"Two countries divided by a common language".

 

[SC Tom]

Good point, Tom, but why is your Drive C around 60GB? Mine is
a 15GB partition on a 250 GB HDD and WinXPHome/SP3 occupies
just 5.7GB of that. I can't say why your experiment failed and it's
just possible there could be a problem with DriveImageXML. But
that's why I also use Macrium Reflect - belt & braces (or should that
be belt & suspenders?).
However, both programs clone as XMLs meaning that their images
can be opened to give access to the individual files cloned within
them.

Jim.
"Two countries divided by a common language".

I have only the one partition, and that's the entire drive. The image was a
data/system image, not a sector-by-sector image since that would have
occupied most of my external drive's 500GB. And looking back at the image,
it was more like 40GB and not 60GB as I had originally stated (the 60GB
image was from my desktop PC). I don't know if DriveImage was looking at the
total size of my external drive where the image was and comparing it to the
size of the drive I was restoring to and figuring it that way or what, but
nothing I did would get it to restore 60GB to 320GB. Things that make ya go
huh
I have since found a much better solution using Acronis TrueImage for
Western Digital. I have another post in this thread about the success I had
with it.

Thanks for your reply,
SC Tom

 

[Twayne]

Image is extremely difficult to restore. Backups can let you restore
files selectively but as for Images, you restore the entire drive or
nothing.

Norton's Ghost allows you to retrieve a file, a folder, or any combo of
files & folders from a complete image that you wish to restore and used
an Explorer type inferfact for choosing the files/folders. I'm pretty
sure TI is the same but not positive since I haven't used it for a long
time.

HTH,

Twayne`

 

[Twayne]

Ken, you write like a much younger man, I enjoy reading your posts,
always learn something new. And I'm not belittling, just accepting
things the way they are becoming. Still believe in the old saying, "I
may not be as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was."

Too bad there aren't some industry standards in defining terms.

There are, once you figure out how/where to search for them. Half the
work is figuring out how to get started<g>.

All

of this 'clone', 'image', 'backup', etc. confusion reminds me of the
ever changing nomenclature (with suitable Acronyms) IBM used to use in
reference to 'new' functionality. Actually, the underlying basics
were always the same, I contend they just changed the words describing
them to confuse the customers and make their sales folks sound like
experts. When the customers got educated, the glib IBM salesman was
lost. Long live the SE.

lol, to a degree that's true I think. More realistically though I think
in the case at hand here, the names got changed around due to technology
advances creating more things that had to be described.

Anyway, thanks to all for responding. I will look at the utilities
suggested. May be back if something doesn't work.

(BTW - I was one of those glib IBM salesmen, the SE's saved my bacon.)

Actually, there are several places with good definitions. Probably the
easiest to read is at wikipedia.com. Some starting points:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloning_(disambiguation)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup_(disambiguation)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_image
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_image

Basically, a "clone" is a perfect copy. What exists on a drive at
locations 1, 2, 3, ... etc, will be copied to another drive's locations
1, 2, 3, ... etc.. After a successful clone, technically you could look
in the same place on either drive and see the exact same data. A drive
IS the clone. It becomes interchangeable with the original. A program
that can Clone is necessary and won't necessarily be capable of making
images.

An "Image" contains all the above information but it will be located
wherever the program feels it fits best. All the same information is
there but you don't know (or care) where the data is located because the
program is smart enough to put things back where they need to be when a
Restore is done. An Image is saved to a drive. To use the Image, it
is Restored back to a drive. A program capable of Imaging is necessary
and they also are often able to also clone.

A "backup" is any method of saving existing data to another location. It
may or may not be the whole drive, could be only parts of it, as in
personal data but not the OS, or the OS but none of the personal data
created, etc..
XP will not let you back up any files that are opened or being used
unless the program you use accesses what is called Volume Shadow Copy
Services. Almost NONE of the regular copy programs do that (copy,
xcopy, robocop, etc. etc.). Therefore, to back up the Operating System
drive, which always has files in use if windows is running, needs a
program capable of using VSS services. Any program that can back up the
OS uses the VSS services.

Some other terms that will be useful are the typs of backups and I'll
let you search those out are:
-- Incremental backup
-- Full backup
There are others but they are generally not used although wikipedia
will mention th em if you look these up there. wikipedia.com.
Sometimes it's easier to put the search term you want right in the URL
you use such as:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image
for image information. Then you might follow more links from there.

HTH,

Twayne`

 

[Teflon]

I have only the one partition, and that's the entire drive. The image wasa
data/system image, not a sector-by-sector image since that would have
occupied most of my external drive's 500GB.

I have since found a much better solution using Acronis TrueImage for
Western Digital. I have another post in this thread about the success I had
with it.

Tom,

I followed your lead and got the WD Edition of ATI. Installation was
a snap and imaged both my C: Drive and the ServiceV001 partition, no
problemo.

