need Norton Ghost Customized

Then ...... ...... why should I start messing with Disk-to-Image ...... ...... ?

Christer

 

exactlty!
My thinking is why image the entire disk when the only thing I consider worth imaging is the os partition. My other partition(s) only ever contain data files such as apps, downloads, documents, business stuff, development stuff, etc., and these are burned directly to cdr or dvd data disk backups, and also stored on partitions of another xp comp as well as 2 linux servers in my home.

 

When I do a clean installation from square one on a new hard disk, I partition in at least two (or the number preferred by the owner/user). Immediately after setup and partitioning is completed, I move certain folders from the system partition to the data partition. During the installation, I create several sequential Images and I create them in pairs. One of the system partition and one of the data partition. The data partition has no user data and is there only to be able to "synchronize" the two partitions if restoring to a new unused hard disk should become necessary.

If creating the first Image as Disk-to-Image, I wouldn't have to do anything at all with a new hard disk, just restore Image-to-Disk and either accept Ghost resizing the partitions proportionally or alter the sizes.

Without the Disk-to-Image, I will have to do a "basic" installation of XP to be able to partition and when done, restore a pair of Image-to Partition.

I assume that such an Image (Disk-to-Image) would be only slightly larger than the first pair of Partition-to-Image combined and it would actually reduce downtime considerably. Restoring Image-to-Disk takes 5 minutes but a "basic" installation and partitioning including formating of the system partition would take 30-60 minutes.

Christer