I'm looking for an imaging program (I think)

Because I install/download a lot of crap and am pretty obsessive about system cleanliness, I usually backup and format my laptop every 6 months or so, and then go about reinstalling all the drivers/games/utilities I actually want to keep, and move my documents back.

It's a pain in the butt though, so I'm wondering if there's a drive imaging solution that would enable me to perform a clean install of vista and my programs, then save an image and simply format and load that image later on instead of having to go the long route for the (roughly) eighth time.

Would it be possible? I'm willing to purchase a solution, depending on the price.

 

I'm pretty sure that Ghost (Norton - yuk) or TrueImage (Acronis - mmmm) will do what you want.

 

Yup, +1 for Acronis TrueImage. Very reliable and easy to use. Worth the asking price, imo.

 

Acronis True Image FTW!

 

I still like Ghost 2003 (the last version before Norton screwed it up). It works with everything I have ever thrown at it. I have used Acronis too, and I have nothing against it, other than it takes forever to boot up from CD. (Why do I need a fancy shmancy high detail graphic interface to do a bare metal restore?) Ghost boots up in seconds, not minutes. But past that Acronis is great!

Gary

 

So if I get a copy of trueimage, does it create a set of bootable DVDs that I can use to copy the image onto the freshly-formatted laptop itself?

Are there any drawbacks? (I'm assuming it makes a 1:1 copy of everything including the registry?)

 

Image apps don't copy files, they copy disk sectors. They don't care what the contents of those sectors contain. They just copy them. The point I am trying to make is, if you image a partition it copies EVERYTHING in that partition.

Gary

 

Yes, they all create bootCDs.

Drawbacks? They cost green. And they don't cook and do laundry.

 

if you simply want a backup and dont care about tons of features use the free version on macrium reflect. free and excellent program. ive had way to many acronis issues to recc it imo. i use shadow protect but its pricey. even the paid version of macrium imo is better than acronis and still cheap and they offer great support. my other recc is image for windows. macrium and image for win both offer bootable recovery media....

 

ShadowProtect looks great.. Exactly what I needed, make a disk image, but still be able to mount it and pick and choose files to get off the image instead of writing the entire image to a drive.. Thanks for sharing that!

 

nlite and its vista-equivalent, vlite?

 

These both have caused issues when folks used them and new service packs came out. It seems that they both stripped out things that the service packs looked for and since the service pack was not able to find them it could not install. This was a MAJOR headache for a lot of folks at the time. If I remember correctly, the fix was to rerun the XP or Vista installer to let it add back the missing pieces and then apply the service pack.

Unless you have a compelling need to strip out components with either of these and are prepared to deal with the potential of not being able to install service packs or even some updates, I'd avoid these two.

Besides that, I don't think either of these create images, just stripped down installers.

Gary

 

I didn't run into this problem until Vista SP2. But ya. Proceed with caution.

 

nlite and vlite are not image / backup programs!!

 

Go the cheap route. Buy yourself a WD external drive (you need someplace for the image anyway) and get the WD version of Acronis free.

 

For 50 bucks (Acronis) or 70 (ShadowProtect), buying an external drive isn't a particularly cheap option... Mind you, I do need one anyway...

Might end up getting a drive and a program anyway. Cheers everyone, I appreciate the help.

 

try macrium seriously

 

Well, I got a 500Gb WD passport-thingy, got the WD version of Acronis, and am now gloriously happy that I'll never have to download all the Vista updates and install all my drivers etc ever again.

Great success!

 

question for everyone -- why not use the Windows built-in imaging utility? How does an Acronis image differ from an image of a partition made by Windows itself?

 

Cause not all versions contain the Complete PC backup. Only the Business, Enterprise and Ultimate editions have complete PC backup.

 

So are the imaging capabilities of those versions similar to Acronis? I've used Acronis in the past, but for taking a basic image of a volume (which seems ot be what the OP wants to do) it seems like overkill if windows can do the same thing (tho I'm also not sure what version of Vista the OP has)

 

I have Ultimate, but didn't even realise there was the option to take an image using inbuilt backup.

Still, I needed an external hard-drive anyway, and love acronis, so I'm happy.

 

For a basic task like imaging a drive, the functionality is the same.