Ghost image of drive

[GTT]

Prior to installing XP I want to ghost my present hard drive to ensure
I can go back to where I am at presently.

I primarily want to ghost just the operating system files and all
program files, other folders don't matter and my data files are on a
different partition and backed up to another computer. Is it even
possilble to just ghost a portion of the drive or must you copy the
entire drive? If so what are the essential files required to restore
the system?

What is the best program to use for this? Are there any shareware
programs? As this is a one time deal I am not to interested in
spending money on a major software program.

 

[Ferris]

Drive Image...or...Back Up My PC....

 

[zizz]

GTT -
Norton Ghost will allow you to back up either an entire
drive or a partition. However, if you don't know without
asking here, what the essential files are... then you
should probably back up the entire drive. Otherwise, I can
assure you that you will probably never be able to get
them back where they belong. Many backups have been
written, and all too few of them work when needed. Take
as much guess work out of it as possible. I use Ghost to
clone my primary drive frequently, then I have a bootable
backup in case ANYTHING goes wrong. You CAN'T shut me
down for more than 30 seconds. It's saved my backside on
several occasions.
zizz ------------------------------------------------------

 

[GTT]

OK I'm sold . I should backup the entire partition.

The partion is just shy of 14gb. Will ghost compress this and if so
how much space will I need. Can it save to another hard drive on a
networked computer? I have lots of room on partition "d" but as it is
the same drive as C is on I don't feel safe backing up just to that
location. No dvd burner just CD and I asume that will mean a lot of
cd's.

 

[granny]

Ghost C to D
then copy the GHost image files to a networked drive

which version of Ghost do you have?

the command line to split the files is -split=650 (this will split the ghost
image files into 650MB chunks)
to auto name files the command is -auto

you can choose compression type when you select options in GHost

my WinXP is installed on drive D and it's 14GB but I only have 7GB of files.
Ghost will not back up the virtual memory file

my Ghost image files equal 3.22GB using FAST option for compression

jeanette

 

[GTT]

Thanks Jeanette
I should of thought of that myself.

Ghost C to D
then copy the GHost image files to a networked drive

Don't have Ghost yet, was hoping to find a similar shareware software
but none suggested yet

which version of Ghost do you have?

the command line to split the files is -split=650 (this will split the ghost
image files into 650MB chunks)
to auto name files the command is -auto

you can choose compression type when you select options in GHost

my WinXP is installed on drive D and it's 14GB but I only have 7GB of files.
Ghost will not back up the virtual memory file

That compression sounds good. I could easily fit it on my second
computer if it keeps it below 10GB

 

[Alex Nichol]

I primarily want to ghost just the operating system files and all
program files, other folders don't matter and my data files are on a
different partition and backed up to another computer. Is it even
possilble to just ghost a portion of the drive or must you copy the
entire drive? If so what are the essential files required to restore
the system?

What is the best program to use for this? Are there any shareware
programs?

An image of this sort is an image of a partition - the whole thing, and
I would make such a complete image of your C: one for this purpose.
Ghost or Drive Image will do it; what I use is Image for Windows -
shareware at $27 from www.bootitng.com It comes with a related Image
for DOS that you can use for the restore, or will make a bootable CD or
DVD set for the purpose