How to Back Up Complete Hard Drive & OS

[Jami]

I am having my computer worked on in a few days & not sure if the hard drive
will have to be replaced. What steps can I take to backup the entire system
"just in case" the hard drive needs replacing? I do not have original
Windows XP MCE installation disks, so I need to know my options.

I need to know the easiest steps possible to do this.

 

[Leonard Grey]

You should be backing up your hard drive every day.

The only way to backup your entire hard disk is with disk imaging. I
recommend you have the technician do this before she or he starts
working on your computer. Any good technician will offer to do this,
even without asking.

Now is the time for you to learn about backing up, and to start doing it
every day.

 

[JS]

First: Backup all your important data files, pictures, music, etc. to DVD
media.

Second: Any sensitive data should be erased with a secure file eraser
Eraser: http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/
Also see: http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Best/dod-erase-free.html

Third: Use Belarc Advisor to obtain the application Key Codes for safe
keeping in case you end up having to reinstall your applications and can't
find the CD key code stickers. Print a hard copy of the Belarc report.
Belarc Advisor: http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
It does a good job of providing a wealth of information including
application key codes.

Fourth: Perform an Image Backup of your existing hard drive to either an
external hard drive, your second internal hard drive if you have one or as a
last resort to DVD media. Remove the second hard drive before the Techs get
to it.

"I do not have original Windows XP MCE installation disks, so I need to know
my options."
Your PC may have a "Restore" partition on the hard drive which could be why
you have no CD.

True Image 2009 - has a 15 day trial version available,
(Trial version can create a Restore CD/Rescue Media, but I have not verified
this yet)
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/
User's Guide: http://us1.download.acronis.com/pdf/TrueImage12_ug.en.pdf

JS
http://www.pagestart.com

 

[notval]

I am having my computer worked on in a few days & not sure if the hard drive
will have to be replaced. What steps can I take to backup the entire system
"just in case" the hard drive needs replacing? I do not have original
Windows XP MCE installation disks, so I need to know my options.

I need to know the easiest steps possible to do this.

Have a look at

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/db-express/index.html

A very good imager free.

Enjoy, Fred

 

[Twayne]

I am having my computer worked on in a few days & not sure if the

hard drive will have to be replaced. What steps can I take to backup
the entire system "just in case" the hard drive needs replacing? I
do not have original Windows XP MCE installation disks, so I need to
know my options.

I need to know the easiest steps possible to do this.

Since you're in a hurry, ntbackup.exe, which comes with XP is your best
bet. Use the Wizard and let 'er go.
Won't back up to a CD or DVD thuogh; you have to save it to your hard
drive and then copy it to CD/DVD.

Otherwise Imaging software such as Wymantec Norton Ghost or Acronis True
Image are both good. The only real difference is a few bells &
whistles - both are good programs.

Twayne

 

[Twayne]

I am having my computer worked on in a few days & not sure if the

hard drive will have to be replaced. What steps can I take to backup
the entire system "just in case" the hard drive needs replacing? I
do not have original Windows XP MCE installation disks, so I need to
know my options.

I need to know the easiest steps possible to do this.

If you don't have a way to reinstall your operating system, you're
looking at losing all your data in the future, sometime between now and
whenever. Are you sure you dn't have recovery CDs or something on the
hard drive to do the restores with?
If you dont' have valid, licensed software, forget it; all bets are
off.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I am having my computer worked on in a few days & not sure if the hard
drive
will have to be replaced. What steps can I take to backup the entire
system
"just in case" the hard drive needs replacing? I do not have original
Windows XP MCE installation disks, so I need to know my options.

I need to know the easiest steps possible to do this.

First, For what you ask, you need to have a destination drive with at least
more than the full size of the data on your hard disk. You can possibly
also do this to several DVD's.

Second, you cannot make a working, restorable and bootable backup by simply
copying the files to the destination and then back. You can back up your
own data effectively, but not system files. You need imaging software for
what you ask.

Third, if the system is presently infected and if that's what's causing you
problems, restoring the image will restore the problems.

The easiest and fastest way to do this is with a USB2 drive case or adapter
(start around $20), another XP system with lots of space, and imaging
software. If there's a spare spot on an internal drive cable you can
attach the drive there, but you will likely have to adjust jumpers.

Download and install the imaging software, such as the free 15-day trial of
Acronis TrueImage, to the other XP system. Then attach your drive, and
run the imaging software to create an image of your hard disk. You'll
have two weeks or so to get the system back and restore to a new drive, but
again, you may be migrating the problems to a new disk.

If the imaging process fails due to disk error, you can be pretty sure that
a failing disk is a large part of your problems, and you can move on to
figuring out how to reinstall to a new drive. Don't chuck the old drive
yet, but treat it as a backup and do not attempt to reinstall to it.

However, before you start, you can take some steps to reduce the image size
and speed up the process. Remove the one or two very large files in the
root, pagefile.sys and hiberfil.sys. These will be rebuilt as needed (you
may need to reboot twice). Also, locate all of the Temporary Internet
Files and Temp folders, and empty them. Finally, empty the recycle bin.

But, there's another problem. If the hard disk needs replacing and you
don't have install CDs, what do you expect the technicians to use to restore
your OS? Is there a recovery partition on your hard disk?

HTH
-pk

 

[shakey]

Since you're in a hurry, ntbackup.exe, which comes with XP is your best
bet. Use the Wizard and let 'er go.
Won't back up to a CD or DVD thuogh; you have to save it to your hard
drive and then copy it to CD/DVD.

Otherwise Imaging software such as Wymantec Norton Ghost or Acronis True
Image are both good. The only real difference is a few bells & whistles -
both are good programs.

Twayne

Be very careful with insuring whatever you chose works for you.
Recient sad experience here after having used Ghost 9 for years to do my
weekly backups it finally was needed and it would not work with its recovery
disk and I could get no replies from Ghost users group.
SG

 

[JS]

Have you tried Symantec's Live Chat to get a replacement CD or an .ISO
download of the recovery CD.
I has to replace my recovery CD (was worn out from frequent use) for Ghost
10 less than one month ago and used Live Chat and downloaded the ISO file.
Used the ISO file to create a new CD and it works just fine.

JS
http://www.pagestart.com

 

[shakey]

Thanks for the idea JS but its not a matter of a worn out disk, much much
more complicated, recovery disk sees saved data on C drive and will not
restore C to C , Data is actually on usb drive F which recovery disk doesn't
recognize. Confusing yes especially since I can restore specific files from
F after getting XP reloaded using other means.. Symantec's site only offered
help for $$$ so I have had it with them, their users room did not reply to
my question. A bad nightmare out behind me now.
SG

 

[JS]

Most likely only the newer versions of Ghost or Acronis True image
support USB drives. And as you know you can not store an
Image Backup file on the C: drive or partition and use it to restore
the C: partition.

Since you said the nightmare is behind you I assume you moved
on to a newer version of an image backup software package.

Thanks for the reply.
JS
http://www.pagestart.com