Vista Ultimate Backup

-My first post after reading 100s of postings- thanks to all those helpful experts-

The problem:

Bought HP notebook (See below for specs) with Vista Ultimate

I'm in the process of doing a clean install [Thank you orev for the guide]
and am using the Windows backup wizard to backup the initial system out of the box. Amazingly, the file size is just over 50GIGS! I have not added any files or programs; all that is there is the OS and I guess a whole lot of HP bloatware?

The guide stated that an average is 2 DVDs to backup, where as I ended up using 6...

Is this normal? If so, what is taking up the most of the 50gigs? I reviewed the OS file, but the space doesn't add up, i.e. only 3.4gigs for SWSETUP and 2gigs for program files, for the largest of the files.

Also,
I read elsewhere that Vista backup is less preferred to programs like ATI- Do you recommend to scrap the Vista backup and use ATI?

Specs:

-HP dv9700t
-Vista Ultimate 64bit
-Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.20 GHz, 4 MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
-4GB DDR2
-512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS
-240GB 7200RPM SATA




Thank you

 

Its probalby copying the HP partition as well. You should run the HP recovery media creator and then make an image using Vista after the clean install.

 

Ok, is this reasoning correct-

The reasoning the backup file is so incredibly large is the backup is including all the partitions and not just the (as I understand) compressed recovery partition. I went through the full Windows backup wizard, so if the recovery partition is in fact all I need to create an image(?), then why does the wizard also have me copy the other partition also?

If anyone could please straighten out this action? I think I'm confused because of the 2 hdd as well as the new vista backup method. Again, the backup is to be used as a precaution as I plan on doing a clean install.

 

Edited last post.

Any clarification is appreciated

 

It makes a complete snapshot of your entire system including all backup partitions and existing OS directories. This also includes your pagefil.sys, It does not work in the same fashion as Easy Transfer, believing u can reinstall all the OS files on your own.

Once u do a reinstall, your total space used should be around 13-20Gb. I have mine down to 13Gb.

 

I think this is part of the confusion. The Windows Vista backup is not related to the 2 DVD's for back. The 2 DVD's is for HP to create recovery media to restore your system to factory state, where the Vista Backup is independent of that and creates an image of your entire system.

What you need to do first is create the recovery media running the HP app first. Then reinstall Vista Ultimate for a clean install, then use Vista backup to create an image of your system....if that was your intent.

 

I'm guessing that your system is brand new and you don't have too many files that you created or added on it. I believe what orev meant was for you to backup only the files that you want to keep and transfer over onto the new HDD, the swsetup folder, and then burn the HP recovery disks. The HP recovery disks will allow you to restore your laptop to the factory state (basically the state you received your laptop in).

You don't need to backup everything on the HDD, because most of it is useless information that you will never use, because it's installed with Vista by default. I hope this helps.

 

There are 2 things in the install guide that you could think are "backup"

• Recovery Discs: that is what the 2 DVD guide is talking about. Recovery discs are used to recovery your computer to the same state it was in when you bought it. There is a special tool HP provides that lets you create these discs, and they take 2 DVDs
• Data backup: Because a clean install will likely destroy all of your data, you should backup all of your personal data (pictures, music, documents, etc...) before performing the installation. If it's a brand new system and you have not used it for anything, then you probably don't have to do this. The size of that backup is totally dependent upon how much data you have put on your computer.