Wanna Backup ENTIRE laptop.. Possible?

Hi guys,

I am sending off my laptop to HP tomm..they ll pickup and bring it back after replacing the Wireless Chip.

I want to Backup my entire laptop including the Program files Data. and App Data as well.


Is it possible?

 

try norton ghost

 

Freeware man... If i install Norton Ghost..the program itself will be gone soon (LoL)

Syncback and Synctoy seem good... What can they not backup?

 

What about Acronis True Image? Thats free for 30 days.

 

Oh.. its free for 30 days for unlimited Data backed up?

It is the perfect thing then.

Does it backup in Original format or its own propreitory Format?

 

If you have a segate hard drive it's free forever directly from seagate.

Why do you care if it is "original" format or not. You are going to have to use Acronis to restore from the backup anyway. That's true of all of these types of software that do any compression of the image. And you sure don't want to do an uncompresed backup. They take up LOTS more (usually about double) the space.

Gary

 

Why don't you either remove your hdd before sending it out or use Acronis and make a backup of the whole system.

 

If you have an external drive (or another machine with enough free space) you can actually make an image by booting your machine off of a Linux LiveCD. Takes some more work, but it's a free way to do a whole-drive backup.

 

Nocturnal,

Apps like Syncback and Synctoy will only back up files and folder. They won't back up your programs.

Apps like Acronis True Image and Ghost will make a complete back by creating an image of your partition. The image can be created on CDs, DVDs or an external USB hard disk.

I would make both types of backup in the event HP keep you laptop for longer than expected.

If you only have a partition image backup you'll only be able to access your personal data by reinstalling the app on another PC and then opening up the image. If you don't have access to another PC to install the application you used to create the backup you'll be stuck.

If you only have your personal data backed up on a DVD or USB disk and your laptop gets trashes or goes missing you'll have to reinstall all your programs again. But you'll have instant access to any files you may need and be able to edit and add new files while you wait. Something you won't be able to do with an image backup.

Each method has it's pros and cons. I keep both types of backups.

Also, will you delete your personal data when you send the laptop off? Who knows what the tech look at

 

DriveImageXML is free, and it seems to do what you want. I haven't used it though.

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/DriveImageXML.html

 

CloneZilla might work.

 

If you want a duplicate copy of your hdd, you'll need to get a spare hdd and clone the hdd in the notebook onto the spare hdd; Acronis will do that.

 

No-ones mentioned windows complete PC backup yet, but then I guess you have to have Vista Ultimate installed to take advantage of that, and then do a restore afterwards if you need to...

 

Thats what I did when I screwed up my registry

 

Okay guys...

So i am going to use Acronis Trial version to backup my program files, AppData, etc etc.




Btw..can i Backup Program files ? i know registry will be erased..

but cant i backup entire program files with the registry entries?

 

Yeah, I'd just take out my hard drive before sending it in.

 

Absolutely. I use Paragon Drive Backup Personal. However, I would probably just remove the drive and send it in without one.

 

Huh?

How can they repair my laptops wireless NIC without OS?

Without HD they couldnt even try re-installing drivers.

 

You can replace hardware without a hard drive.

 

Absolutely. And they should be able to test with their own hard drive if they want to. I would not give them mine, but that's me.

 

Acronis True Image version 7 is freeware. Get a product key from their website.

 

No, you can't backup just the prgram files with registry entries. How would you go about isolating the proper registry entries? They are scattered all over the registry. You need to back up the entire partition.

Gary

 

Excellent windows tool, Vista Business has it too, saved my bacon many a time