Backup DVD of clean install

I want to reformat my inspiron 6400 and only keep the main partition and the Media Direct partition. After a clean install of the OS in the main partition i would like install all the drivers and stuff i want then to back it up on a dvd so i can restore it at any point.
I heard a program such as norton ghost can do this but is there a good free program out there? And is there a guide for doing this? Like if i were to do this then i wanted to do the fresh install would i have to delete the partition then boot from the dvd or how does it work?
thx

 

There is a guide on the forums here, do a search, it is designed so that you can have a windows install with all the windows updates and I think the drivers. That should be all you need for a free solution, though an actual backup program is a better idea all around.

 

I would also like to create a restore disk that holds the fresh installation image after drivers and updates are done. It would be nice to just boot off the DVD and let it restore to that point instead of going through the whole installation process again. To many drivers and updates.

 

I would still recommend that you use a program like Ghost. You can make backups, and have it automatically complete backups. Its all around a good idea to have powerful backup software.

 

I keep everything important backed up on two drives.. one internal and I match it to my external monthly... this still doesnt help me when it comes time to do a reload.. creating my own restore disk would.

 

Um, yeah and that is what Ghost does for you.

 

Create a backup of your system the way you want it when you have to do a reload, and keep that backup, then do a separate backup for all of your data. It works fine, because I do the exact same thing, and I reload to that older backup every several months, so I know this works and thats why I can recommend it.

 

I assume ghost does the backup? Ive never performed this. I was curious as to how it gets its way onto the DVD.. is it done in windows or is this done off a bootable disk?

 

Norton Ghost sometimes failes while recovering and if this happens ur partition will be corrupted. My suggestion is to go with Acronis True Image 9.0. The best backup-image software I've ever seen. Very stable, and user friendly. I have created and recovered images from it several times without any failure

 

Funny, I've never had a problem with Ghost, but I've had problems with Acronis and on many many forums I've read the tales of woe about Acronis.

 

I use BartPE and Drive Snapshot. I have a second partition on my laptop where I put my backup images. Snapshot isn't free, but it's worth the price and since it's integrated into BartPE, backup and restore is a snap.

 

How about the newly released 10.0? Any data on it? is it better or worse?