Backup

[sandmaster]

I would like to backup my entire hard drive to an external drive in case of disk failure. As some of my programs have been downloaded I don't have discs to restore. (Including Windows 7 which came preloaded). So I would like to backup a mirror image. I have read various reviews but I am confused with Acronis. Tru Image seems to be suitable but Disc Director would seem superior at about the same price. Can anyone recommend which I should purchase - or an alternative product based on their experience. many thanks.

[squarebear]

I only have experience with Acronis and have found it easy to use and VERY useful.

[AlBags]

http://www.bleepingco...ials/tutorial160.html

Drive Image XML .. without any hesitation ..
http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm

[VHG]

If Windows 7 came preloaded on your PC then there will almost certainly be some sort of method of restoring or recovering Windows.

Check the documentation that came with PC.

It will either tell you to make some recovery DVDs (you run a program and it creates 2 or 3 DVDs for you)

or it will say there is a recovery partition on your hard disk and you hit a certain set of keys during boot up to do a recovery.

However, having said all that, it is still a good idea to use a product like Acronis to make a backup of your complete hard disk.

[MarkRae]

> I would like to backup my entire hard drive to an external drive in case of disk failure.

A very sensible idea! I wish more people felt the same..

Acronis True Image is an excellent product, and will do precisely what you want. It's very easy to use - I've used it for several years now.

After installation, you create your boot media. Typically, this will be a CD-R. This allows you to boot from the CD rather than from your computer's primary had disk so that you can take a complete image of it. I would suggest that you use a portable hard disk as the destination medium for the backup image.

[VHG]

You use the term "mirror image", but what you want to do is not quite a mirror image.

There are 2 types of "backup" you can do of a hard disk.

If you perhaps want to make AN EXACT COPY of your hard disk (or a clone or mirror) then you use a product to CLONE your hard disk. This allows you, for example, to buy a new hard disk, make a clone of the original hard disk onto this new hard disk, and then put the new hard disk in the PC in place of the old one.

This means the NEW hard disk looks like the OLD hard disk and can be put in a computer and you can boot from it.

However what you want to do is make a backup of your whole hard disk (not the same as a clone).

A product like Acronis will take all the files on your hard disk and then "pack" them into one large backup file (or a few smaller ones) to store them onto your hard disk.

You cant boot from this file as it is like a zip file or rar file and only Acronis will recognize it.

When you come to restore from this file you make a Bootable Acronis disk (easy to do) and then boot your computer with the Acronis disk in the PC.

You then select this Acronis file from the external drive and it "unpacks" it and copies it onto your hard drive, overwriting everhthing that is on the disk in the process.

It is important you understand the difference between clone (or mirror) and a full disk backup.

[AlBags]

Ghosting .. That's what you call it.

[AlBags]

... and it's HARD ... not HAD MarkRae ...

You should know better!

[sandmaster]

Thanks evryone for your time.