ImageMaker 1.1 and some backup questions

Hello. I posted this thread on another forum, but it was suggested I post it here. I have Windows XP Home, IE 6, OE 6. I also have a CD burner. I downloaded ImageMaker 1.1, but haven't used it yet. I'm nervous about doing a backup because I've never done one before and don't understand it very well. However, my system has crashed twice in the past year and half and I lost everything because I didn't backup. It's easy to get complacent about doing backups, and then you pay for it when the "big crash" happens. I don't want to go through that again.

I have only one 40 GB hard drive, with 31.2 GB free space. I can't afford to buy another one right now. I know they are relatively cheap, but money is tight right now. I was told in the other thread that my one hard drive can be partitioned. If so, does that mean I can do an image of my system? And if so, how is that done, how does that work? Sorry, but I don't understand all this. And I don't want to mess up my system by doing it wrong, or doing something I shouldn't do. Below are the help instructions to using ImageMaker 1.1. They seem fairly straightforward, but I still don't understand it all.

So, is this something I can do with just one hard drive? Is anyone out there using ImageMaker 1.1 and if so, do you like it, does it do the job well? Or any suggestions for any other good freeware image backup programs that are easy to use? If I use ImageMaker 1.1 to do a backup, could someone help walk me through it so I'd have a better understanding of what I'm doing? What I'd prefer is to be able to make an image and then burn it to a CD, or several CD's, so in case my hard drive dies, I can still restore my system to what it was before. Is that possible to do, and if so, what software does that? I'm not sure if ImageMaker does that, it doesn't mention it below. Sorry for so many questions, but this is confusing and intimidating. I don't want my system to crash because I don't know what I'm doing. Thanks for any help you can give me. Val

Using ImageMakerâ„¢

To make an image of a disk and save it to a file:
- Log on as an Administrator, or another user with administrative privileges. ImageMakerâ„¢ will produce a warning screen if it was started with no administrative privilegdes.
- Run ImageMaker. You will see a list of hard drives and partitions on the screen. Select a drive or partition you want to back up, and click the MakeImage button in the toolbar. Alternatively, you may right-click and select "Make Image" in the pop-up menu.
- The "Make Image" dialog will appear. Select a file where you want to save image to (WARNING: This file should not be located on the same partition that is being imaged!)
- Click the "Start" button on the dialog. You will see a progress indicator showing the progress of the imaging process. The time it needs to complete depends on the size of your hard disk, the location of the saved image (see below), and the operating system you use.

Hint:
The fastest way to make an image is using a disk or a partition on the same machine, but a different IDE controller. Saving an image on a different disk, but the same IDE controller is a little slower, and saving it on a remote machine is the slowest. It is also slower to make an image in Windows 95, 98 and ME than on Windows NT, 2000, or XP due to limitations on the low-level disk access by these OSes.

- You may interrupt the process by pressing the Terminate button on the Make Image dialog. This will also remove the partially-created image file from the disk.

To restore a saved image to a disk or a partition:
- Log on as an Administrator, or another user with administrative privileges. ImageMakerâ„¢ will produce a warning screen if it was started with no administrative privilegdes.
- Run ImageMaker. You will see a list of hard drives and partitions on the screen. Select a drive or partition you want to restore the backup to, and click the RestoreImage button in the toolbar. Alternatively, you may right-click and select "Restore Image" in the pop-up menu.
- The "Restore Image" dialog will appear. Select your image file. Please note that the image type (physical/logical disk) should be same as the target media type.
- Click the "Start" button on the dialog. You will see a progress indicator showing the progress of the image restoring process. Please wait until the process completes.

Hint:
You can interrupt the process by pressing the Terminate button on the Restore Image dialog, but this is not recommended, as the old contents of the target drive or partitions will be already lost, and the restored contents will be still inaccessible. You will need to repeat and finish the restore process, or reformat the target partition to access it.

 

For what you want, I agree with you that putting your data onto CD is a much better idea than putting it on a different part of your one hard drive. A drive failure and you would lose everything.

Also, since it sounds like your entire drive is now on one large partition, the only way you could turn unused parts of it into a new partition would be with some 3rd party software like Partition Magic and none of them are cheap.

I don't know about you but most of the stuff on my PC is operating system files and installed programs with only a little of it my personal stuff like pictures, documents, email, address book, etc. If I had major problems, I'd probably have to restore the operating system from CD and then reinstall the programs so the only things I really want to save are my personal files.

I have not used ImageMaker but from reading what you posted, it does not sound like you can create the image to your single partition drive without problems. For one thing, it would be trying to create a copy of the image file you were creating while it was being created and

A suggestion for you would be to create a new folder, copy all your personal stuff to it, compress the folder, and burn that folder to one or more CDs.

You could do this whenever you make big changes or once a week or once a month or whatever makes sense in your situation.

 

Thanks Newt. That makes sense to me. Can you recommend any good freeware backup programs that can do this? I'd need a program that can compress those backed-up files, right? And then what, I burn them to a CD? Do I need a program that can specifically do that, or can I do it through Windows? If a CD is burned once, can it ever be erased and burned again? (That may be a stupid question. A friend said the answer is no, but I'd just like to verify that.) If I burn onto a CD, I want to get it as full as possible. I do have Nero Burning software, I just haven't really used it. Well, I did a long time ago, so I've forgotten. I wasn't that impressed with it then. Is there a really simple way to burn a CD, and like I said, get it as full as possible? Thank so much for your help. This back up thing is confusing, so I keep putting it off and doing nothing. And then pay for it. I don't want to continue that way, I want to get over my fears about doing this and learn how to do it, so it won't be such a big deal. Thanks. Val

 

catpurrson The principles of disk imaging (ghosting) programs is the same. But details are program specific, such as where and how it creates, saves, and executes files.

ImageMaker 1.1 isn't suited to your setup. Besides, I find no way that it will boot from outside of Windows in case of disaster.

You should get Ghost 2003 or Drive Image 2002. Both have the ability to write directly to CD. Drive Image also comes with a basic partitioning program. They can be presently found on the internet for about $10-15.