How can i effectively back-up my system drive using an external HDD?

Question

I am frequently encountering problems with my system because i do not install anti virus programs and my solution is to reformat again and again. I always have a back-up of my files in a safe place. However, there must be a procedure to backup my whole system drive, with all its drivers and programs installed, while it is still in its fresh state, so that I do not need to reformat my computer again and again, and just restore it from the backup that I made? I have an external USB HDD which can accommodate the size of my system drive. Im using a laptop without a floopy disk drive. Thanks.

Answer 1

You can use Ghost or any other similar imaging software to take an image of the drive in the frechstate and store it as a file. Then restore it later using a boot disk and the file. We frequently use ghost here at work for mass loading systems so that we dont have to load each system individually. I believe there is a free trial version you can use or simply purchase a single user license of the software is available from symantec on their website.

Answer 2

Go here for instructions on using the built in Window Backup utility program.


http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320820/

You can't backup the entire disk and the download all the programs. It don't work that way. Backing up your entire disk will only reinfect you when it's reinstalled. Where do you think the infection is located? It's like other programs. It's on the hard drive.

If you don't want to or refuse to learn about and use security programs, then keep having fun reformatting.

Answer 3

Don't know about laptops, but sounds like you need Norton Ghost. Get your original pristine, then ghost a second drive. Then all you have to do is replace the hard drive and you are pristine again. Repeat the ghosting on the drive you removed.