I've had to do a full reinstall of XP, and have got all the minimal apps and updates installed. I'd like to be able to do a full backup to dvd-r of the XP OS drive, so if I have any further problems, I can just format the drive and copy the backup over (I've also got Win 98 on another drive, dual-booting).

Which program will be most effective and easiest to use? I have tried Drive Image in the past, but that was a while ago. I assume that most programs will now work properly with XP.....?

Thanks!

norton ghost i beleive will clone your hard drive.

Matt, take a look at Acronis's TrueImage, while it does the same job as Ghost and DriveImage, I think this is the only one that can truely clone XP/2000 without having to drop out to DOS, I tried it a few times and all images came out fine and restored without problem.

Personally, when come to imaging, I use Ghost from DOS, this way ensures that no corrupted devices or drivers can come between you and your backup, esp. if its important to you.

HTH

So with Ghost can you create an Image on a spare hard drive, and if I need to restore it just run the (DOS?) program and it'll restore it? Does it work ok on an NTFS only system?

Thanks....

Ghost will create images from systems using NTFS file systems, Ghost 2003 and Corporate Version 7.5 support this.

With regards to your last question on using a spare hard drive in my opinion is the perfect solution, I used to have a spare hdd in a caddy setup as a slave drive which I could slot into a bay and create or restore a backup at anytime.

Heres a link for a comparison between corporate and 2003:

http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal/Feature%20Comparison_03_new.pdf

Never tried Trueimage so cant comment but i have used Drive Image 2002 but personally I prefer Ghost as I've used it for so long now..

Smiffy

Excellent.....! I'll have a go with Ghost then!

Thanks!

:)

Sorry, another Q....!

If I create an image and burn it to dvd-r, can I restore it straight from the DVD-r with Ghost, or would I have to copy it back to another hard drive first?

Ghost 2003 can clone to USB & Firewire drives as well which is great. I use it all the time with a HDD in a USB2 external box. USB1.1 is a bit slow but it does work OK. Takes me about 10min using USB2 compared to over an hour with USB1.1 with a similar amount of data.

And yes you can recover direct from CDR.

Just successfully used Ghost to create an image of my Win XP OS drive, and the boot disks and image test seem to suggest it should fully restore OK.

Thanks.

casper for xp just grate