i found it healthy simply backing up the important files on the external drive and revamping my computer once in a while. i think they recommend doing it every 6 moths.
I follow an old unix convention, and place my data (documents, workspaces, mp3, images, etc etc) on a seperate drive, in a directory like \users (or \usr if you like unix!). Then, as you say, reinstalling the OS is easy; you simply delete and reinstall the OS back on the boot drive. I always back up the data, but because I am not touching the data drive, I don't have to restore the data - it's on another drive. Just a thought!
Would someone please explain the difference between a 'clone' backup and an 'image' backup. I have seen various references to both, but don't understand the distinction between the two. Thanks.
ScaleOut, I've always taken the two to mean this. However, I could be wrong. I did own a computer repair store and this is how we used the terms. Clone - Make an exact sector by sector copy of the entire drive Image - Copy a partition or area of the drive CajunSniper / Puretick.com Administrator-Trader
To me, a clone backup is when you take a source disk and make an exact copy to another disk (clone disk) using a disk to disk copy so that the clone disk is a drive that you could physically swap for the original without any extra steps (its ready to go). The process overwrites the clone disk so it doesnt need to be formatted ahead of time and can't hold anything else - it becomes an exact copy (which also means it has to be at least the same size and any extra space is wasted) An image backup is when you backup a disk drive (all or just certain partitions) to a single file (image file) that you then store somewhere else (existing formatted drive). You can't use an image file directly, you would have to take an extra step of restoring the image file to a physical drive to actually use it as a backup. Acronis also lets you mount an image file as a virtual drive so you can selectively restore some files without having to restore the whole image which is handy in case you delete just one file by accident. That's my impression of the two terms. Personally I prefer image backups because I like to keep multiple verisons of backups, not just the last one and I have large storage capacity RAID arrays (like a Buffalo TeraStation) that can hold a lot of image backups.
Some lesser quality clone programs are this way, but the better ones are not. With better programs, the target drive can be any size so long as it is at least large enough to hold the data from the source drive. The "extra space" on the target drive is not wasted.
Ghost works well and is easy to use. I never uninstall software, before I install something, anything, even from Microsoft, I force a restore point and backup all my docs on the D: drive with Ghost then if I don't like the software I do a restore. Ghost will automatically make restore pts for you on a schedule. Lots of software does not uninstall well at all, many leave garbage all over the drive and some even leave processes that start up every time the computer starts up. Beware the freebie stuff, no end of problems with much of it. The one time I tried to use the XP restore it would not work, same as the one time I used the Win98 backup :eek: