How to create a fresh image on Vista?

Hi Guys,

I'm looking into re-instaling my vista as it's getting quite slow , and i find that every 6 months i need to do a clean instal. But this time instead i would like to create a "template" with a clean vista and the additional software i need, burn it on a DVD and then usit everytime i want to wipe my sistem of , without having to install each time all that software, take ages.

So if you have come across such tools, please let me know.

Cheers,

 

you can do i back up copy the next time you do a fresh install after you install all you programs


i find i have to do a fresh install every month or 2

 

Try vLite ( http://www.vlite.net/)

 

What version of Vista are you running? Some versions have a Backup and Restore center that allows you to take images of the drive or restore them.

I use Paragon Drive Backup, and so far, I have no complaints. It works great, and is cheaper than Acronis True Image and Norton Ghost.

 

vista ultimate 32, but i want to use 3rd party software.

i've heard a lot about Acronis True Image, is it the best?

thanks

 

Why would you want to pay money for the 3rd party software? Vista Ultimate allows you to make a perfect image of your hard drive just like Acronis True Image. I have been using it, and I don't see the point of paying for the software.

You can "clone" your image to DVD, external hard drive, network drive which is even better.

 

There are many advantages of the aforementioned 3rd party software titles over Vista's built-in recovery center.

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

That's just for Acronis...but it helps. Sometimes people need more options and flexibility in their software.

 

i've had much better luck with Acronis also..........

 

Well, I read the information from the link. Vista can do practically the same thing for what Acronis does. If you can show me what vista back up can't do, I will believe you.

 

from personal experience, I have learned that acronis is much more forgiving about what size partition/disk that you save the image to. On 2 diff pc's I have back up to diff make usb backup drives that were not anything like the partition the image was made from. Both times, Vista failed to restore the image because it was stored on a much larger drive, or maybe because it was a usb drive. Whatever the reason, we started using acronis true image home to make the images- unless they don't want to pay for the software. We have never had a problem restoring an image created by acronis TIH. In fact, after you get the hang of it, you can restore an image completely in under 25 minutes.
If our clients don't want to purchase acronis, we use vista(but they have to have Ultimate of course..)

But others may have diff stories/preferences.........

 

My personal experience is completely opposited to your. I have very good experience with Vista backup, and it never lets me down even with a different disk size. Well, I can get my image up within 25 minutes too. As a bonus, I also can import the image into Virtual PC, and I don’t think Acronis can do that.

You are missing the point here. You don’t have to have Vista Ultimate for complete backup. Actually, you can use Vista Business or Enterprise edition too. I don’t know how many PCs you are dealing with. If you use regular “cloning” software on the big network, you have to deal with duplicate SIDs since most of the image software don’t delete machine SIDs upon creation of the images. You have to go through sysprep and all those processes, which are redundancy and not recommend by Microsoft.

For the home use, I guess it is okay. I would not pay for additional software that pratically does the same thing in Vista Ultimate. If you have Vista Home Premium, sure I would buy the software.

Are you a computer tech or something?