Whats the best program to use to backup my OS?

[SkScotchegg]

Hi there, please can you help me out by telling him which is the best way to backup my OS.

I believe there's a feature built into vista which does this but I dont know if its any good or if there is something better I can download for free?

Thanks in advance,


SkScotchegg

 

[theheyes]

I think the Vista feature is only built into Business and Ultimate, never used it so can't really comment.

I use Norton Ghost 14, which is quite good. Acronis 10 is going for free at the moment I'm sure someone can post a link if it's still on offer.

 

[BillytheImpaler]

It sort of depends on what you're looking to do. If you just want to make remote spare copies of your files there's one thing. If you want to make complete, bootable disk images it's another.

 

[SkScotchegg]

Yeah I want to make an image of my entire OS and restore it as it is now with everything installed so I dont have to install programs like ts, cclcleaner, codecs, drivers, windows updates again.

Thanks in advance,


SkScotchegg

 

[The Mad Rapper]

Personally I'd create my 'perfect' install, then image my drive using a forensic imager, such as IXImager. I believe that to be available to law enforcement only, so you could try using SPADA which is a Linux CD based solution which will write your image out as non-proprietary bit steam DD files.

You'll need some external storage solution to send the image to, I'd suggest something like an Icy Box containing an IDE drive would do the trick.

 

[CaptainCrash]

Personally I'd create my 'perfect' install, then image my drive using a forensic imager, such as IXImager. I believe that to be available to law enforcement only, so you could try using SPADA which is a Linux CD based solution which will write your image out as non-proprietary bit steam DD files.

You'll need some external storage solution to send the image to, I'd suggest something like an Icy Box containing an IDE drive would do the trick.

Seems like a bit of a sledgehammer to crack a nut...

I'd just use the free version of Macrium Reflect - it's not as feature-filled as Acronis for example, but it's easy to use and... well, free, and if you just need a one-off image of a working system it should fit the bill.

Acronis 10 is going for free at the moment I'm sure someone can post a link if it's still on offer.

I think that offer's expired now...