use sector by sector drive backup to be able to clean install xp?

[Paul Randall]

Partitions can be resized, but not right at restore time. You do that
either long before, or after it's been restored. You just have to have
enough room in some existing partition to put the image file for it to be
successful. (If there isn't enough room to create the backup image,
presumably it will warn you, or, worst case, just abort creating the
backup image).

Perhaps True Image cannot change partition size at restore time -- I have
not used it. I use the DOS version of Norton Ghost which was included with
a 2003 Windows Ghost package. This can restore the previously saved image
to any size partition that can hold the data. Of course, if the image is of
a computer's hard drive before that computer was ever booted, then the first
time you boot this freshly restored system, it will look just like it came
out of the box. Certain manufacturers may have set up their systems so that
on first boot it requires some particular partition size or configuration.
In this case, restoring to a different sized partition may not result in a
usable system. I have had no problem replacing the original 60 GB drive
with a 320 GB drive and restoring the original drive's image to the larger
drive an then running that system. It was a 2005 era HP laptop.

-Paul Randall

 

[Bill in Co.]

Perhaps True Image cannot change partition size at restore time -- I have
not used it. I use the DOS version of Norton Ghost which was included
with
a 2003 Windows Ghost package. This can restore the previously saved image
to any size partition that can hold the data. Of course, if the image is
of
a computer's hard drive before that computer was ever booted, then the
first
time you boot this freshly restored system, it will look just like it came
out of the box. Certain manufacturers may have set up their systems so
that
on first boot it requires some particular partition size or configuration.
In this case, restoring to a different sized partition may not result in a
usable system. I have had no problem replacing the original 60 GB drive
with a 320 GB drive and restoring the original drive's image to the larger
drive an then running that system. It was a 2005 era HP laptop.

-Paul Randall

Looks like I was wrong about this - there is an option within True Image at
restore time to resize it (and change the amount of free space left behind
it as it is being resized). My apologies.

I didn't know why that option was really needed, however, as I would have
expected anyone who is doing a restore operation would have already set up
the partition size being used for the restore operation correctly in the
first place. But perhaps that assumes they have another partition resizing
program they have used prior to doing any of this!