Page 1 of 1

Help.... backup OS

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:21 pm
by Leonardo
I was playing with an old Compaq P4.... and Accidentaly I erase the fat partition that compaq used to install a fresh copy of windows.

Right now the pc has a fresh copy of windows, with all the updates a copuple of programs installed... that's it.

Is there an easy/free way to backup the whole OS. So if ever need a clean install I can use that instead of my long gone "compaq partition"

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:32 pm
by michaelplogue
Windows has it's own backup utility, where (in theory) you can burn everything to a CD/DVD.

To start Backup, click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup.

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:34 pm
by Mihai
michaelplogue wrote:where (in theory)
Which in the same league of theories as worm holes, backwards time travel and parallel universes.

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:35 pm
by Leonardo
Mihai wrote:
michaelplogue wrote:where (in theory)
Which in the same league of theories as worm holes, backwards time travel and parallel universes.
meaning... does it work... or not? :?

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:38 pm
by ivox3
Sure it works, ....but it's not as nice as actually copying a partition of a newly installed OS to a separate drive.

For that I believe you'll need a separate app .... like one of these:

http://www.duxcw.com/digest/Howto/hd/cpyhd/index.html



They're cheap Leo, ....and not a bad investment.


EDIT: Here are some free ones .....

http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Best ... -free.html

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:48 pm
by michaelplogue
Leonardo wrote:
Mihai wrote:
michaelplogue wrote:where (in theory)
Which in the same league of theories as worm holes, backwards time travel and parallel universes.
meaning... does it work... or not? :?
To be honest, I've never actually tried it for a whole drive - just specific folders. :oops:

Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 4:33 am
by mtripoli
Acronis True Image (http://www.acronis.com/). You can backup any way that you like. In particular, it allows you to make an exact copy of a drive, the right way. You create a boot CD for True Image. You restart and use the software to create a copy. It is very powerful software. Be leary of any kind of software like this that says it runs in Windows - it just can't...

Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 4:01 pm
by dzowada
Maybe its not to late, you can usualy recover data from formated or deleted partitions with a recovery program.

GetDataBack saved my rear end a couple of times.
www.runtime.org

A quick Google search will show other options.

Dan