NT wrote
Wesley wrote
Martin wrote
Mentalguy2k8 wrote
Wesley wrote

Can I use something like this to backup my PC. Its making
funny noises at the moment and I would like to back up the
hard disc including the OS. I'm using Windows XP.

http://www.tekheads.co.uk/product/32...e-Black-Slim-E...

Yes, as long as it's big enough to hold all your stuff.

Just remember that you need to "clone" your C: drive if you want
to copy your OS onto another drive to use as you were before.
This creates an exact copy, if you just drag and drop the files from
C: to a backup and then onto a new C: , it won't boot or work properly.

If you buy a 1 or 2 terabyte Samsung USB external hard drive it
includes back up software.

Cheers guys :-)

I've also never seen the point in backing up windows.

More fool you.

If you need to reinstall it, do it the windows way.

No thanks.

Yes its slower, but youre asking for trouble otherwise,

Nope.

IME its just not worth cloning.

IME it works fine even with moving to a completely new system.

The most you might have to do is a repair install if the new
machine is completely different chipset wise to the old one.

One thing I did to save time was to copy the apps in /program
files en masse, and just copy them straight back into windows.
Its surprising how many work fine this way

Cloning leaves that for dead.

And if it doesnt, the files and systems transfer wizard
works a lot better than copying the apps files en masse.

- some will still need reinstalling the windows way.

And wont if you clone the original drive.

The way to backup your data is simply to add the 2nd drive, control
a c in one pane, control v in the other. Job done, software pointless.

Not if you want a bootable clone that you can just reclone
back to the replacement drive if the original does die.

Yes you can restore bookmarks, but I find its
not usually worth it, I just redo the ones I want.

I have thousands, dont want redo those manually thanks.

Switching to linux makes this process easier,

Nope.

this distro is a dream to install compared to win.

Nope.