Re: Should I make an image disk?
- From: "Lil' Dave" <spamyourself@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2008 08:44:34 -0500
After reading your reply, I believe you have XP installed entirely in the C:
partition. You keep your photo and music data in a separate location from
your other remaining personal data. You backup your photo and music data to
different location (physical removable media? unclear) than your personal
data. You did say you have 2 external hard drives, so, I assume you are
keeping backups of your self-described data separated on those external hard
drives per your original post.
Based on your question about backing up the entire XP partition (C:), the XP
installation disc (CD) is of no bearing in the information phase of your
question. As noted by other replies to your post, imaging software is
typically used for ease of use, reliability, able to copy XP files within
the XP environment or from boot media. For quickest backup and restoration,
an external hard drive is typically used for storage of such an image. Note
that the resulting image file is always smaller than the sum of all the data
in that partition. A clean installation of XP may be kept on CD for image
restoration in the event of major loss of external hard drive failure where
partition images are nornally stored.
Something I did fail to see in the image software replies was the 2nd phase
of testing the imaging software. The first phase is implementing image of
the partition to your media. The 2nd phase of testing the imaging software
is restoration of that image back to its original source location from the
media you saved it to. If the 2nd phase is not done right away, you cannot
feel confident of its use. The most common failures are of the imaging
software unable to access the media where you saved the image file, and
2ndly, a corrupt image file resulting in image restoration failure. The 2nd
failure is usually avoided by verification of the image file after the
actual image creation. Verification is usually optional during the imaging
creation sequence.
Others may disagree, in my own personal opinion and experiences, it would be
smarter to keep all your personal data including photos etc. in another
partition on the same hard drive, separated by folders and subfolders for
organization. XP and 3rd party software still on the C: partition.
--
Dave
If it looks like fish, smells like fish, its not
a cantaloupe.
"Hans" <Hans@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:AC8B01E3-B1DE-4DD2-9E91-FE9B0F2E07E1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hello "Lil" Dave
The disc I have is a sealed MS CD with I presume contains XP. The serial
number was removed from a tab and is stuck on the back of the PC.
Since I look after my data with frequent back-ups (I keep my many
photographs and music separate from the rest of the data and back-ups) I
would really like a disc that just reinstalls XP the way it is now. After
a
few weeks of use. In that case I could reinstall XP if it ever would start
getting slow. Going to an earlier restorepoint might do the same). But
recently my previous PC apparently developed a fault in the motherboard
and
it tripped just before filling in the XP password to a blue screen. I then
bought a new PC and have been re-installing all the old software and
migrating data. This took me many days and great frustration. Now I can do
anything except play DVDs like on the former one. Hence my question for an
image disc.
But from the replies I received (many thanks to all) I think I continue
with
my frequent back-ups of data on 2 external HDs and if ever my main HD
fails,
I will just re-install all the software again from the discs I have.
Kind regards
Hans
"Lil' Dave" wrote:
"Hans" <Hans@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:D22703D5-2BF9-472D-BE48-1EE52F5E941F@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I recently bought a new PC with XP Home on it. I have 2 external HDs for
back-up of data and use Retrospect software for that, works very well.
My PC came with an XP CD.
My question really is: should I make an image disk (preferably on the
external HDs) so I can repair or refresh XP if that is ever needed.
Some
friends tell me one should re-install XP once/year or so to clean up
the
registry etc. I am not familiar with using image disks, except that I
made
one a while ago for a new laptop. The HD of that laptop failed within a
day
and a new one was installed by the technician. He was very happy that I
had
made an image disk and within a few minutes all was up and running
again.
But I have no instructions on my new PC how to make an image disk, any
help
here? And would it be useful to do so since I do have an XP disk.
Unclear if you mean a virtual image of the XP installation CD (disc, not
disk), current installation of XP in image file format which is probably
been used a bit and not new, new installation of XP in image file format.
You said what some friends said to do once a year, but, you failed to
indicate what your intentions were/are/will be.
--
Dave
If it looks like fish, smells like fish, its not
a cantaloupe.
.
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