Advice re disk imaging -not done it before

[Pauly]

am looking for the best sort of disk imaging for my system. I am not familiar with this sort of software and so, if i may, i will describe my system and what i want to do in laymen's terms, and ask you to assist with advice please.

On a gaming machine, I run Windows XP operating system, and connected to the internet from time to time .

I use it for flight simulation , and I am at the point where a re install of all the add ons etc would be onerous to say the least. There will be quite a few GBs

What I would like to do is back up the whole computer, operating system, everything. If I crashed I may restore to the present computer , or better still, a new one.

I have read up on disk imaging and i am almost more confused than before !

A few questions please.

For a newbie it seems Acronis or O&O are the two best suited?

I am not looking for free, I am looking for easiest for newbie to use.


When I make an image, I think I need to have an external hard drive fitted. ( Obviously one bigger than the size of my data?). Also do i need to be connected to the internet at the time ?



Is there a video anywhere of how to do full imaging ( I don't want to back up individual files at this stage ) like Youtube etc? The ones I've seen all assume more knowledge than I have

Or a step by step guide which is really that.

Is there a manual i can download before purchase?


Thanking you in anticipation

Pauly

 

[Bubbaleone]

I wouldn't recommend either Acronis or O&O for a novice. Download the free version of Macrium Reflect and then watch their video tutorial (bottom of page) covering How to clone a disk.

.

 

[Steltek]

I wouldn't recommend either Acronis or O&O for a novice. Download the free version of Macrium Reflect and then watch their video tutorial (bottom of page) covering How to clone a disk.

.

I agree with this. If you like Macrium Reflect, you can always upgrade to the paid version which is a very good product and one I highly recommend.

 

[Mushkins]

I agree with this. If you like Macrium Reflect, you can always upgrade to the paid version which is a very good product and one I highly recommend.

There's something you guys missed about Macrium that's important to the OP:

Restore to dissimilar hardware

This is ONLY a feature of the Pro/Server versions of Macrium. If your machine is totally dead and you start swapping out hardware or buy a new PC, your backup is useless with the Free or Standard versions.

 

[Pauly]

Thanks for the replies fellas, I've looked at the Macrium website and am trying to understand it.!

What is the difference between imaging a system and cloning a system?

Which do I use for what i want to do?

Thanks

 

[Bubbaleone]

Thanks for the replies fellas, I've looked at the Macrium website and am trying to understand it.!

What is the difference between imaging a system and cloning a system?

Which do I use for what i want to do?

Thanks

This is a quick walk-through for using Macrium Reflect free edition but will also apply to the paid versions, as well as to good disk imaging practice (imaging and cloning are different names for the same procedure) in general. After you've downloaded and installed the program, click the Other Tasks button and select Create Rescue Media:

Select Windows PE 3.1 which works with XP, Vista, and 7 then click Next (clicking the Advanced button will let you select Windows PE 4.0 which works with Windows 8).

When you click Next, the below dialog appears. This is referring to the fact that if you plan on imaging/cloning your XP installation (or any other operating system) to different hardware you'll need to buy the Pro version, and that the Add Drivers feature is disabled in the free version:

After you've clicked Continue and Finish, the below dialog appears. Put a check in both boxes and also select CD/DVD burner. Note the drop-down menu to the right; here you can select to either burn the Rescue Media directly to a CD or create an ISO image (you can also select USB Device if you prefer). I prefer to create an ISO as that gives me a permanent disk image that I can burn anytime, but the choice is yours:

Whether you choose to burn directly to CD, create a USB drive, or create an ISO file to burn later, you'll boot this "live" media to perform all cloning operations with. Never attempt to clone your operating system disk from within the Windows environment. You can probably get away with cloning data disks that way, but it's been my long experience that it's best to work at the disk level and never from Windows. In Windows there are just to many variables that can cause errors to occur, and end up trashing your data.

This is the #1 rule: cloning an operating system disk creates a bit for bit copy of your original operating system, meaning that once the cloning operation has completed you must shut down the computer and disconnect one drive or the other before attempting to boot back into Windows. If you leave both the original and cloned hard drive connected then XP's NTLDR (NT loader), or the Windows 7/8 boot manager, will take a dump and both disks will become unbootable.

My advice is to take a spare hard drive and practice cloning your OS to it so that you gain familiarity with the software, and then booting the cloned drive so you get a feel for what's happening and what to expect. This is one of the more technical operations that you just have to get in there and start practicing in order to become confident and competent.

.

 

[John Connor]

I have used Acronis to clone my drive platter in RAID to a SSD with FS installed. My install of FS2004 is about 25 GB. So I see why you would want to do this. Yes, you need an external drive that is the same size or larger for a clone. No need to be connected to the Internet.

 

[Bubbaleone]

....Yes, you need an external drive that is the same size or larger for a clone...

The OP would only "need" an external drive if he had no available IDE or SATA port on his mobo to connect an additional drive with. An external drive has never been a requirement for disk imaging, unless dealing with some laptops.

.

 

[John Connor]

What I meant was he needed a drive to image/clone to of the same size or larger. My backups are on an external. When I cloned my RAID array to SSD it wasn't external.

 

[Pauly]

Thank you very much for this , especially Bubbaleone, for all the trouble you have gone to.

Much obliged

 

[sm625]

The easiest I've ever used is the cloning software that comes with an Intel SSD. Its a special version of Acronis. It is literally a one-click solution.