Re: What if I switch a harddrive to a different motherboard?

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David D wrote:


Thanks for that Bruce.


You're welcome.


A question : I have seen that a hard drive image is a good idea - what
is that exactly? It is backing up everything on the harddrive or
something different?


A hard drive "image" is an exact copy, or clone, of the hard drive, sector by sector. Whereas a backup normally only entails data files.

From http://whatis.techtarget.com/ :

"Ghost *imaging* is the copying of the contents of a computer's hard disk into a single compressed file or set of files (referred to as an image) so that the contents of the hard disk, including configuration information and applications, can be copied to the hard disk of other computers or onto an optical disc for temporary storage.

"An example of ghost imaging software is Norton Ghost, a product from Symantec. Using this product, you can clone (copy) the entire contents of a hard disk to a portable medium such as a writeable CD or to a server. The portable image can then be used to set up each hard disk in other computers, automatically formatting and partitioning each target disk. Ghost imaging is useful where one system is to be replicated on a number of computers in a classroom or for a team of notebook computer users who all need the same system and applications. On personal computers, ghost imaging is used to back up everything on the hard disk, often while reinstalling an operating system."


"*Backup* is the activity of copying files or databases so that they will be preserved in case of equipment failure or other catastrophe. Backup is usually a routine part of the operation of large businesses with mainframes as well as the administrators of smaller business computers. For personal computer users, backup is also necessary but often neglected. The retrieval of files you backed up is called restoring them.

"Personal computer users can consider both local backup and Internet backup."


--

Bruce Chambers

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