Pc Related - Bootable Drive Images ? Advice Required Please

[RickT]

Hi,

Im going to format the pc and rebuild due to having too much rubbish on it and running pretty slow..

I have spent hours trying to get it running smooth, but the time has come to rebuild it..

I have got a "Recovery" disk which i have used before and is rubbish. takes ages.... i mean HOURS AND HOURS!!

Moving forward what i am wanting to do is create a boot-able drive image which is to be stored on another drive once i have rebuilt the PC with a fresh copy of XP..

Then i am wanting to get another image once i have installed all CORE applications and drivers etc..

Then another image once i have installed all the "nice to haves" i require..

Moving forward i am wanting to have a rolling 3 latest images to restore to if required..

So the question is...

Does anyone know of any decent drive image software which provides a boot-able image, able to install an image to a different partition / drive??

i have had a look about at a few apps and a few try yo "do" too much and take too much control..

I am anting something that does what it says on the tin!

Current drive status..

1X 80GB, - Master IDE0
1X 250GB -- IDE Master - 1Currently 1 partition but this will be changing.
1X180 GB - IDE Slave - 1 2 Partions -blank.

Any advice?

Cheers

Rick

[RickT]

I have just installed NTI Backup Now 5 Advanced which looks like it will do what I require.. image backups and recovery disks for each drive backup if required..

I will have a play..

Any one used the above application?

Rick

[tornadored7]

Hi Rick,

[I am assuming that you are refering to installing a M$ Windows Variant]

Strictly speaking it's not on the subject of Bootable Drive Images, so I'm not sure if this is exactly what you want to do, but I do the following;

Before installing any Operating Systems I partition the hard disk.

More importantly for M$ Windows, I ensure that I have seperate partitions for;

Windows Installation
Applications Installed
User data (i.e. Vista: Users, WinXP: Documents and Settings)
Backup Images

... any other Operating Systems.

e.g. [purely as an example]

C drive: Windows install + paging/swap file
D drive: Applications install
E drive: User data
F drive: Backup images

I then take backup images of these partitions {C,D,E}. Personally I use Norton Ghost to take images (there are probably better products out there, but I've used it for ages and it has never let me down). Ghost will capture several partitions into a single image file, which can then be archived, self documented and even explored/traversed. It is also possible to create Ghost boot disks. I haven't found Ghost to take too long either when creating or recovering the image.

The main reason for the multiple Windows partitioning, is that like good software it allows code and data to be distinct.

Hence, if Windows or applications were {corrupted, virus/spyware infested, overloaded with rogue software/registry entires} it would permit the Windows and Applications partition recovery without necessarily damaging my data (be sure to store this on the User data partition and to have a seperate but regular backing up strategy for this partition).

Essentially, the user data is likely to change more frequently than the applications, and shouldn't be lost if recovering Windows.

WinXP and Vista unattended install options allow the Users/Documents and Settings drives to be specified at install time. It is possible to do this retrospectively (post install), but isn't rock solid and I personally wouldn't recommend this.

This partitioning, also helps me defragment and manage the hard disks more easily.

As per your suggestion, I also create staged backup images;

1. Core: Windows, Mobo/Chipset + Device Drivers + Windows updates
2. Supplemental: Commonly used applications + further Windows updates

Regards,
TR7

[RickT]

Cheers for the advice,

In regards to OS, its XP,

I am going to go down the route of the partitions spliting the OS, updates, apps and user data.

Over night i ran an backup with NTI and it seems to have done whats was require..

just need to start locating all the applications now before rebuilding!!

Rick

[Terri00]

If you check out the av forums they have a section just on pc rebuilding with some very knowledgable people on there, I managed to build my pc with help and advice from them

Terri
xxx

[tornadored7]

You're welcome Rick.

As advised in my previous post, the most robust way to seperate the [Documents and Settings] WinXP folder onto another drive, is to specify this at WinXP install time, using an unattended install.

I'm sure that you're more than capable, but if you need some advice/want to double check the unattended install settings let me know (i.e. PM) and I'll PM you an example unattended install setup file, which you should be able to change trivially.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend any other post install method (i.e. registry hacks) to coerce Windows to relocate the D&S folder.

Perfect timing to create a backup since WinXP SP3 is also available [see MS Windows XP SP3 Release++ (RMS fix)], so you might want to slipstream this for an easier install. Although WinXP SP3 is mainly updates, installing it ASAP (after an XP SP2 install), should considerably reduce the amount of time initially spent on the Windows Updates site.

Regards,
TR7