Reinstall Vista several times?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Martin
  • Start date Start date
M

Martin

I've set up a computer with both XP and Vista on it. The computer has
two physical drives - drive 0 is C and contains XP; Drive 1 is divided
into two partitions (Drives D & E); Vista is installed on D. E is
empty.

This whole setup is for me to "play with". I will be installing
self-developed programs and learning how things need to be done
differently in Vista. When I reach a point where I've got stuff so
screwed-up, I want to be able to simply start all over again. So, my
question is: will I be able to simply re-install Vista?

I'm using a retail-purchased copy of Vista Business. I have the CD. I
assume there are some kind of restrictions that would prevent me from
installing this on several *different* computers. Is there anything
that will keep me from installing it several times on the *same*
computer?

Would I be better served to clone drive D to E and then restore from
there?
 
Martin said:
I've set up a computer with both XP and Vista on it. The computer has
two physical drives - drive 0 is C and contains XP; Drive 1 is divided
into two partitions (Drives D & E); Vista is installed on D. E is
empty.

This whole setup is for me to "play with". I will be installing
self-developed programs and learning how things need to be done
differently in Vista. When I reach a point where I've got stuff so
screwed-up, I want to be able to simply start all over again. So, my
question is: will I be able to simply re-install Vista?

I'm using a retail-purchased copy of Vista Business. I have the CD. I
assume there are some kind of restrictions that would prevent me from
installing this on several *different* computers. Is there anything
that will keep me from installing it several times on the *same*
computer?

Would I be better served to clone drive D to E and then restore from
there?
Click to expand...


Each time you re-install Vista (or XP) you will have to re-activate. After
the first couple of times you will have to phone for activation.

The best solution for doing stuff like this is an external drive and a disk
imaging program. Set up the system as you want it then create a couple of
images of the whole system (not just Vista) and also individual images of
each partition. This way no matter what happens you can get back to a known
good state. Restoring images is also much faster and easier than
re-installing Windows. You want an external drive because there are many
scenarios when testing that one OS can corrupt another and/or any
drives/partitions that are available at the time. Backing up to an internal
drive is not a backup but a copy. A backup can be restored no matter what
happens to the system.
 
Martin said:
I've set up a computer with both XP and Vista on it. The computer has
two physical drives - drive 0 is C and contains XP; Drive 1 is divided
into two partitions (Drives D & E); Vista is installed on D. E is
empty.

This whole setup is for me to "play with". I will be installing
self-developed programs and learning how things need to be done
differently in Vista. When I reach a point where I've got stuff so
screwed-up, I want to be able to simply start all over again. So, my
question is: will I be able to simply re-install Vista?

I'm using a retail-purchased copy of Vista Business. I have the CD. I
assume there are some kind of restrictions that would prevent me from
installing this on several *different* computers. Is there anything
that will keep me from installing it several times on the *same*
computer?

Would I be better served to clone drive D to E and then restore from
there?
Click to expand...


You should be able to reinstall Vista on the same hardware as many times as
you need to, however, cloning your D: drive would be a time saver as you
wouldn't have to reactivate, redownload all updates, reinstall apps etc.
 
Kerry / Jim: Thanks. I think I'll go the cloning route.

Is there a cloning program you would recommend? (Maybe a free one?)
 
Martin said:
I've set up a computer with both XP and Vista on it. The computer has
two physical drives - drive 0 is C and contains XP; Drive 1 is divided
into two partitions (Drives D & E); Vista is installed on D. E is
empty.

This whole setup is for me to "play with". I will be installing
self-developed programs and learning how things need to be done
differently in Vista. When I reach a point where I've got stuff so
screwed-up, I want to be able to simply start all over again. So, my
question is: will I be able to simply re-install Vista?

I'm using a retail-purchased copy of Vista Business. I have the CD. I
assume there are some kind of restrictions that would prevent me from
installing this on several *different* computers. Is there anything
that will keep me from installing it several times on the *same*
computer?

Would I be better served to clone drive D to E and then restore from
there?
Click to expand...


I don't know of any free ones but there may be some. I've used Acronis True
Image for years. It is reliable, easy to use, and Vista compatible.
 
Martin said:
Kerry / Jim: Thanks. I think I'll go the cloning route.

Is there a cloning program you would recommend? (Maybe a free one?)
Click to expand...


I use Acronis True Image. I get it for free but I paid for and used it for
many years before I qualified for the free offer.
 
I don't know of any free ones but there may be some. I've used Acronis True
Image for years. It is reliable, easy to use, and Vista compatible.
Click to expand...

Jim / Kerry -

Both of you, and others, have recommended Acronis for cloning so I'm
going to go with that (True Image 10 Home).

A question perhaps you could answer: As I've mentioned, I have this
machine setup to dual-boot to either XP or Vista. I'm interested in
cloning only the Vista drive (D). Should I install True Image in XP or
in Vista? Or does it make any difference?

Thanks.
 
Martin said:
Jim / Kerry -

Both of you, and others, have recommended Acronis for cloning so I'm
going to go with that (True Image 10 Home).

A question perhaps you could answer: As I've mentioned, I have this
machine setup to dual-boot to either XP or Vista. I'm interested in
cloning only the Vista drive (D). Should I install True Image in XP or
in Vista? Or does it make any difference?

Thanks.
Click to expand...


I prefer offline cloning. I haven't used TI 10 Home so I'm not sure how it
works. With previous versions once it's installed you make a recovery CD to
use for restoring images. You can also boot from this CD and create images.

You should have at least one image of the whole system including the boot
sector.
 
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