I have a HP Pavilion running Windows XP Home. From the sounds I hear, it appears that the hard disk is dying. I do not have the recovery disks for this computer. The recovery files are stored on a hidden partition on the hard disk. What would be the best way to get ready for a hard drive crash? I know I must maintain a copy of the data files. I am concerned about the applications. Is there a way to copy the files from the partition to create recovery disks? Is it better to use a product like Symantec Ghost or Acronis True Image to create a back-up image on an external drive?
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my IT guy recommends backing up files and "starting over" with the programs...because he feels it's always best to "start fresh" on a new computer...so that you aren't copying any bad fragments,etc over to a new computer...because if you have some problems on your current computer (viruses,etc)...you'll simply be copying them over to your new machine.
While Ghost isn't the best product out there, it works and I use it all the time here on our network.
You install it and then create an image which would be an exact copy of your PC, OS, Icons, apps the lot.
I woud do this and do it soon. That way, if it does all die, it will only take you about 40 minutes to have it back up and running again (re-image time).
What I also do here is on top of regular images of desktops, I have created a 'standard desktop image' which is a basic install, apps, office, patches, xp2 etc, so if a machine dies or we get a new user, I can quickly slap this on and am ready in 40 minutes.
A lot of people will recommend Acronis, I have no experience of it so can't comment, except a lot of people say it is good,a nd a lot better than Ghost, which is a Symantec product so already has a lot against it.
For the backup device, Western Digital My Books are cheap and very quiet.
If you plan to simply bacjkup your file to put in in the same PC go with Acronis as mentioned by Mr-Madcowz you can try it free here. is much more easier and intuitive than Norton ghost.
http://www.acronis.com/hom
However if you wish to back your data to move them on a new PC the option of manually copying your data would be better because of the new harware.
Note that its also possible to move you data to a new computer with an imaging tool but you have to do an install repair of windows.
Note 2. Concerning Symantec i Love this company their COPORATE PRODUCT are great. Anything symantec ( Symantec antivirus , Symantec Ghost) will work great. BUT Anything NORTON IS a NO TOUCH. Norton antivirus , internet security (havent treid norton ghost) just use all of you system ressource.
Norton = consummer =BAD
Symantec Product = corporate = GOOD
Hope this helps
First.. the recovery partition on an older machine simply allows you to survive a corruption (bad blocks, bad data, virus, whatever) of the primary partition. It doesn't restore data files, it doesn't restore applications beyond what may have initially shipped with the machine (and even then not necessarily everything).
Second, you are best off with something like Acronis TrueImage (which I use myself), or Norton Save and Restore 2 (the newer generation of "Ghost for home users" tech). All 'drive image' products should allow you to directly backup/burn images to CD/DVD writeable media at this point. However, if you're talking like 20+GB of data, that's a few DVDs, and a ton of CDs!
If you >truly< think the drive is dying, here's what I'd do. Go buy another drive (can be bigger, drives are cheap these days, don't try to 'match' what you have -- though make sure your machine can handle bigger drive properly), buy TrueImage or S&R2, boot from the TI or S&R CD (or install the software and build a bootable backup+recovery disc), and image DIRECTLY, uncompressed, from old drive to new drive. If you've given up on old drive, remove it, put new drive as primary drive, and system should continue on its merry way...
Or, buy two drives. Install one, and run compressed backups to it nightly. keep incremental backups, or keep two or three full backups. If the old drive dies, replace it with the second blank new drive, and use the restore disc and restore from the most recent successful backup image (I say to keep multiple backup images in case the old drive dies DURING a backup, don't want to lose your only image!).
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by: geodan7Posted on 2007-06-14 at 06:38:32ID: 19283301
I have used Norton Ghost 10 to make a backup image of my laptop on an external hard drive...that has worked well...however my IT guy always recommends to simply backup all of your files...and then go to Control Panel, copy down all the programs you have installed...and reinstall them. The Ghost option worked great for me though...it kept all my emails and every single file...etc.