Hard Drive Backup Image
If you do everything just right, you'll end up with a perfect hard drive. Your operating system will be bug-free; your applications will play well together; your data will be neatly organized in folders; everything will be just perfect. And then it will change. That's why you need a backup image of your hard drive…
| Check out this week's most popular articles. |
Check out theseFREE trial downloads 
RoboForm memorizes and securely stores all your passwords. Enjoy one-click logins, complete checkout forms with one click. This is one program I use all day, every day! 
Slow computer? Diskeeper 2010 means a clean disk, unprecedented speed and reliable efficiency! Download the free trial and see what a difference it makes for you. |
Create A Backup Image Of Your Hard Drive
Change is inevitable. Your operating system and applications write and re-write data constantly. A power surge or voltage drop during disk writing can mess things up. You consciously or accidentally move things around or change settings. You add new applications that do unexpected things. Maybe you catch a virus. Things get out of whack. If only you could put them back the way they were! That's what a disk image is for.
A disk image is a single file that contains a perfect copy of your hard drive as it existed at a given point in time. Store the disk image safely somewhere else. Reformat your hard drive, if the mess gets that bad. Copy the disk image onto the formatted drive. Presto! You're back to that point in time, with everything just as you had it.
Keep in mind that a backup image does not allow you to restore selected files -- it's all or nothing. So I suggest you also read my related articles Free Backup Solutions and Online Backup to familiarize yourself with other options that will allow you to backup and restore individual files or folders.
When Should You Make a Disk Image?
Making a disk image takes a very long time, and you can't use your computer while the image is being made; it would be like a photo subject moving during a snapshot. So make a disk image only at times of critical changes in your hard drive:
- After installing an operating system and all its available patches for the first time. This gives you a clean base upon which to install applications.
- Before installing major applications like Microft Office, in which any number of things can go wrong.
- Before downloading and installing Windows Service Packs, in which any number of things can go wrong.
- At variable intervals depending on how much you add, remove, and rearrange data and applications. Once a month, a quarter, whatever.
How Do I Make a Disk Image?
Some flavors of Windows Vista and Windows 7 can make "system images" which are backup disk images. To create a system image on Windows Vista, Click on Start / Control Panel / System and Maintenance / Backup and Restore Center. Then click on "Back up Computer", and follow the steps in the wizard. On Windows 7, you'll need to click on Start / Control Panel /Backup and Restore, then click "Create a system image".
Note that this system image feature is available only in Vista Business, Enterprise and Ultimate editions, but not in Vista Home Basic or Vista Home Premium. According to reports I've seen, System Image will be available in all versions of Windows 7.
So if you have Windows XP, or some other version of Windows that does not provide the System Image feature, you're not out of luck. Try one of these commercial or freeware disk imaging applications with different approaches and benefits:
- Macrium Reflect is a totally free disk imaging solution.
- Norton Ghost is a heavily marketed and consequently widely used disk image utility. It's also priced at $69.99. Users have mixed opinions of it.
- Acronis has a variety of disk imaging solutions designed for basic home use up to enterprise-wide IT management. Free trial versions are available for downloading. I've used Acronis on my office computers for several years and it works well for me.
Have you made a backup image of your hard drive? Post your comments and questions below...
|
|
Need more tech support?
|
Check out other articles in this category:
Posted by Bob Rankin on August 4, 2009 05:11 PM
| Need More Help? Try the AskBobRankin Updates Newsletter. It's Free! |
 |
Prev Article: File Sharing Student Fined $675K |
|
Next Article: Securing Your Router |
 |
|
Link to this article from your site or blog. Just copy and paste from this box: Related Keywords: Hard Drives disk image drive image backup restore |
There's more reader feedback... See all 14 comments for this article.
