Backup of entire C; Drive

[Paul Tholfsen]

I'd like to regularly make a full backup of my 60G C to a separate drive for
the purpose of a restore if my regular C; drive dies. My simple idea is to
buy a USB detachable drive, and do a copy from one to the other, then
removing the USB drive for safekeeping.

Is it that simple? I assume that if my original drive crashed, or my
computer caught fire, that I could either replace the crashed drive or
computer and copy the data on the USB drive back.

I see several possible problems:

1. Booting to a virgin C: drive
2. Problems with MS activation of the WinXP system
3. How best to do the initial backup.

Please advise.

--
Paul Tholfsen
Bellingham, WA


Please Delete XYZ

[Frank]

The best way is to get a program such as Norton Ghost which will back up
your entire disk.
Just copying only copies the information within the partition it does not
copy the boot sector or partition files.
As far as activation you would not have to worry if it was just the hard
drive you were replacing. If you are moving the hard drive to a new
computer you will have activation problems in addition to other problems
(the operating system has been set up for a particular motherboard chipset
and may give you a blue screen of death). You would probably have to do a
operating system repair or reinstall the operating system and then use a
previous windows xp backup (a backup performed using windows xp) to put your
registry and programs back in place.
"Paul Tholfsen" > wrote in message
...
> I'd like to regularly make a full backup of my 60G C to a separate drive
for
> the purpose of a restore if my regular C; drive dies. My simple idea is
to
> buy a USB detachable drive, and do a copy from one to the other, then
> removing the USB drive for safekeeping.
>
> Is it that simple? I assume that if my original drive crashed, or my
> computer caught fire, that I could either replace the crashed drive or
> computer and copy the data on the USB drive back.
>
> I see several possible problems:
>
> 1. Booting to a virgin C: drive
> 2. Problems with MS activation of the WinXP system
> 3. How best to do the initial backup.
>
> Please advise.
>
> --
> Paul Tholfsen
> Bellingham, WA
>
>
> Please Delete XYZ
>
>

[Paul Tholfsen]

I read somewhere that using Norton Ghost interferes with setting or using
restore points. Correct? if so, would there be some workaround?

--
Paul Tholfsen
Bellingham, WA


Please Delete XYZ

"Frank" > wrote in message
...
> The best way is to get a program such as Norton Ghost which will back up
> your entire disk.
> Just copying only copies the information within the partition it does not
> copy the boot sector or partition files.
> As far as activation you would not have to worry if it was just the hard
> drive you were replacing. If you are moving the hard drive to a new
> computer you will have activation problems in addition to other problems
> (the operating system has been set up for a particular motherboard chipset
> and may give you a blue screen of death). You would probably have to do a
> operating system repair or reinstall the operating system and then use a
> previous windows xp backup (a backup performed using windows xp) to put
your
> registry and programs back in place.
> "Paul Tholfsen" > wrote in message
> ...
> > I'd like to regularly make a full backup of my 60G C to a separate drive
> for
> > the purpose of a restore if my regular C; drive dies. My simple idea is
> to
> > buy a USB detachable drive, and do a copy from one to the other, then
> > removing the USB drive for safekeeping.
> >
> > Is it that simple? I assume that if my original drive crashed, or my
> > computer caught fire, that I could either replace the crashed drive or
> > computer and copy the data on the USB drive back.
> >
> > I see several possible problems:
> >
> > 1. Booting to a virgin C: drive
> > 2. Problems with MS activation of the WinXP system
> > 3. How best to do the initial backup.
> >
> > Please advise.
> >
> > --
> > Paul Tholfsen
> > Bellingham, WA
> >
> >
> > Please Delete XYZ
> >
> >
>
>

[burris]

I use a program called CasperXP. Does a total back-up, among other
things, and for me creates a dual boot config, which could be handy for
you as well, if the USB HDD qualifies. No, I don't work for them.

http://www.fssdev.com/products/casperxp/

Paul Tholfsen wrote:

> I'd like to regularly make a full backup of my 60G C to a separate drive for
> the purpose of a restore if my regular C; drive dies. My simple idea is to
> buy a USB detachable drive, and do a copy from one to the other, then
> removing the USB drive for safekeeping.
>
> Is it that simple? I assume that if my original drive crashed, or my
> computer caught fire, that I could either replace the crashed drive or
> computer and copy the data on the USB drive back.
>
> I see several possible problems:
>
> 1. Booting to a virgin C: drive
> 2. Problems with MS activation of the WinXP system
> 3. How best to do the initial backup.
>
> Please advise.
>

[Gregg]

I have had absolutely NO trouble with Norton Ghost. Be
careful, only some versions will work with XP though.
Norton Ghost 2003 does. I think it works best to create a
boot disk, and running the program with NO OTHER PROGRAMS
OPEN. Instructions for this come with the program. But
it will create an image of your hard drive. I
have "ghosted" my hard drive to another hard drive, and
actually have booted up from the backup !!!




>-----Original Message-----
>I read somewhere that using Norton Ghost interferes with
setting or using
>restore points. Correct? if so, would there be some
workaround?
>
>--
>Paul Tholfsen
>Bellingham, WA
>

>Please Delete XYZ
>
>"Frank" > wrote in message
...
>> The best way is to get a program such as Norton Ghost
which will back up
>> your entire disk.
>> Just copying only copies the information within the
partition it does not
>> copy the boot sector or partition files.
>> As far as activation you would not have to worry if it
was just the hard
>> drive you were replacing. If you are moving the hard
drive to a new
>> computer you will have activation problems in addition
to other problems
>> (the operating system has been set up for a particular
motherboard chipset
>> and may give you a blue screen of death). You would
probably have to do a
>> operating system repair or reinstall the operating
system and then use a
>> previous windows xp backup (a backup performed using
windows xp) to put
>your
>> registry and programs back in place.
>> "Paul Tholfsen" > wrote in
message
>> ...
>> > I'd like to regularly make a full backup of my 60G C
to a separate drive
>> for
>> > the purpose of a restore if my regular C; drive
dies. My simple idea is
>> to
>> > buy a USB detachable drive, and do a copy from one to
the other, then
>> > removing the USB drive for safekeeping.
>> >
>> > Is it that simple? I assume that if my original
drive crashed, or my
>> > computer caught fire, that I could either replace the
crashed drive or
>> > computer and copy the data on the USB drive back.
>> >
>> > I see several possible problems:
>> >
>> > 1. Booting to a virgin C: drive
>> > 2. Problems with MS activation of the WinXP system
>> > 3. How best to do the initial backup.
>> >
>> > Please advise.
>> >
>> > --
>> > Paul Tholfsen
>> > Bellingham, WA
>> >
>> >
>> > Please Delete XYZ
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>
>
>.
>