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How do I Backup Operating System

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by Lydeard, 2009/01/14.

  1. 2009/01/14
    Lydeard

    Lydeard Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Apologies for what might seem to some a naive question but am quite a novice.
    My PC has two int hard drives 'C' and 'E' and is running XP Pro SP3 on the 'C' drive. All is working well but I am scared that the hard drive will go belly-up one day and I have lost my operating system. The Windows is fully licensed and I have the license code but, as PC was bought 2nd hand with the OS loaded I have no Windows disc or anything.
    Is there anything I can do to safeguard the OS against a drive failure and, if so, how do I do it ?, (novice language please). Is it stupid for me to think that I can just duplicate it on my 2nd ('E') drive but, if this is possible, what are the actual file names that I look for ?.
    I realize that even if this a viable option I will be using valuable disc space so is there a better alternative.
    Sorry because i'm sure that this sort of question must have been posted many times before but my search of the forums proved fruitless. Thanks to any replies.
    Graham
     
    Lydeard,
    #1
  2. 2009/01/14
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    You are correct in thinking that you cannot simply duplicate your C:\ drive onto the D:\ drive. You need to image the drive using disk imaging software such as Acronis Home which has a very straightforward interface. The image produced can be saved to your second hard drive, an external hard drive or DVD and a Recovery CD made to boot the system in the event of a drive failure. A free trial is available at the URL I posted.

    Without delving deeply into the manual I am assuming that the image will span multiple DVD's.

    FYI I use Acronis to image my main OS drive incrementally once a week on a schedule to another internal hard drive and copy that to 2 external drives on a weekly basis. Overkill, maybe, but better safe than sorry :) I think it important to maintain an image on a source external to the computer itself.
     
    PeteC,
    #2


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