Complete Hd Backup

[boxturt]

I would like to back up the hard drive from my laptop to an external HD. Files, settings, programs, registry, the works.

 

HOW?!

 

Even as I typed that it looks dumb but I'm not sure how to get everything. I have XP home on the machine and for some reason does not seem to have a back-up utililty that I thought came with the OS. (Perhaps this is because it's a Dell?)

 

Any suggestions are always appreciated and feel free to move this post.

 

Thanks.

[TCH-Andy]

Hi Ty,

 

I tend to use "Acronis True Image" for this, but there are a number of other packages.

 

You could also have a look at some of the Maxtor options at http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.6adb6b8313633595062e6be791346068/?channelpath=/en_us/Products/External%20Hard%20Drives/OneTouch%20Family

if you want to look at something simple to do on a regular basis (rather than backing up to CD's etc.

[stevevan]

Not sure what you're trying to do, but what about Norton Ghost?

[Madmanmcp]

I use Nortons Ghost...but See if this helps.

 

h_tp://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/bott_03july14.mspx

[LF from MC]

It all depends on how many MB or GB you're backing up, it could be a lot of CD you will need.

 

When I had a crash, I was able to get some of my important files and pictures off, and it took 21 - 700 MBCD

 

I have a external Western Digital one button backup now, and backed up my whole hard drive, and it comes with it's own software for backing up.

Edited August 3, 2006 by LF from MC

[boxturt]

Good Morning and thanks for all your replies.

 

 

My first thought was Ghost but I have Norton Internet Security and its not part of the package. Pretty sure I have an older version (Ghost) but that might not be such a good idea to try to mix the two.

 

I have an older Maxtor one-touch HD w/software but was never able to get it to work properly. Currently that drive is plugged into a Linkstation LAN storage / server and doesn't want to play nice with the software.

 

The linkstation came with software but it absolutely will not copy system files, etc.

 

I was able to install the backup utility from the restore disk from Dell (after I found it buried in the closet ) but once installed it refused to backup everything without a floppy drive present. Grrr. Probably why the utility wasn't present in the first place.

 

I do have something called Second Copy ( h--p://www.centered.com/ ) which I purchsed a couple years ago and it may do what I want. I'll try running it overnight and find out.

 

Thanks very much and I'm still open for suggestions

 

PS - this is my 1111th post..........lol

[Madmanmcp]

My first thought was Ghost but I have Norton Internet Security and its not part of the package. Pretty sure I have an older version (Ghost) but that might not be such a good idea to try to mix the two.

 

The older version may not work on XP. Ghost is a separate package from the Internet Security package and I believe it only comes by itself. But since thats the ONLY program I will ever, EVER use from Symantic I am not positive about that.

[TCH-Bruce]

I use a copy of PowerQuest to do a complete backup. It's similar to Ghost but Symantec bought them up and took it off the market.

[silica]

Another vote for Acronis True Image. Easy to use, reliable, and fast.

 

Second copy is not for cloning hard drives. It is for backing up individual files on a regular basis to a second device. A wonderful program, but I don't think it is what you are looking for.

[boxturt]

Another vote for Acronis True Image. Easy to use, reliable, and fast.

 

Second copy is not for cloning hard drives. It is for backing up individual files on a regular basis to a second device. A wonderful program, but I don't think it is what you are looking for.

 

I'm looking at Acronis now and it won't let me clone as I only have one drive so I guess I do a full backup?

[btrfld]

I realize I'm a bit late to this discussion, however . . .

 

I use FreeByte's fbbackup (h**p://www.freebyte.com/fbbackup/) and it works wonderfully. Simple, and FREE.

 

Of course I do less than a complete HD dump, but I see no reason why you couldn't do such a thing.

[boxturt]

Thanks Jim - free is good! I will look into it.

[TCH-Andy]

I would like to back up the hard drive from my laptop to an external HD.

I'm looking at Acronis now and it won't let me clone as I only have one drive

 

 

I'm slightly confused. (Nothing new there ) are you trying to do a complete copy of your whole disk to another disk? Or do you just want to backup key files from your current drive? I would use completely different things for these two different tasks.

[boxturt]

I was hoping to backup everything not just key files.

 

At this point it is not critical I get this done right away as I am going away for a week and will not have access to computers*

 

 

 

...or radio or television or electricity or plumbing or, or or......................

[silica]

I'm looking at Acronis now and it won't let me clone as I only have one drive so I guess I do a full backup?

 

Having only one drive pretty much negates the purpose of doing a backup. If your hard drive dies, you lose both the original data and the backup.

 

You will need some type of secondary device to perform a backup, whether the backup is to contain just your data files or the entire hard drive. If you want to backup just the data files, then depending on the number and size of the files, you could use a floppy, USB flash drive, CD drive, hard drive, or online backup. To make a clone of the entire hard drive, you will usually need another hard drive, either internal or external. There are some good deals now on USB/firewire external hard drives.

Edited August 6, 2006 by silica