Ok, so now Im (almost) back up and running with the format/reinstall.  I really need to ghost the new set up coz what a pain this all is!  :cry:

What software do you use to quickly reinstall a stable set up?  Can I save the image to an external hard drive rather than a million CDs?

Ive had success with partimage

For boot cd with it on use sysrescuecd

NTFS support is marked as "experimental" which means that it wont work in all cases - shouldnt trash your data thou (as it does no writing). Also itll tell you when you create the image if it fails - NOT when you restore (so its worth a shot).

The only time it fails is if the disk is really fragmented.

Ive used it to mirror Windows XP/2000 installs with no issues.

Cornet

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

one of my favourite toys.  Loads of stuff on there thatll help you.  It was nice to actually find all that stuff together rather than have to search all over the place for it!

Ive used Norton Ghost to do that lots of times, you can replicate an entire disc as is, or save to a compressed image file, either on another disc in the same machine (which would probably include external drives) or via network to another pc (assuming you can find dos/NDIS drivers for your network cards). Its not free but I daresay you can find it somewhere.

Cheers.

Do you need a bootable floppy with these progs?

Ã, 
Ok, so I got Norton Ghost.  Ive never really got on with this programme...

Do I ghost the entire drive or just the partition? :?
Ã, 

Just about to say Acronis Trueimage, *much* better than the copies of ghost I have used in the past. Mutts nuts TBH

Best to do the whole of C: If you have other partitions do them seperately.

http://www.acronis.com/

Ã, 
So, just the partition then? (I only have one (40Gb)).

Thats what I do, I keep all my programs on the C: partition anyway so if I make another backup they all get done at the same time. I got my copy of Acronis with an external drive and back up onto that.

Data should be kept and backed up seperately anyway.

Its possible to save an "install" image using Sysprep and scripts (Windows tools that should be with Windows XP) also means you can include any drivers to automatically be installed too just by shoving them in the right folder on the cd.

Im using Ghost 8 to make a backup image in circa 30 minutes, as my WD 80Gb drive is about to go kaput, its got click of death and wouldnt boot earlier :cry:  

Ive had to order a 250Gb Seagate 7200.9 to make up for it.

It seems easy enough to use Ghost in Windows anyway, and that is ideal. Ill make a backup image of C: now just in case, and when my new drive arrives Ill use the clone disk function to duplicate the data onto the new disk. If that fails I have the backup image too.

Ghost was useless, Ive probably lost a fair whack of data because it needed DOS drivers and I didnt have any. No backup there. I had to manually get what I could.

Even MS backup is looking tempting after that performance, I might try Acronis next.

Acronis has a trial option so its worth having a go with that and pay up if it works

Quote from: Beakerhttp://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

one of my favourite toys.  Loads of stuff on there thatll help you.  It was nice to actually find all that stuff together rather than have to search all over the place for it!

Thanks to you and this invaluable tool I have recovered all the data from my corrupt NTFS partition!

       

i wonder if it do mac drives. i have a load of music which is irreplacable on my mac standard 4 gig.

feel teh speed 4800 rpm :/