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General discussion

back up your harddrive?

by pyro1972 Oct 29, 2005 11:46PM PDT

My question is if there is a way to back up your installed programs and make it executable to install in my harddrive again without the old way like wasting time,sitting in front of the PC waiting to finish downloading and installing every single software program?
let's say, my pc crashes and I already saved my documents and couple of executable programs to a cd,dvd,whatever.....it will be time consuming to install every program again. So once i reinstall the OS, i want to install all the programs again just like it was before (sort of like an executable automatic installation) without sitting there and installing every single program...
hope i am clear enough...

Discussion is locked

7 Posts
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Read about ...
by Kees Bakker Oct 30, 2005 2:06AM PST

Norton Ghost, Powerquest Driveimage and Acronis True Image.
Use google to find the manufacturers site and/or reviews. http://reviews.cnet.com/Software/2001-3513_7-0.html?tag=ont.sw is the address for cnet software reviews.

I don't have any personal experience with these programs. Others may advice you in that.

Kees

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Read my discussion at...
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Oct 30, 2005 2:10AM PST
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As Kees and Bob have noted,...
by Paul C Oct 30, 2005 7:48AM PST

...you're looking for a program that does a 100% image of a hard drive to another hard drive, CD or DVD as well as incremental backups of changes made to the drive over a given period (usually a week) after the 100% image is made.

Bob mentioned Acronis True Image. I have no experience with that app, but everything I've read has said that it works well. Two programs that I have used that do the same thing are Stomp Back Up My PC and Norton Ghost 9.0.

Ot those two, I prefer Ghost, as its backup engine is more modern and faster; BUMP is based on the old Veritas Backup Executive engine (as is WinXP's built in and totally inadequate backup function), and while it works OK, it's not the fastest thing in the world.

A Google search for "backup software" turned up some 111 million hits, so I'm sure that you'll find something.

Just remember: The best backup system for you is 1) easy enough for you to use that you'll actually use it, and 2) reliable enough that you'll be happy with the results WHEN, not IF you have to use it (and you WILL have to use it eventually, I guarantee you.) Conversely, the worst backup system (other than no system) is the one that is so difficult to use or so unsatisfying in its results that you are discouraged from using it.

The choice on a backup system then is yours; choose wisely, but choose to do something...

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A comment about Stomp.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Oct 30, 2005 7:57AM PST

Stomp, as far as I know fails if you install Intel's Application Accelerator. Because of this and there was no fix for a year (did they ever?) I no longer mention what was a great solution.

Bob

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There is a new version of BUMP out there, Bob,...
by Paul C Oct 30, 2005 9:10PM PST

...but since I no longer use it, I've not bothered to research whether that issue (of which I was unaware) still exists.

I mentioned BUMP since I knew that it did what the original poster wanted, albeit more slowly than Ghost 9.0, which is the basis for my backup method.

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BUMP good.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Oct 30, 2005 9:28PM PST

It was a really great system for me as well, until I ran into that Intel Accelerator issue. On the surface it should not have mattered, but Stomp's fix never appeared so I ceased noting it as a solution.

Thank you for noting a new version. I'll have to see when I can get to trying it again.

Bob

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(NT) (NT) thanks all for the feedback
by pyro1972 Oct 31, 2005 12:24AM PST
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