Restoring from an external hard disk backup

[Hackworth]

I've been thinking about investing in an external hard disk drive (USB 2.0
or FireWire), such as the Maxtor OneTouch external hard disk or the Seagate
model.

My question: if my system's internal hard disk crashes, will I be able to
boot from the external disk and then restore a mirror image to the new
replacement internal hard disk? I assume I'd need Norton Ghost or PowerQuest
DriveImage or something like that, correct? My point is that I really don't
want to go through the hassle of reinstalling Windows just to run a restore
program. I want to be able to boot from a backup disk and automatically
start the restore process directly from there.

If any of you have an external hard disk that you've used to do a complete
system restore, I'd like to know about your setup and how you did it.

 

[Will Dormann]

My question: if my system's internal hard disk crashes, will I be able to
boot from the external disk and then restore a mirror image to the new
replacement internal hard disk? I assume I'd need Norton Ghost or PowerQuest
DriveImage or something like that, correct?

Yes. Except you need to boot from a floppy or CD to restore the image.

If any of you have an external hard disk that you've used to do a complete
system restore, I'd like to know about your setup and how you did it.

I highly recommend Acronis True Image. It can back up your system
without needing to exit windows and reboot like Ghost requires. It
also has a scheduler for automating backups, Linux filesystem support,
"Network Neighborhood" support for backing up or restoring over the
network , and much more.

I used to be a Ghost user, but I haven't looked back since...


-WD

 

[Rod Speed]

I've been thinking about investing in an external hard
disk drive (USB 2.0 or FireWire), such as the Maxtor
OneTouch external hard disk or the Seagate model.

Yeah, it is one of the best approaches for backup of a personal PC.

My question: if my system's internal hard disk crashes, will
I be able to boot from the external disk and then restore a
mirror image to the new replacement internal hard disk?

Yes, tho you dont usually boot from the external disk,
the usual thing is to boot from the restore floppy(s)
or the distribution CD of the imaging program etc.

There are technical problems with booting from
firewire drives and booting USB2 drives needs
support for that in the motherboard bios.

I assume I'd need Norton Ghost or PowerQuest
DriveImage or something like that, correct?
Correct.

My point is that I really don't want to go through the hassle
of reinstalling Windows just to run a restore program. I want
to be able to boot from a backup disk and automatically
start the restore process directly from there.

Sure, and they will all allow that.

If any of you have an external hard disk that you've used to do a complete
system restore, I'd like to know about your setup and how you did it.

Heaps just use an external firewire or USB2 drive
with ghost, drive image, TrueImage etc like that.