Post your Comments, Questions or Suggestions
|
Ask Bob Rankin Home Page
Subscribe to AskBobRankin Updates: Free Newsletter |
|
| Copyright © 2005 - Bob Rankin - All Rights Reserved | ||
Article information: AskBobRankin -- Hard Drive Backup Image (Posted: August 4, 2009 05:11 PM)
Printed from: http://askbobrankin.com/hard_drive_backup_image.html
Copyright © 2005 - Bob Rankin - All Rights Reserved
Most recent comments on "Hard Drive Backup Image"
(See all 14 comments for this article.)Posted by:
Mort
05 Aug 2009
I have been using Macrium Reflect for some time, with no problems. It probably is not as fast as Ghost, but I tend to shy away from Norton products. The full edition of Macrium Reflect ($39.99) does allow individual file restore.
Posted by:
Ron Russell
05 Aug 2009
Seagate has a free copy of Acronis renamed DiscWizard available for download at http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/discwizard
Posted by:
Jack Cook
05 Aug 2009
Whatever strategy & software a person adopts for backing up full disk systems, I strongly recommend it actually be tested at least once with an actual restore. Ask me how I know ...
Posted by:
Jack Mulski
06 Aug 2009
It is possible to use your computer while performing an image backup. Image for Windows by terabyteunlimited.com employs a utility that caches disk writes while the backup is running. Therefore, you can still surf and check email with a backup in progress. Additionally, they also provide a utility that allows you to browse an image backup and restore individual files. You can backup/restore to/from bootable CD/DVD, external USB HD or a network drive. A bootable DOS and Linux CD allows restores from external USB or network drives,without having to reload Windows. And for those blind users (like myself) the program is very screen reader friendly, with the added benefit of being able to perform a restore from DVD with no sighted assistance. I believe the cost of the product is $35, much less than Ghost.
Posted by:
Sandy B
06 Aug 2009
Hi Bob thanks for your news letter. I use Acronis True image for back up and I am very happy with it. I only use Acronis to backup my hard drive but to backup my data I have "My Documents" on a second partition on my first hard drive and I back them up to a partition on my second hard drive with SyncToy http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=C26EFA36-98E0-4EE9-A7C5-98D0592D8C52&displaylang=en It was designed my some Microsoft Employees in their spare time for their own use and they have made it freely available from MS but it is not supported by MS.
I am using Ver.1.4 and I have posted a link to ver.2.0
Posted by:
Debra
06 Aug 2009
I have a LaCie 8 gig external hard drive. I saved specific files there several years ago, now I want to delete them and resave similar files for easy recovery. The problem is, when I went to look for a lost file, I was unable to open the files that were on the external drive. I called lacie and got no help. Anybody have a similar experience or can shed some light on how I can do this and succeed this time?
Posted by:
pat
06 Aug 2009
having used norton ghost to create a backup of my computer which took me about 4 to 5 hours to set up my way and placed in my external drive i then make a duplicate of it in another location as well just in case
Now comes the best part when i crash or my computer goes so bad i decide to restore from the backup it takes me 20 minutes to recover and be back up and running , enough time for me to make a cup of tea
so for me its a complete breath of fresh air
well done norton even though i dont like your antivirus software
Posted by:
Dennis
07 Aug 2009
Bill Levey says - There's even a wonderful video tutorial for those who prefer to be shown how to make all this happen, available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0reKK2ASEaU
Tried to see it today but it appears to be unavailable now. Can anyone advise another link to see it please?
Also with Acronis, at least, the Volume Shadow Copy seems to be necessary which baffles me.
Posted by:
BÓhA
25 Sep 2009
WARNING For the present, avoid SyncToy mentioned by Sandy B on 6 Aug 2009 if you're using NAS...there's a warning on the Microsoft download site http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=C26EFA36-98E0-4EE9-A7C5-98D0592D8C52&displaylang=en about a big file corruption issue.
Posted by:
Mike
04 Oct 2009
I used the built in backup utility in Windows XP found in system tools. I wanted a backup so that in the event of a crash I can reload windows and my programs with all the updates. I chose the option of selecting files and folders to back up because I didn't want to include my personal files. I unchecked My Documents etc. I did check system state. The utility did not make me a boot disk as it would if I chose to back up everything. Will I still be able to restore Windows with updates and all the programs with the backup image that I created?
EDITOR'S NOTE: If you don't have a boot disk, with a way to start the backup program, and restore from the backup, then no.