Was confused by the imaging options 'Full Image' versus 'System
State'. Is 'System State' what you are referring to as a 'data/
system' image? Is that equivalent to the Restore Point XP creates?
If not, could someone explain the difference? Twayne?

Ken, yes, that was a compliment. Your writing has a sure vitality to
it - like the young guns.

And Unknown, yes, the CE's saved more than my bacon. Having started
when 'unit record' was hi-tech, and stayed with Big Blue for 35 years,
I have enough CE and other Blue 'war-stories' to fill a book. But, I
digress.............thanks for chipping in (that's a pun, son).

Twayne,

Excellent job, much appreciated. Still confused, but I doubt if you
know where my glasses and keys got off to.

Another question, does the 'On-Demand' functionality of an AV app kick
in when ATI is creating an image? I have Avira AV, and I believe it
was running when I was copy/pasting one of those HDDs to create a
backup. Sure took a long time. Should that feature be turned off
when doing a backup? Creating an Image? Cloning?

Oh yeah, curious about that ServiceV001 partion (hidden on WE, but
visible in Disk Management). I'm told it was put there by the
manufacturer, and has all the stuff necessary to restore XP and the
machine to factory specs (heaven forbid). If I have an Image of the
C: drive, do I need to keep that Service V001 partition, or any of the
stuff in it? I have an image of it as well on the external backup HDD.
I made a set of restore CD's, then IBM sent me several sets of the
restore CD's, when I had to replace a faulty HD. Seems to me this
stuff is just taking up 5GB and serving no purpose. Opinions?

Finally, now that I have ATI, can I get rid of the IBM (Lenovo)
ThinkVantage Restore & Recover app and associated files?

Thanks all.

 

[Just D.]

Hi Teflon,

I'd recommend to take a closer look at www.acronis.com - it has a good
solution for home computers. And also, regardless of their web prices, there
are the companies like www.newegg.com, having a huge discount on the items
like this. I'm using Acronis True Image Home for many years, but recently I
found a very good deal for Acronis True Image Home 2009 at newegg - $23.99,
later $24.99 with free delivery and $20 mail in rebate. Of course I bought
this app and upgraded one of my computers to this version keeping others
with version 11. It can make a complete backup, incremental or differential
backup with encrption or not, compression or not, it can backup files and
directories, you can mount an image and copy the required files to your
computer, etc.If your PC is dead you can boot using their bootable CD and
restore the whole computer or migrate to a new hard drive, etc. Tons of
features. You'd better read at their web site. This is my solution and it
already saved me many times, especially after several very critical MS
service packs and upgrades that destroyed my computer. After 20 minutes the
whole system was competely restored and I kept working, very convenient!

Just D.

 

[SC Tom]

I did a Disk and Partitions backup. That gets everything on the drive or
partition you select, including the MBR. The System State backup does all
your system files and folders, but not working files and folders.

SC Tom

I have only the one partition, and that's the entire drive. The image was
a
data/system image, not a sector-by-sector image since that would have
occupied most of my external drive's 500GB.

I have since found a much better solution using Acronis TrueImage for
Western Digital. I have another post in this thread about the success I
had
with it.

Tom,

I followed your lead and got the WD Edition of ATI. Installation was
a snap and imaged both my C: Drive and the ServiceV001 partition, no
problemo.

Was confused by the imaging options 'Full Image' versus 'System
State'. Is 'System State' what you are referring to as a 'data/
system' image? Is that equivalent to the Restore Point XP creates?
If not, could someone explain the difference? Twayne?

Ken, yes, that was a compliment. Your writing has a sure vitality to
it - like the young guns.

And Unknown, yes, the CE's saved more than my bacon. Having started
when 'unit record' was hi-tech, and stayed with Big Blue for 35 years,
I have enough CE and other Blue 'war-stories' to fill a book. But, I
digress.............thanks for chipping in (that's a pun, son).

Twayne,

Excellent job, much appreciated. Still confused, but I doubt if you
know where my glasses and keys got off to.

Another question, does the 'On-Demand' functionality of an AV app kick
in when ATI is creating an image? I have Avira AV, and I believe it
was running when I was copy/pasting one of those HDDs to create a
backup. Sure took a long time. Should that feature be turned off
when doing a backup? Creating an Image? Cloning?

Oh yeah, curious about that ServiceV001 partion (hidden on WE, but
visible in Disk Management). I'm told it was put there by the
manufacturer, and has all the stuff necessary to restore XP and the
machine to factory specs (heaven forbid). If I have an Image of the
C: drive, do I need to keep that Service V001 partition, or any of the
stuff in it? I have an image of it as well on the external backup HDD.
I made a set of restore CD's, then IBM sent me several sets of the
restore CD's, when I had to replace a faulty HD. Seems to me this
stuff is just taking up 5GB and serving no purpose. Opinions?

Finally, now that I have ATI, can I get rid of the IBM (Lenovo)
ThinkVantage Restore & Recover app and associated files?

Thanks all.