Back up before sending my laptop

I am using windows 7 right now, and I was wondering how can I back up my whole hard drive before I send it in (they will reinstall windows, I know it), so that I can just restore it later and not have to setup everything again.

I have a dv6500t notebook, I have a Windows Home Server, and external HD. I want to backup EVERYTHING, so I can just restore it with all my settings as they are not on to the new hard drive.

 

i think you need an external hard drive to do imaging. =]

 

I am open to all suggestions, and I would like to know how can I do it.

 

the theory will be clone the internal hard drive data to external hard drive.
that make 2 bootable hard drive on your hand.

after you receive the laptop, simply connect the external hard drive and boot it up by press F12 (I think that is the key).

after you log in, you will able to do imaging and clone the OS on external hard drive.

The only problem here is the drivers for new computer. They might not properly working and You should double check and update them.

imaging/clone/duplicating can be done by Norton Ghost.
check out google and youtube. there are plenty of tutorial out there.

 

Hmmm, drivers should be fine since it will be the same computer, just new replaced parts.

 

You can just keep your hard drive you dont need to send it in with the laptop. I have sent in many hp laptops before and never sent in the hard drive.

 

No, the problem is a hardware issue, hard drive will need to be sent in. I think.

Besides, I think I should send it in incase they need to change it as well. They are changing the mobo.

 

Is your hard drive working fine? If so thats not the problem you dont need to send it in. Whats your problem with your laptop?

 

They are guessing it's the mobo, since my HD passed the diagnostics. My computer keeps freezing, even on start up screen.

 

You have a Windows home server? Easy (assuming that WHS supports W7). Just backup to WHS, and create a restore CD that includes your network drivers. (If WHS doesn't support W7, but your dv6500 dual boots, dual boot in Vista or XP. Configure your backup to include both the W7 and the Vista partitions). WHS backups image your drive. When you do a restore, if you boot from the bootable restore CD that you created, you can re-image your backup onto your drive.

 

How can I make sure that it is supported?

 

If your willing to spend a little money, pick yourself up Acronis TrueImage Home edition. This is what i use every time i need to back up my drive. It will let you do full images to your same hard drive (if you have the space) externals, or anything else. And when you get your laptop back, acronis can make you a boot CD, or USB stick so that you can overwrite your primary back to the way it was. It's probably the best out there and very easy to use.

 

My solution so far has been to keep a second laptop hard drive around and swap it out with the one in my laptop when the laptop needs to be sent in.

I've seen too many horror stories of laptops sent in for repair and the hard drive ending up getting wiped, depsite requests and assurances to the contrary. So when my dv2010 needed to be sent in for no video, I went to Frys and bought a $60 2.5" hard drive, swapped it with the one in my dv2010 and sent it off to HP with a note that the disk had no OS.

They reimaged the disk I sent in with Vista (I was running XP) and I didn't care. When I got the laptop back, I just swapped drives again. About a 2 minute procedure.

The benefits to me were:

1) Far, far less time spent than if I would have done a backup.
2) None of my personal files (financial, propritary business info, Duke Nukem Forever source code, etc) were in danger of being viewed or copied by who knows.
2a) No need to do a full disk wipe, as the new drive never had any personal data on it
3) I still had access to my files for the 2 weeks my laptop was gone - I put the removed drive in an external enclosure.
4) No risk of data loss due to disgruntled tech
5) No risk of data lose due to laptop being "lost" in transit*
6) When I go to sell my laptop, I can sell it with the new, blank drive and keep my existing data around in an external enclosure for easy transfer to my new system.

When not needed, I keep the second drive in a file with my laptop's manuals, etc.

The downside was it cost me $60.

*DHL managed to "lose" my wife's Macbook pro. Or rather it was stolen by someone at the Office Max where we shipped it from.