XP has a Backup utility that allows you to "back up everything on the computer".

If I install a second internal hard drive, can I use this utility to clone the original C drive to the new one?

Then remove the original C drive and use the new one as the C drive?

Will a "back up" copy of the C drive work like the original C drive? Boot up properly, etc?

My hard drive may be dying, I have an extra hard drive, and I'm trying to avoid buying a copy of Ghost, etc.

Thanks...

In theory it should work but in the real world I don't think this would be such a good idea. I would suggest getting an external drive and copy everything you want to save onto that external drive and then properly install your new internal drive and then copy everything from the external drive.

A few years ago my computer got a virus and I lost everything in my existing internal drive. Then I got a stand alone external drive and saved everything I wanted onto that. Now if I have to wipe out my internal drive I don't lose anything as everything is backed up on my external drive. I also use the external drive to store movies that I have downloaded to relieve the memory usage on my computer. I also used the program that came with the external drive to "backup" my computer. It worked okay but when it came time to revert everything onto the internal drive again it never seemed to be the same and I ditched that feature. I just back up things I really want to keep such as downloaded updates for my programs and files that cannot be recreated without a lot of time.

Relying on everything being backed up is fine and dandy, but copying the important info now before your drive dies is best.

I would have to agree with twinkiedooter. I'm not extremely familiar with the backup utility built in to Windows XP, but I don't think it has the power you need to pull of what you want to do. I recommend that you buy an external drive to use as a backup for all of your important data, then just swap the drives now.

Thanks Twinkie & Twilcox for all the info.

Actually, what you have suggested is what I wanted to do in the first place, but people have been telling me that an external drive is not the best approach.

I want to "clone" my internal HD so I don't have to reload all the programs, drivers, configurations, etc.

What I would really like to do if possible, is clone (everything) from the internal HD to an external drive, replace the internal drive with a new one, and dump everything back form the external onto the new internal. Essentially having a replica of the original (that will boot properly of course).

I like the idea of going through an external, so I have a back up of all programs and settings in case of a catastrophic failure.

I already back up just my data on an external pocket drive every 2 weeks, so my data files are not a problem.

Last time I replaced a hard drive, it took me weeks to get everything running and configured the way I wanted it.

I'm sorry if I'm not being clear, but I'm new to this.

I just looked on line at a Maxtor One Touch ext 500GB drive, that claims to have something called SaftyDrill with the ability to "prepare, reboot, & recover your PCs internal drive contents in case of system failure". Now that sounds to me like what I'm trying to do.

A service tech at Fry's just told me that you cannot boot from an external drive without cloning software such as Norton Ghost, or Acronis TrueImage.

Bottom line here, I'm confused as to what I can and cannot do.

Sorry for the long story. Just trying to give you all the info I have.

Do you think I can "clone" through an external drive such as the Maxtor with their software?

To take it one step further, I have 2 PC's, so I'd like to clone both HDs to the external for back up. I heard something about partitions, so I thought perhaps I could divide the external into 2 sections and clone both PCs??

Thanks...

YOu can actually boot from a flash drive if you so choose and have a bootable file on it. If the guy was telling you need Ghost to do that, he either a) doesn't know what he's talking about, or b) was trying to make money off you.

The Maxtor drive sounds like a good idea. Especially since it claims to be able to boot from it. Other options would include downloading a copy up the Ubuntu Live CD while you copy all your files back over, as you can boot straight into the Linux environment without having to install anything.

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Originally Posted by mitchsc

To take it one step further, I have 2 PC's, so I'd like to clone both HDs to the external for back up. I heard something about partitions, so I thought perhaps I could divide the external into 2 sections and clone both PCs???

Thanks...

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I've never really bothered to try that, but I don't see any reason why you can't partition the drive.

Actually, Twinkie and Twil are incorrect here. The XP backup utility creates a compressed volume containing the backed up files so you cannot replace the primary drive with the drive used as the backup repository.

You can get Acronis True Image if you don't want to spring for Ghost, but using a cloning utility is the best way.

If I were you, I would want to have "fresh" program files on my new drive. The reason I say this is that having a brand new drive without any "old" stuff on it is much better. Remember, everything you ever had on this drive is still there. Yup. It really never goes away, it just gets written over. I have pared down my stuff and even when I have to completely redo my computer (which I had to do about a month or so ago) it really didn't take me that long to get stuff the way I wanted it. I just had a plan and stuck to it. To put all the programs back into your computer does take time I'll admit, but in some cases I didn't need to put everything back in as I didn't need the programs right then and there and could put them back in as I needed them. If there were any downloaded programs I just put them on the external drive in a folder so I knew where they were and could easily locate them. I'm from the old school where I like to start fresh and build from there. As I said before, been there done that and I didn't like the result when I used a "restore" program that had all my programs and files and pictures saved into the external drive and tried to transfer the whole shebang back the internal drive.

My recommendation if you're wanting a way to keep from having to reconfigure your system every time is to do a clean installation of Windows, get all the programs and drivers you want on there, then use the program Scott mentioned and create an image of your hard drive in that condition.

This is essentially what we do at work. All of our laptops receive the same image (the laptops are licensed individually, of course) of the ideal installation for us.

By the way, Scott, I never said that the XP backup utility could do anything even remotely similar to Ghost, I was actually speaking against going that route.

Just adding my two cents here. I agree with twinkie. I like to just do a clean, fresh install of everything on occasion. Just did so back in March, and I don't have everything back on either -- I too tend to just install stuff as I want it. To solve some of the backup problems while doing so, I do one partition at a time. i.e. I have 9 partitions. So I back up the stuff for C elsewhere, reinstall XP, and put that stuff back. This partition is big enough to hold backups of files for my other partitions, so I plop them in folders on the desktop until I've reinstalled the stuff and put my files back where they belong. That includes downloaded stuff. I have one partition just for downloaded setup files. So I don't ever have to save any files to a CD or anything.

(I also have a 2nd hard drive where I do a couple of grandfathered images of the entire drive on a semi-monthly basis. And also do one right before doing a reinstall of everything, just in case.)

I've also never heard of a way XP can do what you're attempting to do.

However, if you really just want to keep things like they are for now, I believe you're going to need the imaging software. I've restored partitions to grab stuff after a flub-up :-), but I've never restored the whole shebang. I do have a friend who does this all the time cause her hubby likes to get the computer full of viruses, so she has a fresh image on another partition she restores. (She also has very few files to back up -- mostly saved games -- which she does to CD.) Works for her every time. I believe she uses Ghost, as do I.

You can boot to all sorts of things. But I interpreted the comment from the guy at Fry's to mean in order to boot to your current setup as it is now, not just boot, especially if he knew what you were attempting to do.

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Originally Posted by twilcox

By the way, Scott, I never said that the XP backup utility could do anything even remotely similar to Ghost, I was actually speaking against going that route.

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Whoops I misread. Sorry.